CentrumXP has revealed what is supposedly the official packaging for Office 2010. Although all leaks must be taken with some degree of uncertainty, CentrumXP was the first to leak the correct Windows 7 packaging, so this is most likely the genuine deal.
Since its release, the Office 2010 Beta has been in high demand, with over one million downloads in just two weeks. Possibly the most significant update in the next major iteration of the suite is the Office Web Applications feature, which is similar to Google Docs in that a user can view, edit, and save documents completely in-browser.
Microsoft has announced that Office 2010 will be released sometime in June, available in six different versions: Starter, Home and Student, Home and Business, Standard, Professional, and Professional Plus. Starter is a streamlined Office, with only Word and Excel available with advertisements and limited functionality. However, Starter will be completely free and provided to OEMs for pre-loading onto PCs, with the upgrade option already installed. As a result, a user simply has to purchase a plastic card for a single-use license from various major retailers such as OfficeMax to completely enable the suite.
Other new features include OpenDocument support, 64-bit editions (but only for Vista and Windows 7), improved jumplists, and much more. The Office 2010 Beta is available right now for anyone to test, completely free and fully functional until its expiration on 31st October 2010.
