Despite it being the second most used application on my work computer
(behind the Mozilla Firefox browser), it’s still impossible for me to
get excited about a new edition of the Microsoft Office suite.
With the final release due in a couple of months, Microsoft have
provided a beta test version of Office 2010 that’s free for members of
the public to download. The beta test version will run unhindered until
October 2010 at which point users must decide whether they wish to
purchase the final release or have it removed from their hard drive.
For the costs involved the majority of home users may still be better
off with the free OpenOffice Suite (www.openoffice.org) as it should
provide all the features you are likely to need at no cost. This having
been said, the Office Suite has remained a popular flagship product
over the years due to business users often requiring a specific function
or application only present in the Microsoft offering. I, for example,
use Outlook on a regular basis and haven’t yet found an alternative
that suits my needs.
Having not been the biggest fan of Office 2007 (especially the
‘ribbon’ interface discussed in the past) I wasted no time downloading
the 64-bit professional version of the beta to put it through its
paces. I have now been using it for a couple of days it does appear
notably faster than Office 2007 and certainty incredibly stable. The
speed increase could easily be attributed to the fact that a 64-bit
version of the application is now available to run on modern 64-bit
computers.
Office Professional 2010 includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, InfoPath,
OneNote, Outlook, Access and Publisher. The home edition (also
currently available in beta) includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
and OneNote. After the official release, computer manufacturers may
choose to bundle new machines with a starter edition of Office which
includes just Excel and Word; this version of Office will replace the
aging Microsoft Works Suite.
Although the ribbon interface remains, it is certainly a lot clearer
than that provided with Office 2007; the confusing Office orb has been
replaced with the familiar file menu, there are fewer distracting
borders, a neutral colour scheme and most importantly it is customisable
to the users individual tastes. The applications look and behave like a
‘family’ now and have become more intuitive to use as a result of the
more refined user interface.
An important new feature due for release in the final version but
missing from the beta is the ‘Web Apps’ which will extend the Office
functionality to a compatible web browser. Very similar in form to
Google Docs, Office Web Apps allows users to collaborate, edit and share
Office documents online. This is an incredibly important new feature
that has no doubt come about due to the success of Google Docs and one
that I would like to field test when complete.
This article isn’t long enough to go in to details about minor new
features so I will summarise by observing that the changes made from
Office 2007 to Office 2010 are evolutionary rather than revolutionary;
very much in the same way that Windows 7 was an evolutionary change
compared with Vista. Excluding the Web Apps there is nothing
substantially new however the minor improvements are certainly welcome
as is the chance to road test a new piece of software completely free of
charge for a year.
Users interested in downloading the beta version of Office 2010
should visit www.microsoft.com/office/2010 to get their hands on a copy.
(Source)
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