Office 2010 - review

Microsoft office 2010 (beta) – Office 2007 with a few small changes.

Recently I downloaded the office 2010 beta, and I am impressed with it so far. However I feel that the changes aren't really a good enough reason for anyone to want to upgrade, all I have seen so far is a new "file" function, and some minor UI changes. It doesn't really stand out as being different from office 2007 that much.

When I said I was "impressed" I mean by the small new features which make office 2010 stand out from other word processors. The file function is a good feature to have but it may come across as annoying for those die hard Office 2003 fans out there.

The "file" interface has been changed since office 2007.

The text effects are second to none, before I found myself making images in fireworks to make reflective text on a word document, but now I don't have to. All I need to do is simply click on the relevant effect and away I go.

I was also impressed with the ribbon interface which they had in Office 2007. I find it really easy to use.

The Ribbon interface in office 2010. Hasn't been changed since Office 2007.

I'm am however also glad that they brought back the "Formatting" options which allow you to instantly format the text for a variety of needs. The user can also preview the formatting before applying it, which is something office 2003 (and earlier) didn't have, this will save tons of time.

The formatting options, are easy to access and use

Now moving on there are some new picture formatting options. These can add artistic effects, and other formatting options to make the images you use on Office 2010 stand out.

Some of the new picture formatting options.

Back to my main compliant about Office 2010. The interface isn't that much different from Office 2007, also it doesn't perform any better or worse. I feel that most of the new changes should be included as a free update for Office 2007. It seems to be the same mistake made here that they made with Windows 7. (If you didn't know that's adding small features and then making you pay full price for them when they should be free. Vista V Windows 7 is a good example).

The whole Word 2010 interface. Again not much has been changed since office 2007.

I do actually like it, and I am aware that the ribbon interface wasn't everyone's favourite. It works for me though, the new features do make a huge impact on the documents you create, and overall it's a good office suite. However I feel the upgrades aren't worth paying full price for.