Microsoft has released a first beta version of the Office 12 suite. The test version of the software has been made available to a selected group of 10,000 customers and partners. The final version of the application is expected to be made available in the second half of 2006.

The new suite's main new feature is a user interface that Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates unveiled last September at the Professional Developer Conference in Los Angeles.

A second beta of the application will be made available spring 2006 to a wider group of testers. The software vendor is inviting interested tested to sign up online.