Happy day, oh happy day: the SharePoint 2010 beta is now available for download to Microsoft MSDN and TechNet subscribers. The PTA Team Blog for Belgium & Luxembourg has more details, including links to the Office 2010 beta. Follow these download links for SharePoint 2010.

SharePoint Foundation 2010 beta (formerly called Windows SharePoint Server (WSS), free with Windows Server):

SharePoint Server 2010 beta (formerly called Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS), requires both server and client access licenses):

SharePoint 2010 is officially supported on Windows Server 2008 x64. SharePoint 2010 is 64-bit only. No 32-bit version exists, not even for development. If you need to spin up a 64-bit virtual machine, you must use Microsoft Hyper-V. No other Microsoft virtualization technology supports creating 64-bit virtual machines. Hyper-V requires Windows Server 2008 or later. If you want a desktop virtualization technology that supports 64-bit virtual machines, I recommend VMware Workstation, recently updated to version 7. Read my post on creating 64-bit virtual machines for more details.

Looking on getting started but don’t want or can’t spin up a Windows Server 2008 machine? No problem, use this MSDN article that shows how to install SharePoint 2010 including on Windows Vista or Windows 7. Just remember that whether you are installing SharePoint 2010 on Windows Server, Windows Vista, or Windows 7, SharePoint 2010 is 64-bit only.

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