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MS Office Home and Business 2010
by clockface
No sooner have we got used to one Microsoft Office version, when a new one appears on the scene. As soon as it does, the computer experts are out complaining about it, listing all its bugs and inaccuracies; but, for most of us ordinary users, these things don't really matter.
I was initially sceptical about upgrading to ... Microsoft Office 2010. My computer was still running the 2003 version, and so it was going to be a big jump up. I was glad I did though, as it's been excellent.
**FEATURES**
This version includes Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook. All four programs contain all the features they always did, so, in my view, we haven't lost anything. There are literally hundreds of new features, all far too numerous to list here, but for a snapshot of some useful updates...
1. When selecting a font in Microsoft Word, as you hover over your chosen font, it automatically changes your text so you can preview what it will look like;
2. The software allows you to recover files you forgot to save, as it backs up what you're working on, even when you haven't saved;
3. When resizing pictures, as you drag the corners, it leaves a ghost impression of the original size on the screen, which disappears when you release the corners;
4. The Calendar in Outlook is now much more streamlined, and user-friendly; excellent for synchronising with iPhone;
5. In Outlook, you can now view lists of contacts in various different views, including 'Business Card' view (I think this was available in a previous version, but they didn't really look like business cards!).
6. When adding a new e-mail account in Outlook, by entering the e-mail address and password, it automatically connects to the internet to retrieve the necessary information.
These are just a tiny snapshot of what's on offer; useful additions and modifications which particularly caught my eye.
**INSTALLATION**
As has always been the case, the software is quite slow to install (about 30 minutes in total for me), but you can leave it alone while it does this. It's much easier than previous versions because you don't have to manually register the product; all this is done automatically.
**OVERALL**
This software is an enormous improvement in previous versions, which in comparison, look so out of date! Highly recommended!
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MS Office Home and Business 2010
by roktimdutta
A MAJOR & SERIOUS UPGRADE:
Before going into the review proper I would like to make an observation which might sound intriguing and stupid to most people but honestly, how many are there, who use the Office suit (any version) on regular basis are accustomed to it so that they can get most out of it? I am sure the answer is ... very few. One of the reasons being till Ms. Office 2007, it was simple stuff. But very few know (please note this is my personal experience) being well versed in Office Suit is something and being capable of using it to its potential is something else. What I mean is if you know the correct options, things can be done in double quick time and that too neatly, giving your creations a real pro look. To be very honest, spending 12-14 hours in front of my computer I hardly use 75% of what Ms.Office suite has to offer and quite sure this applies to most.
WHY MS SUITE 2010 FOR HOME AND BUSINESS:
Before taking a look at its highs let me explore its system requirements which is quite demanding compared to its previous versions. To my mind anybody going for 2010 version of the Office Suite must first look into what he/she essentially requires to have Ms Office 2010 for Home and students installed in the machine. There is no problem for those who has a latest version of a laptop or desktop, else please go through the system requirements of the latest upgrade of the Office suite.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
First and foremost, this version of the Office Suite requires at least SP3 (32-bit)of Windows XP. Compared to SP2, SP3 is exceeding resource hungry. You'll need at the very least a 500MHz processor or higher, 256MB of RAM (512MB recommended to use more advanced features). It runs fine with both Windows 7 and Windows XP. As with most Office Suite the installation is simple and will take up to at most 12 minutes of your time.
It will be worthwhile to mention that when installing this version of the Office Suite (or any version for that matter) take care go for the 'Customize' option. This gives you the opportunity to get full functionality of the Suite. Although recommended for 'Advance Users' this option hardly requires great understanding computer science. While running setup you can customize your office suite, meaning you can have all the features with full functionality or put some of off.
IN CASE IT INTERESTS YOU:
Double click on the set up icon. Put in the key, click on 'Custom' installation. From the ensuing option dialogue box click on the box on left hand side of the feature you require (like Word), there are four options on the drop down menu, click on the second option (Run all from my computer). This ensures that all the features of Word is installed on the system. This is especially important for this version.
To put of any feature (saving you hard disk space) click on "This feature is not available" immediately you get it crossed (red) meaning the set up will not install that feature at all. What I mean to say is that it not essential that you have to install all the features. You might have just Word and Excell installed others not being available, this is what customization means, get what you want and rest remains on the CD, feel free to have them later.
LET US EXAMINE THE ADDITIONS, UPDATES OR UPGRADES
Word 2010:
There are minor additions here as far as 'word processing' is concerned, but pots of innovations on the image editing issue.
* 1) Artistic Effect
* 2) Exceedingly powerful Remove Background feature.
