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The debut of Microsoft (News - Alert) Office 2010 has just gotten a step closer with last Thursday's release to manufacturing of the new suite. Release to manufacturing is always a significant milestone as it marks a product's move from mere beta status to the real thing. Joining the new version of Office in its leap to RTM status are SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010, and Project 2010.

The Microsoft Office 2010 Engineering team's blog on Thursday touted Office's beta ride as a success, with more than 7.5 million downloads, about three times as many as the number for the Office 2007 beta. The blog also noted that the feedback from beta testers for all of the new apps helped Microsoft shape those products.

So, when can we expect to get the final edition of Office 2010 and these other apps? Well, it depends. Those of us with MSDN or TechNet subscriptions will be the very first in line, able to download the new software starting this Thursday, April 22, according to information I received from a Microsoft rep.

Organizations or individuals with Software Assurance can download the new editions starting April 27, according to the blog. This includes those of you who have Enterprise agreements or Open Value Subscriptions. Finally, companies that don't have Software Assurance but do have volume licensing will be able to grab the English version of the new software from the Volume Licensing Service Center a few days later on May 1.

To formally introduce Office 2010 to the business community, Microsoft is holding a live virtual launch event on May 12 starting at 11am EST, with a keynote from Stephen Elop, the head of the company's Business Division. The event will offer demos of the new Office and feedback from Microsoft product managers, partners, and customers. The launch event itself will take place in New York City, so those of you in or near Manhattan can catch it live and in person as well.

OK, that takes care of the business side of things. What about individuals who don't have software agreements or volume discounts? Office 2010 will be available to consumers sometime in June, but you can pre-order the software now through different sources. Microsoft's own online store is offering Office Home and Student 2010 for $149, Office Home and Business 2010 for $279, and Office Professional 2010 for $499. Beyond shopping at Microsoft's store, you can also pre-order the software at certain online retailers, such as Amazon.

Finally, what about Office Web Apps, Microsoft's new online version of Office? Office Web Apps, which I discussed in a previous column, will be available for corporate customers to deploy with SharePoint 2010 on the same dates that Office 2010 will be available to the business world. Individuals who want to use Office Web Apps with Office Live SkyDrive as their file repository will get that priviledge sometime before the end of June, also likely to coincide with the consumer release of the new edition.