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Software Office 2010 Set for June Launch
Shane McGlaun (Blog) - November 30, 2009 10:30 AM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 29 comment(s) - last by kc77.. on Dec 2 at 12:31 AM
Office 2010 in six version glory coming next summer

The most widely used productivity application on the planet is Microsoft Office. Microsoft makes the lion's share of its money from sales of Office and its Windows operating system.

Windows 7 hit the market recently and has been racking up impressive sales numbers. As of mid-November, Windows 7 had been able to grab 4% of the PC market. It took Windows Vista months to reach the same point.

A new version of Office called Office 2010 is also set to launch -- Neowin reports that the launch is scheduled for June 2010. The new version of Office will support ribbons for all products and a new Version of Office for Mac users will launch some time in 2010.

In all, six different versions of Office will be launching. Perhaps the most important to users on a budget will be the free version offering Word and Excel with ads to support the cost and limited functionality. Exactly what functions will be limited is unknown at this time.

Other version of the Office 2010 suite will include Starter, Home and Student, Home and Business, Standard, Professional, and Professional Plus. The Professional Plus version is available in public beta right now.

Applications available in Office 2010 include Access, Excel, InfoPath Designer, InfoPath Filler, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, SharePoint workspace, Word, and Communicator. Microsoft is also updating Visio and Project to 2010 versions, neither of which are included with any Office 2010 version.

Users who have a TechNet or MSDN subscription should be able to get the full version of Office 2010 ahead of the rumored June launch date. The beta version of Office 2010 available now does require a license key from Microsoft.


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I'm not an Office 2007 fan...
By iFX on 11/30/2009 10:34:37 AM , Rating: 1
... mostly because of the interface - however, it's still a superb product. I'm hoping that we'll see something similar to the Win7 upgrade from Vista - fix all the interface stuff and improve reliability.




RE: I'm not an Office 2007 fan...
By wushuktl on 11/30/2009 10:41:07 AM , Rating: 4
i really like the ribbon interface. i find it much more useful and quick to use than pull down menus


RE: I'm not an Office 2007 fan...
By ggordonliddy on 11/30/2009 10:59:33 PM , Rating: 1
Yeah, soooo much more useful and quick. It's great to have to HOLD DOWN THE ALT KEY THE WHOLE TIME in order to see the shortcuts, rather than just pressing Alt once and releasing. What kind of dumb@ss fruitloop are you?


RE: I'm not an Office 2007 fan...
By dark matter on 12/1/2009 5:15:22 AM , Rating: 3
Always amazes me how rude people are on the Internet. Why is he dumb for liking the new interface? I quite like it too. I guess that must make me a dumb @ss as well.

I do wonder if you are the type of person to be so rude to peoples faces or if you are the keyboard warrior type. Tend to get a lot of them on the Internet for some reason.


By ggordonliddy on 12/1/2009 9:35:40 PM , Rating: 2
Yes, if you like it then you too are quite the buffoon. You obviously never learned to be efficient with an interface which has far greater potential efficiency than the cartoon we are now stuck with. You simpering Microsoft fanboiiiis just latch on to whatever they feed you. They needed a reason for you to buy a new Office version, so they came up with the ribbon gimmick, even though they know it is worse. And I'd be fine with them having it as an OPTION, but not taking away the far greater interface that so many of us vastly prefer.

You are wrong. Learn it and learn to love it.

And I'm doing this on the Internet because that is where the idiocy (such as Ribbon fanatics) is in most need of rebuke.


RE: I'm not an Office 2007 fan...
By kc77 on 12/2/2009 12:31:31 AM , Rating: 2
Unfortunately Ribbon is pretty bad. If you go with the line MS is saying about placing common items in groups you'll often find things hiding in places that make no sense. Word isn't too bad, but Excel, and especially Access are UI nightmares.

Take Excel for example. The Chart Wizard is gone and replaced by functions which occur over two different tabs. Easier? I don't think so.

Or Access, security features are under the completely unidentified MS button, while macro security features are under a completely different tab. That's not even getting into what Access 07 will do to SQL queries.

There is no problem with you liking it at all. However, lets at least agree that an interface, which changes everything so drastically that it leaves everyone who is experiencing it for the first time in complete wonderment, to be anything other than what it is...less intuitive.


