microsoft (http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/microsoft1 NULL.jpg) **UPDATED 11/18/2009 – 2PM**

     During today’s PDC (Professional Developers Conference) Microsoft made official the public beta for Office 2010.  The site that you can now download Office 2010 from is http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/en/default.aspx (http://www NULL.microsoft NULL.com/office/2010/en/default NULL.aspx) .

Office 2010 Demo (http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/office2010demo NULL.jpg)

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     A few months ago, Microsoft released “Technical Preview” for Microsoft Office 2010 to a select group (Disclosure: I have been using the Technical Preview since its release). Now its time for Office 2010 to get one step closer to joining the Microsoft offerings.

     So Microsoft has now released the Office Professional Plus 2010 for those with TechNet/MSDN accounts. The download can be found @ http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx (http://technet NULL.microsoft NULL.com/en-us/default NULL.aspx)

Office 2010 technet page (http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/office2010technetpage NULL.jpg)

     Additionally, for everyone else there is now an office beta page on Microsoft.com.  If you attempt to download from the office beta page you will get a message that says “The Office 2010 Beta will be available soon. Please come back later and try again”, however it is expected (based on chatter from the tech community) that at some point during the PDC conference in Los Angeles that Microsoft will announce and make the download office 2010 beta office.

     In the mean time, the office beta page has demo’s and information on what’s new for Office 2010 including the add on to Microsoft office called Office Web Apps:

“Microsoft Office Web Apps are free online companions to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint that give you the freedom to view, create, and edit documents from a supported Internet browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari).”

     You can find the office beta page @ http://officebeta.microsoft.com/en-us/?CTT=97 (http://officebeta NULL.microsoft NULL.com/en-us/?CTT=97)

Office 2010 page (http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/office2010page NULL.jpg)