Browse All Articles > Microsoft Office 2010
Microsoft Office 2010 is Microsoft's latest edition to their office productivity collection. It "promises to include rich and powerful new ways to deliver your best work".
So to start off, I have to say that I'm slightly disappointed...
That being said let me explain why. First off, when installing the new Office Suite, you're given the option to remove the older version of individual applications. Upon installation, I thought that I somehow purchased a degraded version. The interface seemed drab and dull, however I later found out that you can adjust the color scheme in the options menu. Once I changed the color scheme, things looked a little better, but not quite as nice as Office 2007. Once you get past Office's boring looks, it's not too much of a waste of money.
I did however find out that they changed the menu bar. They took out the Office logo from the top left corner and there is now a file menu. It will take some getting used to, but I think that it will work better than the previous version. The menu items have been laid out to make accessing them a little easier. Also, any changes to the visual options are updated across the suite, so that Publisher will have a similar look to it as Word.
Word now has a paste preview which is a little handy. I have noticed few other changes to word. Excel had little done to change it from what I saw. Publisher now has the Ribbon Toolbar, too bad that this wasn't available in 2007, it should have been, but it makes navigating through the menus easier. Outlook has had a makeover to make it easier to read emails and handle your massive In Box. PowerPoint has added more video tools, which is nice. OneNote has been conveniently enabled to share with others to make collaboration easier.
All-in-all, if you already have Office 2007, you may want to download a trial before chucking out the big bucks for the new Office. If you're running an earlier version, I think that it would be worth the money to get the latest copy. My opinion of office 2010 is that they finally finished Office 2007 and branded it as 2010.
So to start off, I have to say that I'm slightly disappointed...
That being said let me explain why. First off, when installing the new Office Suite, you're given the option to remove the older version of individual applications. Upon installation, I thought that I somehow purchased a degraded version. The interface seemed drab and dull, however I later found out that you can adjust the color scheme in the options menu. Once I changed the color scheme, things looked a little better, but not quite as nice as Office 2007. Once you get past Office's boring looks, it's not too much of a waste of money.
I did however find out that they changed the menu bar. They took out the Office logo from the top left corner and there is now a file menu. It will take some getting used to, but I think that it will work better than the previous version. The menu items have been laid out to make accessing them a little easier. Also, any changes to the visual options are updated across the suite, so that Publisher will have a similar look to it as Word.
Word now has a paste preview which is a little handy. I have noticed few other changes to word. Excel had little done to change it from what I saw. Publisher now has the Ribbon Toolbar, too bad that this wasn't available in 2007, it should have been, but it makes navigating through the menus easier. Outlook has had a makeover to make it easier to read emails and handle your massive In Box. PowerPoint has added more video tools, which is nice. OneNote has been conveniently enabled to share with others to make collaboration easier.
Pros:
Microsoft has rebuilt the office menu (into a file menu), making it easier to find the settings that you need such as opening templates and getting updates.
New features have been added to make editing your document easier and give a preview before making the changes.
The "Ribbon Toolbar" is visible across the software suite, making the suite more uniform and consistent.
Changes made in the options dialog are made across the software suite.
Cons:
The new additions are not a huge change from 2007 and some of them should have already been in 2007.
The interface is dull and boring in comparison to Office 2007.
rating:
8.5
All-in-all, if you already have Office 2007, you may want to download a trial before chucking out the big bucks for the new Office. If you're running an earlier version, I think that it would be worth the money to get the latest copy. My opinion of office 2010 is that they finally finished Office 2007 and branded it as 2010.
Have a question about something in this article? You can receive help directly from the article author. Sign up for a free trial to get started.
Comments (1)
Commented:
I think we tend to part ways on the ribbon. While rather "sexy", it is an enormous decrease in productivity. I have to quit typing and grab the mouse for darn near EVERYTHING -- even something as simple as adding a signature. Apparently I'm just going to have to grow a third arm to be productive. :)