Office 2010, Hello World

Today, at our annual TechEd event held in the US we are announcing that attendees will make up the first segment of our limited Technical Preview program that will kick off in July. We have some additional content we will be releasing going into this milestone so keep checking back (check out www.office2010themovie.com as well).

So 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 (you will see if you look here that our server products have released similar information). To that end, this post will cover the preliminary system requirements for Office 2010.

 

1. Office 2010 will be available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

2. Office 2010 will run on Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.

3. You don't need to replace hardware that is capable of running 2007, it will support Office 2010. Like Windows 7 has demonstrated, we realize that taking advantage of the hardware you already own is just as important as supporting all the new technology coming out.

 

Below, we have tried to cover some of the common questions that we are anticipating on this topic. If we missed something please let us know in the comments. Anything that we can share at this point, we will.

Q: What is technical preview?

A: Technical preview is an engineering milestone leading towards RTM that Office 2010 and related products will reach in July 2009.

 

Q: Will customers or partners be given access to the products at the technical preview milestone?

A: Beginning at the technical preview milestone, we will conduct an invitation only technical preview program where participants will able to experience Office Professional Plus 2010 and Visio 2010. You can sign up to be on the list for entry at office2010themovie.com.

 

Q: Will I need to upgrade hardware to install Office 2010 and related products?

A: 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. Certain hardware configurations and operating system versions customers currently have deployed may require an upgrade to run server and client products.

 

Check back frequently as we will be sharing more information as we march closer to July. If there are things you want to know about, topics you want discussed, etc. then please let us hear it.

 

Reed Shaffner

Office TPM