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Microsoft’s Office productivity suite has been popular in small and medium businesses. However, as companies have recently been moving to more Web based applications, the product line has come under siege. Consequently, Microsoft has been touting its next version, Microsoft Office 2010, which took another step to deployment.

Microsoft announced that Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft Visio 2010 and Microsoft Project 2010 have reached the technical preview engineering stage. Consequently, individuals, programmers, and companies are invited to test Office and Visio as part of company’s Technical Preview program.

The next release is supposed to include new features, such as broadcast and video editing in PowerPoint, new data visualization capabilities in Excel, and co-authoring in Word. In addition, Microsoft plans to make Office applications available to businesses in two ways: on-premises, its traditional approach, and Microsoft Online Services, where customers will be able to purchase a subscription as part of a hosted offering.

Don't Miss: Microsoft's Office 2010 Site

The vendor has dominated the office productivity market for more than a decade. However, movement away from traditional, premises based systems to cloud options has opened the door to competitors. Google has been gradually rounding out its office productivity software line, and recently Cisco said it may move into this space. Consequently, the new release of Microsoft Office comes at a critical time, one where Microsoft’s hold on this space could at least be loosened or maybe even broken.

Small and medium businesses should benefit from the increased competition. They are no longer compelled to buy a Microsoft solution, even if they are not enamored with the company’s products. Some have already switched to alternatives, with Google being a popular option for these companies. Microsoft understands that controlling the office productivity market is no longer something that they can count on and has been pumping significant resources into this space. Early reviews say that Office 2010 has some intriguing feature, but more definitive analysis of the company’s performance will come as the new technical preview engineering stage unfolds.

More From bMighty:

• SMB Insights Into Microsoft Office 2010 And Windows 7
• Microsoft Plans Free Version Of Office 2010