Here is the official word folks!

Today, Microsoft is releasing the public beta of

• Office 2010, SharePoint Server 2010, Visio 2010, Project 2010, and Office Web Apps for business customers.  Millions of people can download the beta at www.microsoft.com/2010 (or from TechNet: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9695128).
• Office Mobile 2010 has also reached the public beta milestone and is now available on the Windows Mobile Marketplace for Windows Mobile 6.5 phones.

As part of the beta Microsoft is unveiling several new capabilities, including:

• The Outlook Social Connector, a new feature which brings communications history, business and social networking feeds into the Outlook experience.  
• At beta The Outlook Social Connector will support SharePoint social networking and support Windows Live at launch.
• Microsoft is also announcing that Linked-in and Facebook will be the among the first third-party social networking sites that have providers for the Outlook Social Connector.
• Microsoft also released the Outlook Social Connector SDK for developers to build connectors to third party social networks. 
• Technology and design advancements, including deeper integration between Office 2010 and Office Web applications, improved navigation, visual design and icon updates, a new Office logo and increased performance and stability. 

As a result of the continued partnership with SAP, Microsoft also announced intent to deliver Duet Enterprise for Microsoft SharePoint and SAP, which will expand the long standing Duet partnership. The joint solution from SAP and Microsoft will integrate SAP applications with SharePoint 2010 and provide complete flexibility and extensibility to compose solutions that blend the worlds of process and collaboration. The solution is planned to be released in the H2 2010.

Download the Office 2010 Beta today: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9695128

Office 2010 Blog post announcing the Beta: http://blogs.technet.com/office2010/archive/2009/11/16/announcing-office-2010-beta-availability.aspx

For more information, check out Office 2010 (Beta) on TechNet at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/ee263913.aspx.