Microsoft rolled out the beta versions of Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 that are available to download.

Users can download the 2010 versions of Visio, Project, and Office Web Apps at www.microsoft.com/2010. Windows mobile clients are also available in beta via the Windows Marketplace.

Microsoft also posted an article noting that Office Mobile 2010 is also in beta and available for Windows Mobile 6.5 phones via the Windows Mobile Marketplace.

Microsoft said the final products will begin to ship as of next year.

Alina Fu, Microsoft social computing product manager, demonstrated Microsoft's SharePoint 2010 at the Web 2.0 Expo in New York, alongside Tanuj Bansal, Senior Program Manager of SharePoint.

The key difference between SharePoint 2010 and the 2007 version is that it focuses more on incorporating social capabilities into the new platform, Fu said.

A new feature in Office 2010 is the Outlook Social Connector, which brings communications history, business collaboration, and social network feeds into Outlook, with support for Windows Live and SharePoint Server.

Microsoft also released the Outlook Social Connector SDK, allowing developers to build connectors to third-party social networks. LinkedIn will be the first social network to participate.

Our big belief is that you can be much more effective if you have your professional network close at hand, and you can leverage your online identity in the work you do on a daily basis, Elliot Shmukler, director of product management for LinkedIn, wrote in a blog post.

The Outlook Social Connector will bring your LinkedIn Professional Network to where you work - right within your e-mail inbox.

Software Microsoft