For several years now, Microsoft has been focused on offering multiple evaluation paths for trying out new software. The traditional software trial is available where you download a timebombed version of the software, install it on your own hardware, and hopefully have no major issues. For this release, there are three additional options which should make software evaluation easier.

First is the Virtual Experience. With the Virtual Experience, you are basically set up with a user account in the Microsoft Unified Communications Virtual Experience. In this trial, you can work with Outlook Web Access and Office Communicator 2007 R2 from the user perspective.

The next option is the Virtual Hard Drive experience (this is my favorite route). The Virtual Hard Drive is a fully configured Exchange Server 2010 server with a populated Active Directory in the Contoso.com domain. The Virtual Hard Drive runs on any Hyper-V capable server.

The third option is to test drive Exchange Server 2010 using Microsoft Online Services. This sets up a 30 trial account for Microsoft Online Services, allowing you to create users and access Exchange, Communications Server, Office Live Meeting, and SharePoint online.