Microsoft plans to shove a Office 2010 public beta out the door in November.

The software vendor's boss Steve Ballmer confirmed it will be made available next month during a keynote speech at Microsoft's SharePoint shindig in Las Vegas yesterday.

However, Redmond hasn't announced a date for when in November the beta would land.

Currently only a small number of testers have been able to get their mitts on a technical preview of Office 2010 since July. A completed version of the suite isn't expected to ship until the first half of next year.

A browser-based preview of Office 2010 finally rocked up in September for some testers to tinker with. ®

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