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I recently attended the Microsoft partner session for Office 2010. There is so much happening with Microsoft at the moment across the board, it really feels there isn't one single exciting thing happening, but a range of  things happening that need to be reviewed and considered.

One thing stood out in my mind as I sat and watched demonstrations and that was Office 2010 is a good looking product. Microsoft certainly do make a polished product. In this case however beauty isn't skin deep. There is a lot to this release of Office 2010.

If you asked the question, "is there a single must-buy reason to purchase Office 2010?", the answer is probably not really. Based on my experience with clients, most will simply migrate to Office 2010 as older machines reach end of life and new machines are rolled out. Whilst there isn't a single compelling reason, there are a range of things which I will be considering in the coming weeks.

Perhaps the most exciting update is Office web applications. I for one will be giving them a burl to see if they add value for my business and for my clients. With users getting a massive 25GB of online storage, I'm interested in the opportunities that presents.

I thought I'd share a couple of things that stood out for me in the presentations.

1. I really did think, WOW, Microsoft really do make good looking software.
2. The range of Office 2010 editions has been reduced which to me is a good thing.
3. It was said something like 98% of new machines will come with Office installed and all you need to do is buy the appropriate product key card to unlock the applications you need.
4. The idea of upgrades is now gone which will be disconcerting for some, but once they realise the full product price is similar to the old upgrade price that means everyone is better off. It really makes sense to get rid of the idea of upgrades. It is a much simpler approach to treat each release of Office as a new product. For me this gets rid of a lot of support issues in handling the upgrade versus full product situation. This should have been done years ago.
5. For my clients I believe for the extra cost of purchasing the edition which contains Microsoft Access, when spread over three years, has been worth the extra money. This has probably changed. The version with Access is typically twice as dear and so it no longer makes as much sense. If people want Access and don't want Publisher, then it makes sense to purchase Access separately.
6. OneNote is now included across all versions of Office. I've never used OneNote, so I intend to try it out and see if it adds value to my experience.
7. One feature that is very impressive is in-place editing of images and videos. Microsoft is helping  the user by making it easier to edit images and videos without exiting out to other software. That was really quite impressive.
8. I think most small/medium businesses will opt for Office Home & Business 2010 and home users will opt for Office Home & Student 2010 (which includes a 3 user licence).
9. Interestingly I'd suggest that all home users try out the free versions of Office web apps that I believe will be available as part of Windows Live. I'll be evaluating the free version to see if it delivers enough for a range of users who don't need as much out of the Office product.
10. For business users the Office web apps offer some interesting options and this is where working in the cloud versus the local computer, will take time to work out the advantages and disadvantages involved.

Overall I find the situation rather interesting. I'm not normally excited with an Office upgrade as it is something we are quite used to. However there is so much to the Office 2010 desktop and web version, it is a bit exciting to start reviewing everything to determine where the new release can add value for my clients.

One thing I did ask was whether or not the ribbon bar could be minimised as I find it takes up so much space. I use a netbook now and to me that extra space is invaluable. With over 60 million netbooks sold it appears to me that Microsoft designers didn't anticipate the smaller netbook screen size. I personally feel the cloud offers one solution for portability, but so do portable form factors such as tablets and smaller devices which the HP Slate might or might not be one in the future. A lot of people will feel more comfortable with their data on a portable device than in the cloud and portable devices have the advanatage of your data always being available. Office could still work well on quite small form factors but the ribbon bar consumes too much screen area. The answer is, no it can't be shrunk or minimised. Ah well, we can't have everything.

As I explore the new world of Office 2010 and Office web apps, I'll be sharing what I find via this blog and MyAnswers.

Enjoy,

Kelvin Eldridge

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