Weekly Review - Office 2010 launched

In the article on PowerPivots, I mentioned Office 2010 was due for full release sometime in late June. Well Microsoft slipped it out during this last week, mid-June. Microsoft are so convinced of the value of Office 2010 that existing office users need to pay full price for the upgrade. So is it worth it? What else can be used?

By sheer coincidence I have two laptops on my desk. My trusty steed running Windows XP and Office 2003 - or not so trusty as I lost count of the number of re-boots I had to do yesterday (Thanks Microsoft! Or is it Adobe Flash Reader? Apparently not. OK, it could be a hardware problem. Looks like a problem with wireless networking, as a 3G dongle fixes it. So let's blame Microsoft!). The other is my wife's Windows 7 laptop that I'm using to write this, which runs Office 2007.

Why do I still run XP/2003? Partly because of XP's compatibility with my trusty printer. But mainly because I prefer Word 2003, for two reasons:

1. Compatability with clients and other third parties is key. With so many still running Office 2003, it's easier to be one or two steps behind those with 2007 or 2010 rather than be ahead of those with 2003. It's better to only use 2003 functions so no-one finds they cannot read or use 2007 files I would otherwise send them.
2. I far prefer the old menu system rather than the new ribbons. This is partly familiarity with where things are, but mainly because the ribbons simply take up too much room on the screen, especially for portrait Word documents. (Why aren't laptop screens square, so there's room for working space and menus when working in both portrait and landscape modes?)

So is Office 2010 so "valuable" and worthwhile it would be worth upgrading? Some commentators suggest this is a must-have, but mainly for Excel's superior capabilities in management reporting, such as PowerPivot and sparklines. But what about other users?

A word of warning!

I've just received this email from a colleague who is tech savvy: "I upgraded to Office 2010 and have spent the past four days trying to repair the damage it caused...!" Well 2010 is going to have to be good to be worth this pain! I'm awaiting his response on why he was compelled to upgrade, other than to learn about it.

Versions of Office 2010

The software components are available individually, but there are 3 "suites" of the on-premise version:

1. "Home and Student" that includes Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote


2. "Home and Business" (aka SME) that adds Outlook


3. Pro that adds Access and Publisher

Project 2010 and Visio 2010 are available separately.

The standard pack for the Student and SME versions, at least when bought in a store, includes 3-user licences to use at home, whereas Pro can only be used on a desktop plus a laptop for the same user.

For new PCs, single user licences of the suites are available which cut the cost approximately in half.

There's also a "Starter" version, replacing "Works", that does the basics for Word, Excel and PowerPoint, but does not have useful features such as Excel pivot tables. It is only available pre-loaded onto new PCs.

There is also a free online "Office Web Apps" version of the "Home and Student" version, to let Microsoft dip a toe into the cloud, and compete with the likes of GoogleApps (see comparison below). However I can find no mention on Microsoft's UK web site, and avaiilability is limited

It's then worth comparing Office 2010 against earlier versions and alternatives, and considering compatibility (which is fundamentally the reason I use Office rather than anything else):

Comparison of Office 2010 to Office 2007 / compatibility

This article on Wikipedia sets out the key differences between 2010 and 2007, both for improvements and what has been removed. There's also the history of development.

Key changes include:

• Changes to the user interface, including ability to customise those darned ribbons
• Larger spreadsheets plus PowerPivots in Excel
• But you can no longer save a PowerPoint file as a web page
  

Previous releases have often included a change in file structure. there are no fundamental changes in 2010 iover 2007 (but see notes re 2003)

Comparison of Office 2010 to Office 2003 / compatibility

In Office 2007, the Open XML file format was introduced for Word, Excel and PowerPoint, which has been continued in 2010. Users of Office 2003 should download the "compatibility pack" to be able to read, edit and save documents in that file format.

There can also be issues with macros when moving from 2003 to 2007/2010.

Comparison of Windows and Mac versions / compatibility

Microsoft has tolerated Apple , and in 1997 kept Apple afloat, in my view principally to avoid monopoly problems. Nonetheless Office is available for the Mac. After all, Excel was written for the Mac before it was ported to Windows.

In recent years Mac users have had to wait a while after each Windows release:

• Office 2003 became Office 2004 for the Mac.


• Office 2007 became Office 2008.


• Office 2010 will become Office 2011, albeit expected to be released in 2010
  

Generally the PC and equivalent Mac version should be exactly in sync, although differences in available fonts can cause issues, and there can be individual problems. Incompatibility is one reason why pdf files came into existence, as a snapshot of the file as the author intended them to be seen.

The same file format issues exist Mac 2004 to 2008/2011 as for PC 2003 to 2007/2010, with an equivalent fix,

Comparison to OpenOffice / compatibility

Now part of the Oracle stable, OpenOffice is free software, for any purpose, written as one consistent suite covering 5 aspects:

1. Writer (word processor)
2. Calc (spreadsheet)
3. Impress (presentations)
4. Draw
5. Base (database)

The latest version 3 is marketed for Office 2003 users as an alternative to upgrading to 2007 or 2010. Whilst the official website talks about reading Office files, it is especially quiet about writing files that Office can read - it suggests that everyone should have OpenOffice! Why not?

Here's an independent review of OpenOffice 3.0

Comparison to GoogleDocs / compatibility

If it's collaboration you're after, or just simple free software for words, spreadsheets and presentations, then GoogleDocs is worth a look.

It benefits from the advantages and suffers from the risks of cloud computing, but in some respects no more so than sending documents via unencrypted email.

Here's a comparison of GoogleApps with Office Web Apps

There is a useful Office plug-in called Offisync available to convert Office documents to GoogleApps for collaboration.


In Conclusion

If you do not exchange documents with other people, or only have to read what people send you, then OpenOffice and GoogleApps provide cheaper and probably adequate alternatives to Office.

If you are buying new PCs and you need Office, then Office 2010 is clearly the way to go. Office 2007 users can upgrade relatively easily, albeit it at a cost of re-licensing. For those people who have stuck with Office 2003, and avoided Office 2007/Vista, then this is probably the right time to move to Office 2010 with Windows 7 . Excel users who use it heavily for reporting will benefit from larger spreadsheets and PowerPivots, though watch out for issues with macros if moving from 2003. Corporates and SMEs will need to carefully consider all the ramifications.

If you are using a Mac, Office 2008 should be basically compatible with both Office 2007 and Office 2010 files, with Office 2011 for Mac available later this year.

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