Microsoft Preps for Office 2010 Launch

Attendees at Microsoft's annual TechEd event will be the first to get their hands on Office 2010, the company announced Monday.

Starting in July, the select group will be given access to a technical preview, which is considered a pre-release to manufacturers (RTM) edition.

"While we aren't ready to start demoing and sharing all of the features quite yet, we have heard the feedback loud and clear that requirements for running our software needs to be available ASAP," the company wrote in a blog post. What other details were provided? Not many, but Microsoft did say that Office 2010 will be available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. It will run on Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.

"Office 2010 Suite products are offered in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions so customers will not be required to upgrade 32-bit PC's and Laptops to 64-bit hardware to run Office 2010 Suite Products," the blog post said. "Certain hardware configurations and operating system versions customers currently have deployed may require an upgrade to run server and client products."

Microsoft is promoting the latest iteration of its Office suite with a movie trailer spoof at the office2010themovie.com Web site. It includes a 30-second video likening Office 2010 to an action movie, and a "countdown to awesome" emblazoned across the top of the Web site. Only 49 more days to go.

Microsoft also announced yesterday that its Windows 7 operating system is expected to be ready for final release by this year's holiday season.