- Shared Features
- Application Highlights
- Pricing and Editions
- System Requirements and Final Thoughts
Pricing and Editions
Like previous versions of Microsoft Office, you can purchase applications individually, though most folks prefer to purchase an Office Suite of applications to save money.
There are seven Microsoft Office 2010 Suites:
Office 2010 Suite |
Programs |
Estimated Retail Price |
Starter Edition |
Word Starter & Excel Starter (reduced functionality compared to full versions) |
N/A – Available bundled with new PCs only |
Home & Student* |
Word, Excel, PowerPoint & OneNote |
$149 – Family pack can be installed on up to 3 PCs |
Home & Business |
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote & Outlook |
$279 – Can be installed on up to 2 PCs, but only 1 user |
Standard |
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook & Publisher |
Available through Volume Licensing only |
Professional |
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher & Access |
$499 |
Professional Academic |
Same programs as Professional |
$99 – Available through Academic Licensing only |
Professional Plus |
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, Access, Communicator, InfoPath & SharePoint Workspace |
Available through Volume Licensing only |
*Microsoft Office 2010 Home & Student edition is not for use in any commercial, nonprofit or revenue-generating activities, or by any government organization. The Home & Student and Home & Business editions come with 90 days of technical support, and the Professional edition comes with one year of support.
Some other new Office 2010 programs (not included in any suites and not mentioned previously) are:
- Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010 (this replaced FrontPage)
- Microsoft Project 2010 (Standard & Professional)
- Microsoft Visio 2010 (Standard, Professional & Premium)
Microsoft also has an Office 2010 Mobile version for use with smartphones with Windows Mobile 6.5 or higher. It includes mobile versions of Word, Excel, Outlook, SharePoint Workspace, PowerPoint, and OneNote. The mobile versions don’t include the Ribbon interface, but they do allow copy and paste across multiple applications for easy editing of documents while on the go.
And finally, if that’s not enough Office versions for you, Microsoft will soon release an online suite of products called Office Web Apps that run through a web browser. The browser-based versions will consist of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. Office Web Apps is designed to compete with Google Apps, and is currently still in beta.