Office 2010 to arrive in June

Microsoft Office 2010 will arrive in June 2010 according to the company, nearly three and a half years after the prior version the software, Office 2007, was released to customers.

The web has been buzzing with rumors of the application's release date, but it wasn't until yesterday that a release schedule was confirmed by Redmond.

The big news with this release remains that Office 2010 will come in both a standard, installable version and a free, web-based version with a smaller set of features meant to compete with the growing number of web-based productivity applications, such as Google Apps. At launch, the online suite will include lightweight versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, all accessible via the Windows Live online service.

Corporate customers will also be able to host a private version of the web-based software suite on their own servers, complete with customizable features.

As for the offline version of Office 2010, the updated software is set to include integrated photo and video editing features -- areas where Microsoft has historically been utterly rotten -- all usable from the confines of existing Office documents. Office environments will also be able to have multiple users collaborating on a single document from multiple locations.

PC World digested the new Office's additional features, including a more consistent vision for the Ribbon and more reliable printing technology, earlier this year
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