Microsoft SharePoint Key to Office 2010 Rollout

Wednesday was a big day for Microsoft. Not only did the software giant roll out the long-awaited Office 2010, but it also debuted the latest version of the SharePoint collaboration server.

And they’re not unrelated. Microsoft is betting that SharePoint 2010 will work in concert with the new release of its productivity suite, a tie-in that enables multiple users to co-author documents concurrently.

Microsoft on Wednesday officially launched Office 2010 after a three-year wait for the successor to its popular Office 2007 productivity suite. However, Office 2010 is only part of the equation that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) hopes will lure business buyers to adopt the new version.

Enter SharePoint 2010, Microsoft’s premier collaboration and content management technology for Office 2010, which also became available on Wednesday. Beyond the many incremental improvements in Office 2010 itself (see Microsoft Office 2010 Arrives for Businesses), SharePoint 2010 provides the ability for information workers to use the updated suite of productivity applications to collaborate with others more deeply than with the previous version, according to Microsoft. The combination of SharePoint 2010 with Office 2010 is part of Microsoft’s play to lock in users with what it describes as a one-two punch of the products working seamlessly together.

For example, one of the most important features for collaboration is the capability for users of Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 to co-author documents concurrently, Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft’s Business Division, told the business customers and media gathered at New York’s NBC Studios for the launch. That capability is provided by SharePoint Workspace 2010, formerly known as the Groove peer-to-peer client.

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SharePoint and Office 2010 Debut