Development Matters Blog

A couple of days ago, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Office 2010 Beta is available for download.
In order to get started you need to first visit this link where you will find a option to get it. Since this is a Microsoft Product you will be asked to first login to your live account, after which you will need to confirm your personal details following which you will get a 25 digit MAK Product Key which will activate your product.

After you register, a new window will open with a download service within it which will start downloading the files from the Microsoft Server. It supports resumed downloads, so you can safely start it and walk away from it. If your download gets interrupted, it will restart where it left off. The total download size is 684.48Mb and it contains the complete MS Office 2010 Package on your PC. This includes Word, OneNote, InfoPath, PowerPoint, Access, SharePoint Workspace, Outlook, Publisher, Communicator & Excel. There are two activation options for the 2010 Microsoft Office products. The MAK key described above is one activation method. Another activation option for an IT administrator is to set up a Key Management Server (KMS). Just choose the version (Microsoft recommends 32-bit which runs great on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows) and pick your software language to download the Beta software. Downloading the Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta can take an hour or more. The exact time will depend on your provider, bandwidth, and traffic.

Once the download is complete, launch the downloaded file and follow the set up instructions.

After you have installed Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta, please follow these steps:

1. Open Microsoft Word 2010 Beta and click on the “File” tab. This will take you to the Backstage view. Next click “Help” in the set of tabs on the left.
2. Click “Change Product Key” on the right side of the screen.
3. Enter the Multiple Activation Key (MAK). Check the box to activate automatically or restart the app to activate using the activation dialog box.
4. That’s all you need to do. Entering the MAK key in Microsoft Word 2010 Beta automatically activates all the Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta applications. Click on the “File” tab to return to the Document view.

That’s it!