Microsoft releases Office 2010 details, test code

The next version of Office moved a step closer to reality on Monday as Microsoft released an invitation-only technical preview of Office 2010.

However, the release of the software will be limited. Attendees of this week's Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, as well as the recent TechEd show, will gain access to the desktop versions of Office 2010. Microsoft has also been taking sign-ups via its Office 2010: The Movie teaser Web site.

Also, it won't show off the program's biggest change--the addition of browser-based versions of Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and OneNote.

Those so-called Office Web Applications are being demonstrated on Monday, but the technical preview of the Web apps won't come until later this year. For consumers, Microsoft plans to make the browser-based versions a free part of Windows Live next year, but hasn't decided whether they will include advertising.

The applications, which run in Safari, Firefox, and Internet Explorer, are aimed at both expanding the number of Office users within businesses as well as holding the ground threatened by Google Docs and other Web-based productivity programs.

On the desktop side, Microsoft plans a broader beta of the software later this year, with a final release in the first half of 2010.

Much of what is in the technical preview of Office 2010 is not a shocker, given that a test version of the software leaked onto the Web earlier this year, although Microsoft is offering further details on what's in the product as well as how it plans to sell the new software.

In its last update to Office--Office 2007--Microsoft introduced entirely new XML file formats and a to use a "ribbon" that shifts commands based on what the user is doing. Office 2010 is a set of less jarring changes, with Microsoft saying the goal was to make the basics better.

Office 2010 sticks with the ribbon motif, expanding it to include many of the Office components that didn't get the interface the last time around. Office 2010 will also come in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions--a first for Office.

Audio

Opening the door on Office 2010
CNET News reporter Ina Fried tells editor Leslie Katz
what we can expect to see in the latest version.

Download mp3 (1.81MB)

Word gets a collection of cool image effects that stem from the DaVinci Imaging Engine that was part of Microsoft's now-discontinued Digital Image Suite product. Word, as well as the other programs, gets a new "paste preview" tool that lets users hover over different paste options and see what their paste will look like before accepting that selection.

Excel gets a new feature called Sparklines, which are tiny graphs that can fit in a single cell of a spreadsheet. PowerPoint picks up video editing features as well as the ability to create a video of one's presentation, including voice annotations.

The Outlook e-mail and calendar program adds a conversation view feature, a la Gmail. Microsoft's feature goes further though, offering an "ignore thread" option which keeps a user from having to see a message string they are no longer interested in being a part of. It also has a "MailTips" feature that offers etiquette and security alerts before doing things as replying to a large group or sending a document outside the firewall.

To handle file tasks like saving and printing across Office, Microsoft has added a "backstage view" to each of the applications. It has also made it possible for multiple people to work on the same document simultaneously through co-authoring tools.

Microsoft is also simplifying the number of different Office bundles it sells. There will be three consumer versions. Office Home and Student comes with OneNote, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Office Home and Business adds Outlook to the mix, while Office Professional includes all that, plus the Access database and Publisher page-layout programs.

On the business side, Microsoft Office Standard, the standard package for volume licensing customers, includes Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, OneNote, and Publisher, with the last two applications being new additions to that edition. Licensing Office Standard also gives businesses the ability to host the browser-based versions of the software. The Professional Plus version adds Access, InfoPath, SharePoint Workspace (formerly Groove), and the Microsoft Communicator instant-messaging program.

Microsoft has yet to announce pricing for any of the products.

Microsoft Office 2010 technical preview (screenshots)

[alskiontheweb]

I couldn't afford Office 2007 so I still run Office 2003. I can't imagine being able ot afford 2010 either. That's where the problem lies, most of the desktop application versions are expensive where I can get reasonable functionality on the web for free. As I move off of Office 2003 and onto Google Calendar etc...I can see where Microsoft should feel threatened.

Office products are in general expensive. People complain about the price of windows too. So threatened? Maybe... But Microsoft is a company whose goal is to make money. It is expensive to write software, and unless you're Google (about the only one in the world who makes loot off of advertising), you have to charge. If you're too cheap to be able to pay (the RedHat pay for support model does not scale either), perhaps you're no longer a Microsoft customer.

[Commander_Spock]

Re: "Office products are in general expensive. People complain about the price of windows too...."

No longer should folks have to complain about th cost of an alternative "Office Productivity Suite". And, have you not tried the "freely" available IBM Lotus Symphony as yet???

Follow the below attached link and you will see what is being talked about:

http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.nsf/home

[thelemurking]

Also, Open Office is a great free alternative... it keeps getting better and better.

Chances are if you can't afford Microsoft products, then Apple is a definite no-mans-land for you. Perhaps it's time to switch to Linux (Ubuntu) and take the free ride.

[Mergatroid Mania]

Hah! We're still using Office 2000!

The thing about it is, we don't need anything else. There are the few occasions where some other business sends us an Excel file or something that won't work in Office 2000, and we just e-mail them and ask for them to send us a 2000 comparable version.