RE: I'm not an Office 2007 fan...
By smackababy on 11/30/2009 10:43:53 AM , Rating: 3
A lot of people say this without having taken the time to truely use the interface. It is a lot more efficent once you understand it.


RE: I'm not an Office 2007 fan...
By iFX on 11/30/2009 11:10:47 AM , Rating: 4
Silly me, I should spend more time with Office 2007. Apparently using it Mon-Fri since December of 2006 isn't enough time for me to understand how wonderful it is.

Some people just don't like it. I bet that blows your mind. :)


RE: I'm not an Office 2007 fan...
By The0ne on 11/30/2009 11:21:46 AM , Rating: 2
Same with me. Been using it for a while now and still not used to it. Using the custom bar instead. Have most of the functions I use on their for easy access like before. No switching ribbons, no drop downs. That's how I like it.

Have yet to try office 2010 yet although I have both the 32/64bit ready. Actually not looking forward to it but curious about the changes.


RE: I'm not an Office 2007 fan...
By Drag0nFire on 11/30/2009 11:43:13 AM , Rating: 2
The one thing I did appreciate is that they left the old shortcuts in place (even though they changed the menus). For example, I'm used to doing Alt, T, W for a word count. It still works in 2007 even though the tools menu doesn't exist anymore.


RE: I'm not an Office 2007 fan...
By The0ne on 11/30/2009 12:21:35 PM , Rating: 3
I could never bring myself to learn the keyboard shortcuts for Office as well. But with Wordperfect and other word processors back then I was a pro hahaha. Tables, charts, everything I did with shortcuts. Good old days I tell ya.

Was the same with Orcad before they migrated to a GUI interface and increased the file size 1 billion times bigger ><!

Office is good and I use it daily but I just wish I had the urge to want to learn the new ribbon style but it's just not for me.


RE: I'm not an Office 2007 fan...
By quiksilvr on 12/1/2009 1:18:41 AM , Rating: 2
But what is there not to like? I'm honestly trying to figure this out. Yes, at first it sucks because we are used to the buttons. But once you use it, it just makes sense. The Header and Footer is in the INSERT tab because you aren't trying to view it, you are trying to put it in.

When you right click you have instant access to the most commonly used functions. Furthermore, if you are just used to the usual page setup, you can click on the lower right hand button.

I fail to see the problem. And after nearly three years, I find it hard to believe that you haven't gotten used to the interface and enjoy how everything is neatly organized.

Plus Office 2010 will let you make customized ribbons, so there's that to look forward to (although the Quick Access Toolbar is pretty handy if I forget where certain functions are. You literally can put all the functions you most commonly used along the top if you want)


RE: I'm not an Office 2007 fan...
By jonmcc33 on 11/30/2009 10:48:37 AM , Rating: 2
I only use Office for Outlook for e-mail and Excel to fill out my timesheets as a contractor. Otherwise I could care less about any features of the way it looks.


RE: I'm not an Office 2007 fan...
By riku0116 on 11/30/2009 11:18:30 AM , Rating: 2
Then you REALLY won't like 2010. Every single app as received the full ribbon treatment (including Outlook and OneNote).

I personally don't see why anyone wouldn't like the ribbon interface. Everything is organized intuitively under tabs. You can even fully customize every single ribbon if you feel something's not in the right place. And if you feel that the ribbons themselves take up too many valuable vertical pixels like me, you can easily hide them with a double click on the tab. Everything just works.


By Chernobyl68 on 11/30/2009 1:25:59 PM , Rating: 2
I don't like that I can't customize ribbon toolbars. All my custom stuff goes in one toolbar at the bottom. I'm seriosuly considering getting the aftermarket add-on that reverts the menus to previous GUI.


RE: I'm not an Office 2007 fan...
By Byte on 11/30/2009 5:08:00 PM , Rating: 2
Public beta has been incredibly buggy. Skydrive sync hasn't worked for me yet. Word/Excel stalls a lot in Win7. Seems fine on XP, but Sharepoint Workspace won't even launch on certain machines. Recent files also takes an extra click within the programs. The themes also look like they came from OSX. MS has a lot of work to do.


Why?
By Spivonious on 11/30/2009 11:23:32 AM , Rating: 2
I'm not in school and don't use Office much at work. Can anyone give me a valid reason to upgrade from my trusty old Office 2000 (which works fine on Win7)?




RE: Why?
By Chernobyl68 on 11/30/2009 1:27:51 PM , Rating: 2
because you won't be able to open or properly read some documents sent to you in new formats?


RE: Why?
By Spivonious on 12/1/2009 9:21:30 AM , Rating: 2
RE: Why?
By Bateluer on 11/30/2009 3:30:52 PM , Rating: 1
Nope. If you need to 'upgrade', upgrade to OpenOffice.org.


RE: Why?
By weskurtz0081 on 11/30/2009 8:36:16 PM , Rating: 2
If he does that, he needs to make sure he is familiar enough with the software to change the default file formats to something useful.

Personally, I would go with MS Office over open office, it's more polished.


Good
By bradmshannon on 11/30/2009 10:42:17 AM , Rating: 4
I'm glad M$ is doing better with their software releases. I like Office 2007 and I look forward to 2010. I know most people hate it, but I think SharePoint 2010 will be good too ;)




Can't come soon enough
By corduroygt on 11/30/2009 12:58:34 PM , Rating: 2
Using Office 2007 at work with Outlook's horrible search speed and functionality is really hurting me. Here's my suggested improvements:

1. Word: It's fine for what it is and target audience.
2. Excel: Thanks for increasing the max row count to 1 million, now please increase it to 100 Million or so, we all have 4+GB memory in our machines these days.
3. Outlook, please look at gmail or Mac mail's search function and implement it, this is a killer.
4. Powerpoint: Like word, fine for it's intended audience.




RE: Can't come soon enough
By Bateluer on 11/30/2009 4:57:19 PM , Rating: 2
Increase Excel's maximum rows to 100 million? Are you nuts? If your tables are that large, its time to use a good database program. Don't encourage people, you know the type of person I'm taking about, to make their Excel docs any larger.

And, FYI, not every machine has 4GB of RAM and the 64 bit OS to use it. I would surmise that the majority of corporate machines are between 512MB and 1GB of RAM.


The Ribbon
By DrApop on 11/30/2009 3:34:37 PM , Rating: 2
I really dislike the ribbon. What was wrong the the button bar?? You could group different buttons and it took up less room. The current ribbon is a behemoth that takes up 1-2 inches of space at the top of the screen....and I don't want it hidden as that is just another step.

For many simple operations it requires more clicks than the button bar or the menu system, especially if you aren't on the correct tab.

I liked my button bar...all set up and in plain site with my buttons right were I can find them.

Well, I guess the world has to change at some point but I really do not understand how the ribbon makes things easier. I've been using office 2007 for almost 2 years and I still have to hunt for things on the ribbon.




RE: The Ribbon
By ggordonliddy on 11/30/2009 11:03:37 PM , Rating: 2
It does not make things easier or faster. It is for dumb@sses and ignoramuses who are too stupid to learn the old way - which is much faster for anyone who is not retarded.


By Bateluer on 11/30/2009 10:58:37 AM , Rating: 3
I can't see myself paying full price for Office 2010, I only bought 2007 because of I got it through my employer's home use program for 20 USD.

If this is released in June 2010, then I'm finished with school for a while and won't have the need to have MS Office. OOo will suffice just fine.

However, I do like what I see in the public 2010 beta so far though.




I hope it doesn't get delayed
By Kibbles on 11/30/2009 11:36:29 AM , Rating: 2
I hope it doesn't get delayed and goes RTM before July. My technet goes to July 12.
Though I'm still more used to Office 2003 interface, the new file format is awesome for networked editing/saving. Some of our old .xls files that were 1.2mb are now only 160kb in the new .xlsx format in 2007.




i like the ribbon
By NA1NSXR on 11/30/2009 6:06:50 PM , Rating: 2
But the problem is, if I really commit to using it, and heavily customize it for my usage, it feels foreign again all over on another computer with the default setup.

This will always be a problem with such a widely used suite though, changes affect so many people that its impossible to make everyone happy.




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