Microsoft Office 2010 Hits Major Milestone and Enters Technical Preview

Microsoft showcases new product capabilities and announces Office Web applications will be available to nearly half a billion people at launch.

NEW ORLEANS, July 13 -- Today, at its Worldwide Partner Conference 2009, Microsoft Corp. announced that Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft Visio 2010 and Microsoft Project 2010 have reached the technical preview engineering milestone. Starting today, tens of thousands of people will be invited to test Office and Visio as part of the Technical Preview program.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO)

"Office 2010 is the premier productivity solution across PCs, mobile phones* and browsers," said Chris Capossela, senior vice president of the Microsoft Business Division at Microsoft. "From broadcast and video editing in PowerPoint, new data visualization capabilities in Excel, and co-authoring in Word, we are delivering technology to help people work smarter and faster from virtually any location using any device."

Office 2010 and related products will deliver innovative capabilities and provide new levels of flexibility and choice that will help people:

  --  Work anywhere with Office Web applications -- the lightweight Web
      browser versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote -- that
      provide access to documents from virtually anywhere and preserve the
      look and feel of a document regardless of device.
  --  Collaborate better with co-authoring in Microsoft Word 2010, Microsoft
      PowerPoint 2010 and Microsoft OneNote 2010, and advanced e-mail
      management and calendaring capabilities in Microsoft Outlook 2010,
      including the option for users to  "ignore" unwanted threads.

  --  Bring ideas to life with video and picture editing, broadcast
      capability in Microsoft PowerPoint 2010, easy document preparation
      through the new Microsoft Office Backstage view, and new Sparklines in
      Microsoft Excel 2010 to visualize data and spot trends more quickly.

Microsoft also announced that it is streamlining the number of Office editions from eight to five and enhancing each edition with additional applications and features. The company also announced that Office Web applications will be available in three ways: through Windows Live, where more than 400 million consumers will have access to Office Web applications at no cost; on-premises for all Office volume licensing customers including more than 90 million Office annuity customers; and via Microsoft Online Services, where customers will be able to purchase a subscription as part of a hosted offering.

Partner Opportunities

Microsoft also is preparing partners for the release of Office 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010 through a number of new and refreshed readiness tools and training programs. These include the Ignite program for SharePoint, Office and Exchange; Business Productivity Infrastructure Optimization (BPIO) University; Masters and Architect Certification for SharePoint; new Partner Business Productivity Online Services features and distributor model; and Exchange 2010 Readiness Webcast Series and Demo Showcase. More information on these programs can be found at http://partner.microsoft.com/businessproductivity.

Availability

All Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference attendees will receive invitations to participate in the Technical Preview program. Office 2010 and related products will be available in the first half of 2010. More information about Office 2010 can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/Office2010.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

This information is about pre-release software and therefore is subject to change. It is provided without warranty of any kind, express or implied.

* Mobile functionality requires an appropriate device and Internet connection. Some functionality also requires Office Mobile 2010, which is not included in Office 2010 applications or suites.