This morning, Microsoft announced the technical preview to Office 2010 to much fanfare. The most prominently touted aspect has been the Web access to the suite, which has been seen as Microsoft’s answer to the way Google, Zoho and others have dominated the SaaS market for office suites thus far.
But what they didn’t tell you is that the browser-based version of Office 2010 will not be part of this technical preview, which will have its own release for which no date has been set.
Microsoft’s own press release on the technical preview of Office 2010 focuses mostly on the Web access, which they describe as “lightweight” and “collaborative.”
Microsoft made fairly clear that the technical preview is not a beta, and access is extremely limited. However, upon further probes by the likes of Om Malik and others, it turns out that only the desktop versions of Office 2010 are a part of the technical preview. Microsoft PR replied to Malik with this statement, confirming that Web Office will have a separate technical preview:
Web applications are included in the technical preview milestone but not part of the technical preview program. They will have a separate technical preview later this summer.
