Office 2010 – First Look

John Campbell | Nov 27, 2009 | Comments

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Well, I’m back at the computer after a well earned break from all things electronic, mobile phones, computers and the like. I’ve been on stress free Norfolk Island, a highly recommended holiday place 2½ hours from Sydney in the Pacific Ocean.

Paradise Found!

Paradise Found!

Back home, I decided it’s time to have a quick look at Microsoft’s latest creation, Office 2010. Though it’s still in the beta stage, it is available for downloading similar to Microsoft’s scheme they used for Windows 7.

Prior to going away for my break I registered my interest with Microsoft in trying out the Beta version.

Locating the Download Site

To locate the download site I used Bing and typed “Microsoft Office 2010”. In the list I chose, “microsoft office 2010 download”.

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You will be presented with two options to download. It doesn’t matter which one you choose as the end result is the same – a downloaded beta of Office 2010.

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Tip! Once you select the Download Now button, you can choose “Run” or “Save”. The former option commences the download and, once completed, installs Office 2010. Mostly I choose “Save” as I can then use downloaded applications on another computer. With Office 2010 I intend using it exclusively on my laptop while keeping Office 2007 on the desktop.

The downloading process can be slow depending on the speed of your internet connection. I received an email from Microsoft providing me with a product key which I used once Office was installed. Incidentally, this took several goes before I achieved this. So, if you find this happening don’t give up keep trying!

First Look at Office 2010

What do you get?

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I’ve really only looked at two features of Office 2010 so far, Word and PowerPoint. Both look to have some extra features.

To whet your appetite below is a screen shot of Word. You will note the similarity to Word 2007. Keep in mind that Office 21010 is only the beta version so lots of features though listed are unavailable.

no 4 word

From where I sit it, Office 2010 looks like a real “goer”. I would be interested to hear other folk’s opinion on this new creation of Microsoft.

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About the Author: Now kind of retired, teacher for over 40 years. Taught computer classes in TAFE Colleges after first retirement. Written three published books on Microsoft Works. Have written numerous training manuals on Windows, Word, Picasa, Powerpoint and Photostory. Worked as lecturer on Computer University @Sea for Crystal Cruises. Currently teaching elderly citizens in local Probus and U3A Clubs.

  • It look s quite good. Outlook seems to have benefited the most form the makeover. The ribbon is now consistent across all applications.
  • John Campbell
    Haven't looked beyond Word and PowerPoint! It's good you note commonality of ribbon across all other apps. Can you customize it there? You can beautifully in Word.
  • Jonathan
    Try out the web apps, the most useful word is not finished for editing but you can view word documents, view and edit both excel and powerpoints online through live skydrive.
  • husnainrasheed
    hmmmmm nice!
    really I am waiting for offcie 2010 very consciously!
  • Stephen
    Office 2010 is quite impressive and should be a worthwhile upgrade by release. Since some are using it as if it is final, I will stress it actually does have an array of bugs consistent with any beta. Actually, it is better than most betas I have used on that front but can still crash for no apparent reason and does have occasional memory managment issues. Personally, I would recommend running it in a virtual OS, or at least have an additional machine/partition available if something goes wrong. Another machine/OS is the only real option since it is not recommended that people install both the beta and Office 2007 on the same machine. On my end, I run the 64 bit version of Office 2010 on my primary partition and Office 2007 in a second copy of the 32 bit version of Windows 7 used for legacy apps that is running on a small (second) partition. Actually, I am also testing the 32 bit version of Office 2010 through a virtual OS running through VMware.

    My other major comment is that people should not install the 64 bit version if they need to be able to sync devices to Outlook, or use 32 bit add ins for Office 2007. Windows Mobile Device Center and various 32 bit third party add ins do not work with the 64 bit version of Office. It is also not a bug and will not be fixed in Office - it is a compatibility issue with 32 bit add ins. Those add ins (including WMDC) will need to be updated to work with the 64 bit release. It is the same deal that Photoshop CS4 users encountered last year when Adobe's 64 bit version hit the streets. Just a reality of the transition to 64 bit apps....

    Stephen
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