Microsoft Office 2010 is the first version of Microsoft Office that will ship with both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) versions.

If you are currently running a 32-bit version of Windows, you can only use the 32-bit version of Office. However, on a 64-bit Windows platform, you can decide to install either the 32bit or the 64-bit version of Office.

Microsoft recommend installing the 32-bit version of Office, even on a PC running 64-bit Windows, unless you have special needs that require the use of 64-bit Office apps. For example, 64-bit computing is useful when you work with large (over 2GB) Excel or Access files.

If you follow Microsoft’s advice and install the 32-bit version of Office 2010 on your 64-bit Windows Operating System, you can still decide later to swop to the 64-bit version. However, the 32-bit version must be uninstalled before you install the 64-bit version.

Microsoft has published a detailed article which can help you to make an informed choice about Office 2010 and its two versions – 32-bit and 64-bit.

Microsoft plans to finalize the code for Office 2010 next month and, as expected, it kicked off a program enabling those who buy Office 2007 in the coming months to get a free upgrade to the new version.

In a blog posting, Microsoft said that it will have a business launch for the Office 2010 products on May 12. The company has said it expects the software to be broadly available in June. As for the technology guarantee program, Microsoft says it will apply to those who buy Office 2007 between now and September 30 and will allow an upgrade to the comparable Office 2010 product. Though such programs are typical, this one had even less of an element of surprise after a Microsoft employee briefly posted details of the program last month.

Microsoft CFO Peter Klein confirmed the program earlier this week, telling financial analysts on Tuesday to expect the company to defer revenue this quarter to next to account for the upgrades.

Although Office 2010 doesn’t bring a radically different look or new file formats, as Office 2007 did, it introduces a number of changes, most significantly the addition of companion Office Web apps that work in a browser. Also, for the first time, Office will come in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

A beta version of the software has been available since November and Microsoft has also been doing limited testing of a near-final “release candidate” version of the software.

Source: CNET News

Microsoft has released retail prices for Office 2010 for British buyers, and has introduced a new product key-based version that is cheaper than traditional boxed software.

The prices, announced on Wednesday, cover three of the four retail versions of the suite, which is due for release in June 2010. The three versions are Office Home and Student, Office Home and Business and Office Professional. Microsoft also plans to sell an academic version of Office 2010, but did not say in its announcement how much it will cost.

When customers buy a product-key card, they get a code that will unlock versions preinstalled by manufacturers on new PC’s.

The key card allows installation of the Office suite on one machine only, while the boxed version is licensed for use on two. The exception is Office Home and Student, which is licensed for three.

Office Professional, which has the largest range of updated tools, is priced at £430 for the boxed version and £300 for the product key card alternative. Office Home and Business, which Microsoft recommends for small businesses, will cost approximately £240 in a box and £190 in a product key version. Office Home and Student is £110 and £90 respectively.

Upgrade pricing is being dropped completely for Office 2010, according to Adams. Those who want to move up from Office 2007 must get the boxed version, or buy a new PC with it preinstalled, ready for unlocking with a product key card. However, Adams pointed out that Microsoft’s pricing structure for Office Home and Business means it is cheaper to buy the 2010 version than it was to upgrade to Office 2007. The upgrade to the full version of Office Home and Business 2007 cost £350, whereas the full boxed version of Office 2010 is £240.

Retail prices for Office 2010 in the UK are consistently more expensive than in the US, if the prices are given a currency-exchange calculation. For example, the product key card version of Office Professional in the US is $349 (£223), compared with £300 in the UK.

Adams said Microsoft had received positive feedback to its beta, saying that more then three-quarters found Office 2010 to be improved. According to the latest available figures, the beta has been downloaded two million times, he said.

Source: ZDNet

Microsoft has provided a select group of testers with the Release Candidate of Office 2010, according to reports.

“Microsoft made a release candidate available to members in the technology adoption program (TAP),” a Microsoft representative told CNet.com. “This is one of Microsoft’s planned milestones in the engineering process; however [we] do not have plans to make this new code set available broadly.”

The release means Microsoft looks well on course to deliver Office 2010 by the planned release date of June.

The company issued a public beta of Office 2010 at the end of last year and QBS PC Help are currently evaluating this.

Source: PC Pro

A bug, which cropped up on Friday (11/12), meant that users of Office 2003 were unable to access files protected using Microsoft’s rights management service (RMS) technology.

“The issue of the inability to open Office 2003 documents protected with RMS has now been resolved with a hotfix,” Microsoft said in a short statement on its Office sustained engineering blog.

Microsoft has said that the problem was due to an Office 2003 certificate that expired. “This resulted in Office 2003 customers not being able to open Office 2003 documents protected with the Active Directory Rights Management Service (AD RMS) or Rights Management Services (RMS),” a representative said, adding that Microsoft first learned of the issue on Thursday night and had the fix up by Mid-day Saturday.

“The original intent was to refresh and strengthen these certificates over time to keep up with newer technology,” the representative said. “We have not done a thorough post-mortem on this incident since we were very focused on fixing the problem. Looking ahead, we are exploring long-term solutions that will prevent something like this from happening again in the future.”