What's in and out of the free version of Office 2010?

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Posted on 18 Nov 2009 at 18:00

Microsoft has announced crucial details about Office 2010 Starter Edition, which will be shipped free with new PCs in the middle of next year.

Replacing Microsoft Works, it will be ad-supported but provide a version of Office - restricted to Word and Excel - that will meet the needs of many users.

“We got a lot of feedback from users that they didn’t like trialware,” said Chris Adams, Office Client Product Manager, referring to the 60-day trial of Office 2007 found on many new PCs.

“In a PC with both Works and the Office 2007 trial installed, you’d have icons for Works and Word. It’s confusing. There’s one single icon with Office 2010.”

We’re not looking to push people to teeth whitening products

Adams claims the upgrade process will also be simpler, with users merely having to enter a code to unlock new features. “Jumping from Starter to the full version is seamless, unlike Works to Office 2007,” he said.

One key difference between Office 2007 Starter and the full editions is the permanent presence of a panel down the right-hand side of the screen. This will include a potentially useful Getting Started link at the top, but the bottom will include an advert measuring 180 x 150 pixels (height x width).

The width is particularly crucial for netbook users who are stuck with a screen measuring 1,024 pixels across, but while this could prove annoying Microsoft promises to include only Microsoft Office adverts for now: "we’re not looking to push people to teeth whitening products," said Adams.

Other restrictions will focus on features. For instance, in Word Starter there will be only four tabs in the Ribbon rather than the usual seven, with advanced features such as track changes removed. You will also have fewer options when it comes to adding SmartArt graphics, for instance.

Yet, even though Starter will omit certain features, documents created with the full version of the Office suite will be faithfully reproduced in Starter. That avoids the problem that afflicts services such as Google Apps, where parts of documents are stripped out if that feature isn't supported.

This extends to the Office Web Apps too, so you’ll see the lovingly created transitions created in PowerPoint 2010 even though you’re viewing the document online.

Author: Tim Danton