Some of these Photoshop features have been very intelligently assimilated. Both these feature require lot of 'getting used' or practice but once you get the hang of it, they are just as good. I must say the 'Remove Background' tool is a real nifty stuff, immensely useful to add or remove parts of the background when it is the issue as far as the feel and look of the document is concerned.
One of the most wonderful feature of MS SUITE 2010 FOR HOME AND STUDENTS is its compatibility to edit documents in collaboration, fantastic functionality in Word and PowerPoint. But of course you have to have them stored in Windows Live SkyDrive, I'll take this up later in a bit more detail.
Excel 2010:
There are tons of new cheeky statistical, mathematical and financial functions, for those maths savvy geeks they are real cool upgrades. Sparkline, for examples, is one of those which stands out over other upgrades in Excel 2010. They are mini graphs that lets you see trends over a series of values, no need for strenuous hunting around a trend line on a larger excel chart, Excel 2010 shows the trend for a range of values in an adjacent cell, one glance and you know where you are heading to. Slicers are the others of some notable upgrades, you could not enjoy more the Pivot Tables and charts to visualize data.
PowerPoint 2010:
The image editing tools are exceptional but the headline must be granted to the video editing tools. You can edit videos, add effects and don't forget you can jolly well stop searching the net for a PowerPoint to Flash (.flv) converter to upload your presentations with audio added to sites like Youtube. Even embedding web videos in your slides from these sites are so simple, giving a real pro-look with basic editing capabilities.
Another fab upgrade is the 'Broadcast Slide Show' option. Most of us would love it. One does not require a dedicated web-conferencing infrastructure, just choose 'Broadcast Slide Show' from Share & Send option of PowerPoint, you get URL. Just e-mail the URL to one of your targets. They will just have to open their browser and copy/paste the URL or just click the URL, more often than not the web-browser opens on its own. Even you can just try the broadcast on your mobile provided the GPRS connection is fast enough else don't.
Outlook 2010:
There are pots of innovations here. The new Conversation View with at least two cool features (a) Clean Up and (b) Ignore. Clean Up looks through the entire conversation, deleting redundant and useless massages within massages. In case you are tired of long conversation just click 'Ignore', immediately it moves all future massages from that conversation automatically to the 'Deleted Items' folder.
It was an absolute necessity for Outlook 2010 to makes things attractive with new features to remain in competition, since Google's online Gmail search tools offering so much of options, probably Outlook 2010 has its way with the new Conversation View as it lets one group thread together conversations so they can be viewed in one place. With the Quick Steps option macros can be created for common every-day tasks. Forwarding specific e-mails to third parties couldn't be easier. Both Conversation View and Quick Steps may not be apparently intuitive but once the 'getting used to' process is over it will save enormous amount time spent for processing e-mails in future.
Businessmen are well advised to use Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 or Microsoft Windows SharePint Services for that matter for collaborating on projects, not that private users can not access their work. Private users can always have an access provided they use Windows Live and Web apps on SkyDrive.
Word 2010 and PowerPoint 2010 have a wonderful syncing mechanism to avoid sudden and abrupt changes while working on a project. Word, for example, locks the paragraph that one person is editing will show you a contact card from them so that you can chat/mail with them through Windows Messenger.
I have worked with Google Docs, it's extremely easy to share word docs or excel sheets with other users, and though not as sophisticated, One Note as it had been offered in this suite may not enough of an option.
SkyDrive:
It's a cloud based storage system with a good 25GB of space for docs so that it can be accessed from anywhere. Simply get a Windows Live ID, log in and start managing Word, Excel sheets, PowerPoint presentations if not more. Save to SkyDrive is the new file menu capability of this version. They all can be edited using feature-complete Web apps through SkyDrive.
Paste preview
Another upgrade that must be mention is the paste view. It's accepted that Office suite always remembered to 12 cuts or paste on the clipboard but you had remember the order to use them. But now Paste View shows how they will look like when pasted. It is consistent across most of the applications in Office 2010.
Backstage View:
It an enhanced replacement for the File menu, Backstage view brings related, but separate tasks into one page for easy access. It is probably the most significant of changes to Microsoft Office Suite.
VALUE FOR MONEY:
Office Home & Students is priced at £68.80 and Office Home & Business (FPP) at £151.50. No doubt pricey but worth, at least to my mind.
Full trial version:
https://www7.buyoffice.microsoft.com/asia/shopperinfo2.aspx? cache=1890234328& culture=en-GB&wa=wsignin1.0
Also Check:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-in/ buy/office-2010-which-suite-is-right-for-you-FX101812900.aspx?CTT=3
**Also on other sites under the same user name.
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