Redmond today released the English version of the Microsoft Office 2010 beta (build 14.0.4536.1000) in 32-bit (684.48MB) and 64-bit (749.87MB) to MSDN and TechNet subscribers. The English version of the Office Web Applications 2010 Beta (64-bit only) has also been posted on MSDN and TechNet. Microsoft described the release by saying "Office 2010 provides enhancements for developers such as expanded platform services, increased tools productivity, and reduced time to solution delivery."

We'd also like to give you direct links (in no particular order) for everything else Office 2010 related that was uploaded on MSDN and TechNet today: SharePoint Foundation 2010 Beta 64-bit only (MSDN and TechNet), FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint Beta 64-bit only (MSDN and TechNet, Visio Premium 2010 Beta 32-bit and 64-bit (MSDN and TechNet), SharePoint Designer 2010 Beta 32-bit and 64-bit (MSDN and TechNet), Office Project Professional 2010 Beta 32-bit and 64-bit (MSDN and TechNet), Business Contact Manager for Microsoft Outlook 2010 Beta 32-bit and 64-bit (MSDN and TechNet), Office SharePoint Foundation Server 2010 Beta 32-bit and 64-bit (MSDN and TechNet), Office Search Server Express 2010 Beta 64-bit only (MSDN and TechNet), as well as Project Server 2010 Beta 64-bit only (MSDN and TechNet).

As Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer confirmed last month, the public betas for Office 2010, Project 2010, Visio 2010, and SharePoint Server 2010 are coming this month, more specifically this week. Last month, Microsoft announced it would close down the Office 2010 Technical Preview Program to make room for the public beta. The Office 2010 Beta webpage on Microsoft.com is already available, though it's still just a placeholder: "The Office 2010 Beta will be available soon. Please come back later and try again."

According to the comparison chart on the site, there will be three versions available to the public:

Office Home and Business 2010 Beta : Word, Excel PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, and Office Web Apps

: Word, Excel PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, and Office Web Apps Office Professional 2010 Beta : Word, Excel PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, Publisher, and Office Web Apps

: Word, Excel PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, Publisher, and Office Web Apps Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta (Volume Licensing Only): Word, Excel PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, Publisher, InfoPath, Communicator, SharePoint Workspace, and Office Web Apps

The Office 2010 system requirements were also recently posted:

Computer and processor: 500-megahertz (MHz) processor or higher

500-megahertz (MHz) processor or higher Memory: 256MB of RAM or higher

256MB of RAM or higher Hard disk: 3GB; a portion of this disk space will be freed after installation if the original download package is removed from the hard disk.

3GB; a portion of this disk space will be freed after installation if the original download package is removed from the hard disk. Display: 1024 � 768 or higher-resolution monitor; 1024 � 576 or higher for Excel 2010, OneNote 2010, Outlook 2010, PowerPoint 2010, and Word 2010

1024 � 768 or higher-resolution monitor; 1024 � 576 or higher for Excel 2010, OneNote 2010, Outlook 2010, PowerPoint 2010, and Word 2010 Operating system: Windows XP with SP3 (32-bit), Windows Vista with SP1 (32-bit or 64-bit), Windows Server 2003 R2 (32-bit or 64-bit) with MSXML 6.0 installed, Windows Server 2008 with SP2 (32-bit or 64-bit), Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit). Terminal Server and Windows on Windows (WOW) (which allows installing 32-bit versions of Office 2010 on 64-bit operating systems) are supported.

Windows XP with SP3 (32-bit), Windows Vista with SP1 (32-bit or 64-bit), Windows Server 2003 R2 (32-bit or 64-bit) with MSXML 6.0 installed, Windows Server 2008 with SP2 (32-bit or 64-bit), Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit). Terminal Server and Windows on Windows (WOW) (which allows installing 32-bit versions of Office 2010 on 64-bit operating systems) are supported. Additional: Requirements and product functionality can vary based on the system configuration and operating system. Use of graphics hardware acceleration requires DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics card with 64MB or higher video memory.

We will keep you posted and let you know when the webpage starts pushing out the actual downloads to the public.