The waiting is over! Microsoft Office 2010 became available at the designated time to all users who were impatiently waiting for it. The interest that the new version of Office sparked is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that the beta version of Office 2010 was downloaded and tried by almost 8.5 million users, which is about three times the number of 2007 beta. It was announced on the official Microsoft blog that Office 2010 got RTM (Release to Manufacturing) status on 15th April this year, and the final version of the suite was branded 14.0.4763.1000. MSDN and TechNet subscribers have had the option to download the suite since 22nd April, whereas Volume Licensing with Software Assurance users could get hold of it since 27th April. Volume Licensing Service Centre (without the Software Assurance option) could get the suite since 1st May. And finally, the official launch of Office 2010 worldwide happened on 12th May, while retail versions are expected to hit the stores on June 15th.

Program Versions

There were many speculations of how many versions Office 2010 would have before the release date. The final announced number is six, but there are actually seven different versions, eight if you count Web Apps. So what’s this about? Well, Microsoft decided to offer the Office Starter 2010 version as well, which will not be sold to end-users. It will be free for them, but it will be ad-supported. Besides, only Word and Excel are included in this version, but we’re sure that most home users won’t see this as too much of a limiting factor. The interesting thing is that the Starter edition will only be sold to major system builders and for a symbolic amount of money at that; with certain Microsoft conditions that have to be respected, naturally. One of them is that Office Starter 2010 can only be installed on new computers, which means that users buying a Windows PC will also get almost fully functional versions of Word and Excel to start with. The question of how ads will be integrated into the programs remains to be answered when we get proper versions for reviewing. If manufacturers agree to install the Bing Bar and Windows Live Essentials together with Office Starter 2010, Microsoft will “reward” them with a price of a mere 2$ per unit. Otherwise, the price will remain at 5$ per unit. It seems to us that Microsoft is stepping on the toes of (primarily European) anti-monopolists once more, but let’s wait and see whether this licensing system will raise any eyebrows at all. Besides, Microsoft representatives explained themselves that the idea behind this sort of decision is the possibility of users, once accustomed to the new Office surroundings, opting to pay for a “normal” Office version with no ads or limitations.

Versions that have been confirmed to appear on the market are: Home and Student, Home and Business, Standard, Professional, Professional Plus and Professional Academic. Feel free to look at the charts for additional information about these versions, while we will only emphasize certain details. Standard and Professional Plus versions are intended exclusively for volume licensing in companies and won’t be available in retail. Professional Plus is also the most complete version of the program, followed by Professional and Professional Academic versions. These two are basically identical, with the difference being reflected only in price and packaging design. The Academic version is significantly cheaper, but can only be obtained via authorised academic resellers and in retail packaging. Another important thing is that the Home and Student version mustn’t be installed in business surroundings, regardless of whether it’s a non-profit or standard company, as well as state institutions.

Besides the chart-stated ways of obtaining Office 2010, Microsoft will also offer a few additional options for buying this program suite. Certain partners will also receive the so-called Product Key Cards. These are separate stand-alone licences with no DVD medium, intended for sales in large retail IT outlets. This key will unlock the trial version of the Office 2010 suite preinstalled by the PC manufacturer. Finally, Microsoft will distribute Office 2010 through its new “Click-to-Run” distribution network, which will enable this suite to be bought digitally, by downloading the software from the internet. This way, new patches will be automatically installed and slipstreamed, which means that you’ll always get the most up-to-date version of Office 2010 when buying it like this.