At the cost of the Office suit, there's no way we're going to spend hundreds of dollars replacing it if what we have fulfills our needs.

But I can say this for sure. If, for some reason, we HAD to upgrade our old Office 2000 we sure wouldn't go out and buy the newest version. I would download Open Office and symphony, try them both and keep whichever suited our needs best. I might even install both just to make sure we could open most documents.

I'll never purchase office software again since I can get similar software free now.

[webdev511]

OpenOffice and Lotus are functional, but let's be serious, who actually pays full retail for Office?

As an individual user, the full office suites ARE expensive, but when you're talking about use on computers at home, the whopping $90 for three seats of Home and Student (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, OneNote) is pretty cheap. If your company is on a MS Enterprise Licence, you should also be able to purchase a seat of whatever your company is using for use on a home PC.

People can wail and moan about how horrible the ribbon is, but the ones that are still doing so are those that are still on older versions of Office. The real problem with any office application is we never train end users. Sure people can be functional with no training, but just being functional isn't enough anymore.

[sanjayb]

cool

[Commander_Spock]

Hmmmmmmmm........ Re: "Also, it won't show off the program's biggest change--the addition of browser-based versions of Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and OneNote....."

Is it hearty welcome to that long awaited "FRESH" BREW "LOTUS KONA"; or, is it not!!!

And, are we talking to the "banks" that have all the money yet!!!

Have "Concorde" and "Executive Jest" Will Fly!

"Long Live The Kings Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley; and, OS/2 and Lotus Kona!

[codynews]

What the hell are you talking about?

[Commander_Spock]

Don't you know!!! If ya don't.... then what are ya doing on this forum. And, it can be anything from "lock-ins" to "functionalities" that are being talked about. Think "CITI" then think "Executive Jet" (as an example) and ya get the first lesson of the Economics 101 Class that you are now in.

[Commander_Spock]

Also, haven't you heard that "There Can Be Nothing New Under The Sun". So; here, (I have done your homework for you) take a look if you have never heard about "Lotus Kona".... before.

"Lotus brews potent Java with Kona"

http://www.morochove.com/watch/cw/ff70206.htm

"Using Lotus Components and Kona Applets"

http://docs.rinet.ru/PozaNotes/ch17/ch17.htm

"Oracle And Lotus In Negotiations For Kona"

http://www.informationweek.com/newsflash/nf625/0410_st5.htm;jsessionid=ETTNHVDBW5AFQQSNDLPSKH0CJUNN2JVN

Have a nice day!

[Jonathan]

Cmdr Spock had a few too many mind melds.

[Commander_Spock]

Just stay of the "topic" Jonathan,can't you? And, how about if you try not to "disturb/distract" the rest of the class until school is over when it will be all fun on the playing field.

[monkeyfun14]

Ah **** he's back

[Commander_Spock]

This should have read: "And, how about if you try not to "disturb/distract" the rest of the "International Economics Class of 2005" until school is over when it will be all fun on the "international economics" playing field.

[Commander_Spock]

Re: "Ah **** he's back". Nah, the trip was put off in order to enjoy more of the fun at the "Office" parties. (like the ones that were held around circa 1998)!

Do ya still have ya "dancing shoes"; or ya have some "ISO Standards" ones !

[Mergatroid Mania]

Wow, do you speak English man? You might THINK you do, but considering your message is pretty much completely illegible, maybe you're the one in the wrong forum.....

[Commander_Spock]

There are words like (using your commonsense) "Mergatroid Mania"; and, your presence on the forum at this time would be quite understandable if you were threatened with a pay cut if if you did not come out from your hiding and do what you are now trying to do. How much are you being paid.... ???

[magicmaster]

Many found they need only a limited numbers of functions to compose their reports, and the incentive to upgrade is pretty unimpressive.

[Random_Walk]

The incentive to upgrade comes when incompatibilities are introduced (see also .docx), and (if bothered to) compatibility packs offered for these incompatibilities are generally hidden from Joe Sixpack's view.

It's basically enough of a bother to get the user off of the old version, but not so much of a bother as to get that user thinking about competing products...

[empirestatebuddy]

I've been using 2007 at home for a couple years and hated "the ribbon" at first (because everything I knew about MS Office, I learned at work and on earlier versions). Now, though, I've gotten the hang of it and I kind of understand the logic in it. Even so, I think MS would've been better served to keep the "file menu" inside Office and just supplement it with the ribbon. They still should do that, in my opinion. People in a work environment don't always have time to re-learn everything they already know...

[clamenza]

Ribbon's overhyped. It's tolerable in Word, usually, but makes no sense in Excel and esp. Access. Makes it so much harder to get real work done.

And I'm not 30 yet.

[JohnLaCombe]

The ribbon single handedly caused me to purchase Office 07. It was totally different, but from the beginning I felt it was much more intuitive than the previous file menu setup.

[danielwsmithee]

The ribbon is a huge improvement, and any one using access deserves the troubles they get.

