Office.com, is Microsoft preparing for the launch of Office 2010.

Microsoft has recently acquired the domain name Office.com for an undisclosed amount. The domain was purchased  from a Brussels-based company, according to searches of Internet registration records the domain registration transaction occurred on August 4 2009.

The domain, which was previously registered to the ContactOffice Group, ContactOffice previously used the Office.com domain to hosts online office productivity tools.

Office.com currently shows  a message informing its users that the company will be transferring its online activities to the ContactOffice.com domain.

“As of Friday, July 31, 2009, Office.com will no longer be available,” said Tom Graham, a ContactOffice employee, in the message still live on the site. Also, if you use POP or IMAP with Office.com you will need to change your settings to pop.contactoffice.net and imap.contactoffice.net respectively,” Graham added.

There has been speculation from many online bloggers that Microsoft will use the Office.com domain for online versions of its popular Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote applications via its Office Live Workspace (currently in beta)  scheduled for simultaneous release with Office 2010 for release in the first half of of next year.