It’s becoming more and more clear that Google is breathing down the neck of Microsoft when it comes to office and document-building software. Microsoft’s flagship Office software defeated Google Docs in our reader vote last week, but the margin of victory was surprisingly low. On top of that, Google is asserting that Google Docs will be a viable alternative to Office by 2010.

Microsoft isn’t taking this threat sitting down, though. In July, it announced Office 2010. It hosts an array of new features, with the biggest being a full online version of Docs, PowerPoint, and Excel.

Now the technology titan is taking the next step to bringing Office 2010 to market (and fighting back): the release of the Microsoft Office 2010 Beta.

The beta doesn’t boast a ton of differences from the Technical Preview that Microsoft released back in July. However, as you might expect, it is more stable and fixes bugs found in the technical preview. It’s also another chance for the company to gather more data before the ultimate launch next year.

If you’re interested in the beta, you can download it here after registering. Remember, it’s pre-release software, so expect some bugs.

Download Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta