Small Business Technology Blog

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Microsoft Unveils Office 2010 & Public Beta Details [Including Adware Starter Edition]


Microsoft Office 2010 will be released to general public and retail markets shortly. If you are gearing up to buy Office 2010, a recent post on Microsoft TechNet has details of things you should know about Office 2010.

Microsoft has released some information about their “Office 2010 adware version” and the public beta for trying out Office 2010.

Many comsumer grade PC's and laptops come preloaded with a "home edition" of Office software. You can try out and use Microsoft office for a period of 60 days, after which it will work with reduced functionality and disable editing features. (it becomes a viewer only)

If you are satisfied with the performance, you can go ahead and buy a copy and activate the version you already have installed.

However, starting with Office 2010, Microsoft is introducing a new way of selling Office software in the form of Product Key cards. The Product Key Card is a single license card that can be used to unlock pre-loaded Office 2010 versions.

The Office 2010 Product key card can be used to unlock, Microsoft Office – Office Home & Student 2010, Office Home & Business 2010, or Office Professional 2010.



Ad-Supported Office Starter 2010 Edition

Microsoft is completely doing away with Microsoft Works, which often gets preloaded on new laptops and PCs. Microsoft Works allowed users to view and open Office documents on their PC but didn't offer the same advanced functionality that Microsoft Office did.

However, once Office 2010 is launched, all new consumer grade laptops and PCs will be preloaded with Microsoft Office Starter 2010 Edition.

However, this edition will be act like a “adware software”. Along with some reduced functionality, you will also see advertisements popping up every now and then.

The idea behind ad-supported software isn't new, it's how the google search engine, facebook and even Linked-in websites are run, however Microsoft Office will be the first large scale test of this concept in an insatlled (rather than web based) application.
Which key functions will help small business in office 2010 and which version of office 2010 is best suited for small business (Pro or Home & Businesss) still remains to be seen, but keep on eye on our blog for more breaking news on the next version of Microsoft Office!

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