Officially available worldwide this Tuesday 15 June, Microsoft Office 2010 already sounds promising with improved performance and new features that will make our life even easier.
If you’ve already switched to Office 2007, the upgrade to 2010 will provide a consistent improvement of functions but for those who stuck with Office 2003, the cumulative changes are overwhelmingly positive and it’s hard to imagine an objective reason for not upgrading.
In Office 2010, Microsoft has put emphasis on productivity, usability, collaboration and accessibility.
Productivity
Microsoft puts the emphasis once more on productivity in Office 2010 with new features and improved functionality of existing features, allowing you to work faster, access information easily and be less dependent on other software. For example, you don’t need any third party design or video editing software to edit your images and videos in your PowerPoint presentation. Simple tools allow you to format size and colours, remove backgrounds, change presentation style within PowerPoint.
Improved Usability
The Ribbon, the most sweeping change in user interface introduced with Office 2007, is now present in Outlook, Publisher and OneNote as well. No more old style menus and toolbars. This is especially welcome in Outlook, where many previously buried options are now much easier to discover.
The File menu is also back. Office 2007 buried the file menu functions on the Office menu which proved less user-friendly. This is rectified with Office 2010 where the file menu appears at the far left hand in a bright colour. Unlike the other tab headings, it opens a full-page informational display called Backstage view. This backstage view allows you to view information about the current file or e-mail message, manage a list of recent menus and recent places, convert documents, handle printing tasks, without leaving the program window.
All Office 2010 applications also include a complete set of customization tools for the Ribbon. You can hide built-in tabs, move tabs and groups of commands up and down, rename tabs and groups, and create custom tabs with your own arrangement of favorite commands.
Collaboration
Office 2010 also brings in new collaboration features that will help users in their day to day work and interactions on a project. Whereas previously you could only read a document that was open by another colleague, it is now possible to work simultaneously on the same document. You would be able to see which part your colleague is editing and his changes are at once reflected on the document you opened. Some areas can also be blocked for editing. Updating one figure in a report could instantly provide updates on results to all users viewing the report.
Accessibility
Microsoft has made a substantial investment in online features for this edition. Office Web Apps enable users to use Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote online, with a common feature set that works on Windows Live SkyDrive for consumers and as part of SharePoint servers in big corporations.
Graphic reproduction of documents edited and opened online is impressive, near identical to the desktop version. Office Web Apps will be fully functional in not only Internet Explorer, but also other browsers such as Safari and Firefox, where as Opera and Chrome are supported but not garanteed.
Users will be able to share more easily their documents with colleagues and access them from any device with an Internet connection. A user could upload a PowerPoint presentation for example, that has a large file size and cannot be sent via email and give access for his colleagues to download, or the client to download at his office.
Access to your Office tools will become even easier with Office 2010 available on your PC, on your mobile and on your browser.
Reviews
Reviews of Office 2010 by different experts are generally positive. Award-winning technology writer Ed Bott said in his review: “Office 2010 is a surprisingly deep, thoughtfully designed, well-engineered collection of software programs”.
Will Microsoft kick off another upgrade cycle that will last for several years?
Useful Information for you
Microsoft Office 2010 is already available for companies having a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement and will be available to the general public worldwide end of June.
Training courses for Office 2010 will be available at Nuclei from September.
Stay tuned for more information on new features of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook on our website.
For more information, do not hesitate to contact us.
