Microsoft has officially released its latest productivity tool, Office 2010 last week. It marks continuous effort from Microsoft in desktop based productivity tool at the time when web based office tool has grown its user base as well.The beta version of Office 2010 has been available for download since last year with millions of downloads since then. The success of beta is essential to Microsoft, where valuable information and feedback for improvement are gathered.
Unless you’re living in the US where Office 2010 can be purchased and downloaded from Microsoft online store, you need to have a look at any Microsoft partners nationwide to make a purchase. But at least, please make the pricing available such as at Microsoft US website.
Meanwhile, Microsoft Malaysia via its Office 2010 website has an unusual way to woo customers to get Office 2010. Yes, they’re giving away free coffee for 1 year (yes, you read it right) to the first 1000 users. Why coffee? Perhaps it’s synonym with office workers who consume coffee more than other working environment.
In Malaysia, Office 2010 is currently available to consumers in three suites (source)
- Office 2010 Home and Student edition includes Excel, PowerPoint, Word and OneNote : RM309
- Office 2010 Home and Business includes Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word and OneNote : RM688
- Office 2010 Professional includes Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, Access, Publisher and OneNote : RM1,799
As comparison, here is the Office Suite version in the US.
http://www.office2010.com.my/
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/office-2010-pricing-information-HA101810737.aspx
http://www.microsot.com.my
Microsoft has just launched the Office Live that they have announced before in their cloud storage, Skydrive. You’ll need to have Live/Hotmail account to access Office Live and after that you’re set to go.
Well, as you can see the shortcut to create office documents such as word and excel are available at the right side of the screen. It’s not pretty but it works.
According to blog post, you also can also upload document (drag and drop if your browser have Silverlight), edit the document, collaboration, read the docs in smartphone and etc.
The UI is exactly like the Office 2007 and onward with ribbon and etc but with less feature. So you have have no problem to get familiar with Office Live. It’s pretty slow in my testing and saving the doc is not working in Chrome (not sure why, probably my case only). It works perfectly in Firefox though.
Google Docs still provide seamless experience in creating document online to me, but Office Live deserve the credit to have it’s Office suite online considerably fast. Whoever the best wins!
Microsoft have the huge success with it’s strategy of offering free Windows 7 upgrade for every Windows Vista copy sold with computer last year. Microsoft will run similar program again, but now with Office 2010. The newest version of the most popular office suite in the world, Office 2010 will be released by June 2010 worldwide.
The program, known as Office 2010 Technology Guarantee is valid from March 5th, 2010 until September 30th, 2010 for each copy of these Office 2007 version.
* Office Home and Student 2007
* Office Small Business 2007
* Office Professional 2007
* Office Publisher 2007
The upgrade process will be fulfilled through online download with no additional cost. Head to www.office.com/techg for more information about the Office 2010 Technology Guarantee program.
Accompanying Office 2010 Beta is Office Web Apps, a light version of Office run on the web. In order to activate and start using it, Office 2010 Beta must be installed beforehand.
Unlike Google Docs, Office Web Apps doesn’t have specific URL dedicated for it at the moment. It use Live Skydrive as the storage of the documents , and launch Office Web Apps to handle the document upon requested by you. The interface view is very simple as you can see on the screen shot above.
Office Web Apps is capable of doing simple editing Office application such as Word and Excel. In my testing however, document editing is currently not available, meaning that you can only view the document that you upload. It’s quite disappointing , but since it still on Technical Preview stage, do not put much expectation to get it fully works.
Via Office Web Apps help page, here is how to activate Office Web Apps.
How to begin using your Office Web Apps in Windows Live
Follow these instructions to successfully begin using your Office Web Apps.
- Open an existing document or create a new one in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint 2010 on your PC.
- Click File to open Backstage, a full-window file menu that gives you easy access to functions such as saving, printing, and sharing.
- Click Share and then Save to SkyDrive (The free online storage service from Windows Live).
- In Backstage, click Sign in. You will be prompted to enter your Windows Live ID, or create a Windows Live account. If you use Hotmail, Messenger, or Xbox Live, you already have a Windows Live ID.
- Select from the list of SkyDrive folders that is displayed and then click Save As.
- In the dialog box that appears, type a file name and then click Save. Click File, and then click Close.
- Visit http://skydrive.live.com. If prompted, enter your Windows live ID and password and click Sign in.
- Select the folder where you saved your document. Click the file and then select View.
- You will be prompted to read and accept the terms of use. When you click Accept, you will be able to view, edit, and share your document online.
Office 2010 Beta has been made available for download couple of days ago, legally by Microsoft. If you have yet to try the new Office 2010, you can get it from Office 2010 Beta webpage. There are 2 version available for download, one for developer and another one for IT professional.
Be sure that you have Windows Live account as it require you to sign in with Live account to initiate the download process. Along the download steps, you’ll also be given unique MAK key to activate the copy of your download. Failed to do so will make the copy of Office 2010 beta expired automatically.
Although Microsoft recommend removing any previous version of Office, I found that Office 2010 installed successfully along side Office 2007 that I currently have. I can run both version without error, but I can’t tell if there is function broken on both side.
There are tonnes of features to explore, so watch this blog if you would like to know more.
