Office 2010 CTP and "Click to run" released to more testers

Today, more invitation e-mails were sent out to Microsoft Connect members for the Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Preview - a early look into the latest and greatest version of Microsoft Office. 32-bit and 64-bit versions of all programs are available.

Available for download from the connect site are:

Microsoft Office Professional 2010
Microsoft Word 2010
Microsoft Excel 2010
Microsoft PowerPoint 2010
Microsoft OneNote 2010
Microsoft Outlook 2010
Microsoft Publisher 2010
Microsoft Access 2010
Microsoft Visio 2010
Microsoft SharePointDesigner 2010
Microsoft InfoPath 2010
Microsoft SharePoint Workspace 2010
Business Contact Manager for Microsoft Outlook 2010
Microsoft Outlook Connector
Microsoft Office Language Pack 2010 - English
Microsoft Office Language Pack 2010 - Japanese
Business Contact Manager for Microsoft Outlook 2010 Language Pack - Japanese
Business Contact Manager for Microsoft Outlook 2010 Database Tool

Upgrades are available for the matching architecture - 32-bit Office 2007 can be upgraded to Office 2010, but Office 2007 running on a 64-bit Operating system cannot be upgraded to Office 2010 - you must uninstall Office 2007 first.

Hardware and software requirements are listed as:

500 MHz processor or higher
256 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher
2 gigabytes (GB). A part of this disk space is free after installation if the original download package is removed from the hard disk.
CD-ROM drive or DVD drive
1024 x 768 or higher-resolution monitor

Operating Systems supported are Windows XP with SP3 (32-Bit Only), Windows Vista SP1 (32-bit or 64-bit), Windows Server 2003 R2 with SP2 (32-bit or 64-bit), Windows Server 2008 with SP1 (32-bit or 64-bit) and Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit).

Microsoft has also sent out invites to the "Click-to-run" technical preview, which is a "streaming" version of Office 2010. The program runs once, and streams Microsoft Office "bits" to the users PC. Streaming only needs to happen once, and the programs remain on the computer afterward - the connect site explains:

"The program provides a first look at the future of Internet application deployment. It delivers the products rapidly to the computer via streaming over the Internet. The following Office 2010 desktop applications are included: Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote" - could this be the start of a subscription based model?