Just in time to try out over the holidays, the Microsoft Office 2010 public beta is here!

http://officebeta.microsoft.com/en-us/

Head to that website to download either the 32bit or 64bit version of the next version of Office, and experience the nice changes they have made for yourself.

Personally I have found Outlook to be much more responsive compared to 2007, and the conversation view allows you to easily keep track of what previously happened in an email. Both Excel and Word open up much faster than before, and I have found are much faster in general.

OneNote has also seen some major improvements, with much better Math input support, amongst other things. The integration with the upcoming Office Web Apps should also really improve the suite, with reportedly a way to collaborate on a OneNote notebook in realtime. Great for lectures!

All of the office programs take advantage of new Windows 7 features such as Jumplists. (and more)

If you are considering whether you may want to upgrade from 2007 to 2010 when this is released, there is no better chance to have an unrestricted look at the applications, and maybe even contribute to ensuring the final product you pay for, is bug free.

The download is around 700MB, and you can get your key from the same site,

For those interested, the Visio 2010 beta is available here: http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/en/visio/download.aspx

and the Project 2010 beta here: http://www.microsoft.com/project/2010/en/us/default.aspx