Microsoft officials have announced today that Microsoft Exchange 2010 is code complete and has reached RTM (Release to Manufaturing). The full press release can be viewed on the Microsoft Exchange Team"s blog.
"We are happy to announce that Exchange 2010 is Code Complete! Our senior leadership team has signed off on the final code, and it has been sent to our early adopters for one final look before its public release. This Release to Manufacturing (RTM) milestone means we are on our way to general availability and the launch at Tech·Ed Europe 2009 (https://www.microsoft.com/europe/teched/) in early November."
In an effort to make Exchange 2010 compatible with the advanced processing power of many current computers, Exchange 2010 will be available in a 64-bit-only version, breaking away from the more restrictive 32-bit version - aligning Microsoft"s software with the current computing power. There will be some additional features including: a new "conversation view" feature and a "MailTips" feature designed to eliminate those frequent email mistakes.
It will also include a re branded version of Outlook Web Access which is now known as Outlook Web App, compatible with a variety of browsers. Outlook Web Access will now be considered part of the Office Web App family because of the branding/naming alteration - this is how Microsoft Exchange is connecting itself with the newly devoloped Web Apps.
Obviously there will not be a great deal of integration with Office 2010. Although, according to Zack Whittaker, of the iGeneration blog on ZDNet.com, the first people to take full advantage of any integration between Office 2010 and Exchange 2010 will be Live@edu students and this will come in the form of the development of Outlook Live and Office Web Apps via SkyDrive:
"Microsoft uses Live@edu as a testing ground for their own products. Outlook Live uses Exchange Server 2010 which only a few months ago was the only public viewing of the service. With that, Microsoft has gained around a year"s worth of feedback and user data before Exchange 2010 had even been released, allowing them to make products better based on error reports and usage et al."