Office 14 Documentation

A group of testers are preparing to receive alpha versions of Microsoft Office 14 server products. Prior to this Office 14 alpha release, Microsoft have provided them with documentation detailing what functionality is to be expected.

According to a Microsoft spokesperson on Jabuary 13:

Today Microsoft provided a select group of customers early access to an Alpha version of Office server technologies. However, Microsoft is not disclosing information about the timing for a Beta version at this time.

Very soon, the Office 14 alpha testers should receive versions of:

• SharePoint Server 14
• Office 14 Web Applications
• Sharepoint Services 14
• Search Server 14
• Project Server 14
• Geneva (its identity server). Apparently, Geneva must be installed as a prerequisite for Office 14.

Welcome To Office 14

Interestingly, the purpose of this phase of alpha testing is not to furnish Microsoft with expansive lists of bugs. Instead, it is designed to simply give alpha testers an opportunity to familiarise themselves with Office 14.

After actively developing Office 14 for close to two years, it looks like the first official beta release will be let loose towards the end of 2009, but of course this is a topic for debate. To give you an idea of timescales to expect, Office 2007 was released to the public one year after the first beta was made available.