Beta release of Vista, Office 2007 and Longhorn

Microsoft geared up for the biggest software launch in history today by going public with the latest code for its three flagship product families.

The release of Beta 2 versions of Office 2007 suite, Windows Vista (which will supersede XP), and Windows Server (codenamed Longhorn) signals the start of the final phase of bug testing before the final release of the products. I've posted my first impressions of Vista and Office 2007 on our Test Bed Blog.

All three are due for final release to enterprises later this year and to non-business users in January.

PCW plans to put the Beta 2 code of Office 2007 on the magazine’s cover this month. Press and developers at Microsoft ‘s Winhec conference, which opened in Seattle today (May 23), are being given the Server and Vista code which developers will also be able to download from the MSDN and Technet sites.

It will be available for business trials over the next few days and also to ‘a broader group of technology enthusiasts’, according to a Microsoft statement, This appears to mean that it will be available to anyone keen enough to download it, but no precise date was announced.

The code is certainly well usable. I’ve been using Office 2007 Beta 2 for a couple of days and have had a couple of test runs on Vista at Winhec. I’ll keep you posted on the PCW site on how I fare on longer runs.

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates told the Winhec conference that this was the first time three releases had been synchronised. ‘Each of these is a very, very important product,’ he said, with uncharacteristic understatement, considering the billions of dollars (not the mention the US economy) that are riding on them.

James Allchin, co-president of Microsoft’s Platforms and Service Division, said the company wanted to hear about any problems people got with the software. ‘We can still tweak the code. We have been through this many times before and we know how to drive the team. We are in the mode to do it now.’

He added: ‘I don’t think there is any other organisation that can do what we do.’

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