[jake3373]

At first, me (and everyone in my family) couldn't understand the ribbon. Now, I totally love it, and when I have to use computers with older versions of Office (ie. at school), I have trouble finding commands because I'm so used to the ribbon.

[RMarch]

Oh please. I remember when everyone said that nothing (and I mean nothing) would ever (and I mean ever) replace WordPerfect 5.1 with the ridiculous keyboard overlay. WYSIWYG was a silly undproductive toy for non professionals. The whole workforce would have to be retrained, etc.

The ribbon is intuitive and after a few days of serious work, I find it hard to believe anyone would chose to go back to the old menu structure. Although a nice keyboard function template would rock in Office 2010!

[kelmon]

OK, there's a few things here that are interesting to me:

"The Outlook e-mail and calendar program adds a conversation view feature, a la Gmail."

"PowerPoint picks up video editing features as well as the ability to create a video of one's presentation, including voice annotations."

Whether there is enough here to prompt an upgrade from Office 2007 Professional remains to be seen.

[Super2online]

There is way more to it. Watch these videos located on Long Zheng's website:
http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090713/office-2010-revealed-in-detail-via-microsoft-videos/

[jessiethe3rd]

Thanks for that video!

[rootsmusic]

Microsoft is combining their Home & Business editions? I thought they'll finally throw in Office Accounting into their Small Business edition of Microsoft Office.

[twitter_1963]

The problem with GMAIL / DOCS / PPT etc., is I need to access them on a plane with little / NONE / Slow internet access. What are MS plans here? Google gears is for tech heads! But then if you have a fat client, why bother with the cloud version. If the fat client synchs automatically, the cloud version is good when you want to use someone else's PC or Internet Cafe, I guess!!

[Mr. Dee]

If Office is expensive to you, its simply because you are not using the product to be productive to begin with. You just want to have Office, because its 'Microsoft Office' and not because of what made the suite so popular to begin. Either way, no Office software would be of use to you. Everything in Microsoft Office 2010 Standard is enough to run a small business by yourself and make money and be able to to look at the cost of the suite as chump change.

[Mergatroid Mania]

That's B.S.

We bought Office 2000 at the time because we needed it to be compatable with all the other businesses we deal with. It has NOTHING to do with "You just want to have Office, because its 'Microsoft Office'".

[Renegade Knight]

If it's expensive, that would be because it costs a lot.

[shamanskyh]

You could also refuse to give Microsoft any money and go with a free alternative such as Open Office.....

[Renegade Knight]

Browser based Office? One step closer to cloud computing and renting your applications.

I like owning my apps, and my data. Or at least having the perpetual right to use the apps to access my data.

[jessiethe3rd]

I'd wait for the annoucement on the function before going as so far to say that data will remain within the cloud. Unlike a strategy from Google I'd say that Microsoft has always been about giving you options. The cloud would probably be a lite version - full version on the application side.

[rcrusoe]

"Browser based (MS) Office" isn't the same as the apps offered by Google or Zoho. You have to create the documents in a desktop version of Office then upload them to the web. After uploading them you can do "light editing".

This may be useful for people that have already shelled out for MS Office, but it appears to be more of a "me too" add on.

[jessiethe3rd]

Um - don't think so. You could create the document online - I think you just won't get the full / rich experience as the applications on the desktop.

[shellcodes_coder]

office is expensive. Give me a break; dude go and get a job

[jessiethe3rd]

I just downloaded the tech preview - it's smoking! Outlook is very sweet! The interface has certainly changed. A solid upgrade.

[1812dave]

After Office 2003, is there really any need to upgrade?? I love 2003. I wouldn't use the newer office again if it were free.

[sanenazok]

The great news is that you don't have to upgrade. Ever. Other people, like me, for example, could never go back to 2003. Just try inserting line numbers in Word 2003. In 2007 it's two clicks. In 2003 it was nuts (page setup???). Same with section breaks. Oh and it's just as difficult to do these things in Office 97 which is where OO gets its UI.

[assman]

2003 was a total mess.. some people are just afraid of progress and will always lag behind.

[joni gudel]

I STILL USE OFFICE 2003 , I'M NOT USE OFFICE 2007, BECAUSE THIS OFFICE CAN'T USE CAUSE BUGS, I'M THINKING WHEN OFFICE NEW RELEASE ? ( WAWAT)

[assman]

Well said.

[SeattleSparkster]

According to our forums, we have some security IT folks interested in how folks can use web-bassed Office 2010 behind their companies' firewalls. According to Forrester analysts quoted in a PC World article:

"The big differentiator here is that Microsoft is providing more options to businesses in the ways which Web-based apps can be deployed," says McLeish. For instance, for businesses licensed for Microsoft's Software Assurance maintenance program it is not a requirement to access Office Web Apps through the Windows Live Online Service or through a subscription-based model. Microsoft is allowing companies with Software Assurance to run Office Web Apps as a free service within the company's firewall, and then give workers access to the apps via the Web. This will give skittish IT managers more control over potentially sensitive online content."

Read here: http://bit.ly/z8uLp