Microsoft confirms limited RC for Office 2010

Microsoft's Office 2010 suite is nearing completion

Microsoft has made available a release candidate (RC) of the forthcoming Office 2010, but only to a select group of customers. The move has renewed speculation that the office suite could be released earlier than expected.

The RC version of Office 2010 has now been provided to testers in Microsoft's Technology Adoption Programme (TAP), the company confirmed.

However, there are no plans to make this version available to a wider audience, meaning that the public beta released in November 2009 is likely to be the only preview that most users will see before the final release.

"Microsoft made an RC available to members in TAP. This is one of Microsoft's planned milestones in the engineering process. However, we do not have plans to make this new code set available broadly," the company said in a statement.

Office 2010 is pegged for launch in June this year, but the availability of an RC version implies that development work is officially complete, prompting speculation that it may be released earlier than planned.

Microsoft, however, said that it is still aiming for late spring. "We remain on track to reach general availability this June, but don't have additional timing details to share at this point," the company said in response to a request from V3.co.uk.

Microsoft also said that more than two million people had downloaded the public beta, and that it is pleased with the positive reception so far.