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Microsoft confirms Office 2010 has reached the Release Candidate stage
Microsoft officials have confirmed to Neowin that the company recently released a Release Candidate (RC) build of Office 2010 to private beta testers.
Early Release Candidate builds began leaking to the web in January this year as Microsoft was preparing for the RC release to Technology Adoption Program (TAP) testers. Russian site Wzor recently confirmed that build 14.0.4734.1000 is an RTM escrow build that Microsoft is testing internally. Screenshots of the build leaked last week and a download was made available on torrent sites early this week.
A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to Neowin: "Microsoft made a release candidate available to members in the Technology Adoption Program (TAP). This is one of Microsoft's planned milestones in the engineering process; however they do not have plans to make this new code set available broadly."
In January Microsoft announced Office 2010 pricing. The professional edition will retail for $499 boxed. Office 2010 will be released in at least five different flavours, including a free version that includes Microsoft Word and Excel, but comes with limited functionality and includes advertisements. The editions of Office 2010 will include Starter, Home and Student, Home and Business, Professional and Professional Academic.
Microsoft is expected to hit the RTM milestone in the coming months with a general availability date of June.
Comments (64)
qdave - 03 February 2010 - 01:39
So it's safe to get then :D
Seriuosly though, cant wait for proper rc.
still1 - 03 February 2010 - 04:42
Seriuosly though, cant wait for proper rc.
cant wait!!! when ll it release to technet?
devHead - 03 February 2010 - 06:31
Good question! Hopefully soon, but I have to say, the Beta is quite stable.
th3rEsa - 03 February 2010 - 01:53
Still a counter-productive UI, eh?
s3n4te - 03 February 2010 - 01:55
**** everyone run, the flamewar is coming!
DarkNovaGamer - 03 February 2010 - 01:59
Unless a Microsoft Employee has you at Gunpoint demanding you purchase Office 2010 when its available, no one is forcing you to buy and/or use it. :)
Edit (DarkNovaGamer, 03 February 2010 - 02:00):th3rEsa - 03 February 2010 - 02:06
Although I am not forced to use it, I am free to express my opinion about their "ribbon" bs. I don't think the comments here are only open for a homage to Microsoft's great innovations. :-)
DarkNovaGamer - 03 February 2010 - 02:08
I never said you couldn't express your opinion (though I'm not sure that was directed towards me). I am just saying, no one is forcing you to use it. May want to check under your bed for a Microsoft Employee though. ;)
+Shadrack - 03 February 2010 - 02:17
Well, the ribbon interface was pretty crappy in 2007. But in 2010 at least it is customizable. I think that my opinion of the ribbon interface may change with 2010. Thank god I'm still on 2003 at work. I have 2007 at home, and hate it.
For the most part, the ribbon interface was praised by people who don't really "live" in Word or Excel. The power of 2003 was the customization. I have everything that I need on my toolbar and nothing that I did not need. The result is a much cleaner and to-the-point interface than 2007 could ever provide. 2007 was a lot of fun for people who love clicking their mouse buttons though... click-click-click-click Yay italics! Screw that.
Edit (Shadrack, 03 February 2010 - 02:18):th3rEsa - 03 February 2010 - 02:19
though I'm not sure that was directed towards me
It actually was. ;-)
May want to check under your bed for a Microsoft Employee though. ;)
Hm, that rather sounds like Google.
th3rEsa - 03 February 2010 - 02:25
2007 was a lot of fun for people who love clicking their mouse buttons though... click-click-click-click Yay italics! Screw that.
So has it improved in 2010? Can I actually /disable/ these 800x600 buttons on the top?
I've read that the ribbons can also be used with the keyboard, by simply pressing Cttrl and Shift and Num-something and... I must admit that screenshots were enough for me to not even /try/ Office after 2003... Edit (th3rEsa, 03 February 2010 - 02:26):
DarkNovaGamer - 03 February 2010 - 02:26
It actually was. ;-)
Hm, that rather sounds like Google.
Hehe, Yes, it actually does. Oddly, after you posted that comment, Google Chrome wouldn't display this page properly (something about an unknown photobucket image?) all better now though.
th3rEsa - 03 February 2010 - 02:28
Google Chrome wouldn't display this page properly
Hm, sounds like a greeeaat browser...
DarkNovaGamer - 03 February 2010 - 02:30
Hm, sounds like a greeeaat browser...
In fairness, Firefox wouldn't display it properly for a brief moment either. Then bother went back to normal. Just thought it was funny Google Chrome messed up after your little post about it sounding like a google thing.
It is a great browser. Glad you agree!
th3rEsa - 03 February 2010 - 02:39
Just thought it was funny Google Chrome messed up after your little post about it sounding like a google thing.
A screen shot would have been fine. :D
It was rather sarcastic. Google is one of the two concerns which are, hm, not my first choice... the other one is Apple. NOTHING one of them had EVER released would have been innovative. Both Apple and Google make money with copying from a few decades before. (The iPad, hm... remember the Atari STpad from 1991? But I'm getting off-topic here...)
Google also has some weird imaginations of privacy issues... Google is on my filter lists. All of its servers are. Including the search engine. :)
DarkNovaGamer - 03 February 2010 - 02:48
A screen shot would have been fine. :D
It was rather sarcastic. Google is one of the two concerns which are, hm, not my first choice... the other one is Apple. NOTHING one of them had EVER released would have been innovative. Both Apple and Google make money with copying from a few decades before. (The iPad, hm... remember the Atari STpad from 1991? But I'm getting off-topic here...)
Google also has some weird imaginations of privacy issues... Google is on my filter lists. All of its servers are. Including the search engine. :)
When I get bored I play around with OSx86 on my HP laptop (Snow Leopard + Vanilla ftw). Err I mean, I love Chrome for its speed. I like firefox with Spewboy's strata40 mockup.
Apple has issues, plain and simple.
Google is trying to get into EVERY market. Next I bet we will see Google Anti-Virus (unless one exists already).
Yes I also know you were being sarcastic, as was I with my 'Glad you agree!' part.
Didn't think to screenshot it but if it happens again I'll gladly Screenshot it.
Okay now I'm really off-topic from the article... to make this comment not spam... hmm.. Oh!
I hope they decide to do a public RC. Aha. Not spam.
th3rEsa - 03 February 2010 - 02:50
I hope they decide to do a public RC. Aha. Not spam.
Gratulations!
Oh... wait.
thartist - 03 February 2010 - 03:55
yes. go to sleep grandma.
th3rEsa - 03 February 2010 - 04:01
Now what does that have to do with being a grandma? So you say, modern is everything, and established ways of usability are bs because they are old? Oh, come on. Go buy a Mac.
M_Lyons10 - 03 February 2010 - 04:49
I like the Ribbon personally. Though some people seem to be hesitant of it initially, everyone that has used it for any length of time seem to love it.
Have you actually USED the Ribbon for any length of time, or are you basing your opinion solely on screen shots?