Seattle: Microsoft is giving a select group of technology savvy testers an early peek at Office 2010, but it is keeping free new Web-based versions of programs such as Word and Excel under wraps a little while longer.
The launch last week of this "technical preview" indicates Office 2010 is on track for release in the early part of next year.
Microsoft is updating the highly profitable desktop software package to add more ways for people to work simultaneously on documents, organise their e-mail and edit videos and photos, among other changes.
For the first time, Microsoft is also adding free companion versions that run in a web browser.
Microsoft Office is by far the most popular software package worldwide for making presentations, spreadsheets and other documents, and its dominance is in no immediate danger.
But the company is trying to defend its turf against a long-developing trend in which software is moving from the desktop to the web.
Google has been pushing its own free, web-based programs for more than two years, though it has yet to gain much traction with corporations.
In 2007, Microsoft launched Office Live Workspace, which allowed people to view and comment on documents, but it lacked tools for creating and editing files.
The Office 2010 web programs will be Microsoft's first real attempt at an online office package.
The browser-based programs are on a different development cycle from the desktop programs, and Microsoft says the web versions' "technical preview" will be ready next month.
The web version of Office 2010 will be free to consumers, in a version supported by advertising. Microsoft will let companies with long-term Microsoft Office licensing agreements install the online programs on their servers for no extra charge.
Companies will also be able to buy subscriptions to access the programs through Microsoft-operated data centres.
Microsoft has not said how much Office 2010 will cost. It has said only that it would sell five variations on the suite, two for big corporations and three available to consumers and small businesses. - Sapa-AP