I had heard last year that this would drop in April – but it now looks like H2 2010… still, now that its been announced, maybe the very open release date will be met 🙂

http://blogs.technet.com/microsoft_blog/default.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/2010office/imageGallery.aspx

As per the pictures, looks like the social connector stuff is a focus with outlook…. seems to be a focus for MS at the moment – not really sure why for a business application, but meh, where MS focus their efforts often confuses me.

Interested to see the survivability features – and would love to see the ability to use a mediation server with an authenticated sip end-point, it would really bring OCS an ability to replace PBX’s cheaply in small businesses – but alas, it is unlikely – as apparently its not where OCS is aimed.