During the Nashville Technology Council, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says, ”You’ll see the next version of Office, which comes out here in just a couple of months.”

Microsoft released the first Beta of Office 2010 in Nov 2009 and scheduled the final release (GA) in June 2010, that means Microsoft will release Office 2010 for consumers in June 2010. To do so, Microsoft requires to meet the RTM deadline in next couple of months and Ballmer could have referred actually to the RTM of the next version of the productivity suite.

Microsoft has confirmed the general availability of Office 2010 to Softpedia, which is approximately five months away.

Softpedia confirms, “It appears that customers won’t be able to purchase the successor of Office 2007 in the coming two or three months. This is what a Microsoft spokesperson had to say when I asked whether there was any truth to Ballmer’s remark: “We expect Office 2010 and related products to be generally available in June 2010.” In this regard, customers will only be able to purchase Office 2010, Visio 2010, SharePoint 2010 and Project 2010 in June 2010.”

Download: Office 2010 Beta 14.0.4536.1000