Microsoft's industry leading document and productivity suite, Microsoft Office, has seen new competition from the likes of Mozilla (Thunderbird), Open Office, Google (Google Docs, GMail), and others. However, Microsoft continues to lead the way in both revenue and user base, and is working hard to push the boundaries of the Office product.

Today it announced in an exclusive Q&A article the official release details on the successor to Office 2007, Office 2010. Most important is that it is coming soon -- this year. The first of its components will land with Exchange 2010, set for the second half of the year. The rest of Office 2010 — including Office Web applications, SharePoint Server 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010 will be released as a technical preview in third quarter of 2009, much like the Windows 7 beta program. The finished products will ship in the first half of 2010.

A big focus of the new suite is to provide a cohesive platform across an increasingly mobile computing world. While traditional versions will be included for installation on PCs and laptops, the Office suite will also be available as internet applications and on mobile phones, including, reportedly, the iPhone.

Read the entire article at DailyTech.