Dow Jones Newswires | Microsoft Corp. Wednesday officially
launched the latest version of its Office suite of software, adding new
features aimed at fending off a challenge from Google Inc.
Office 2010, which is available for purchase today for business
customers, adds Web friendly features to one of Microsoft’s most
popular and profitable products. The new release includes
social-networking features embedded in its Outlook email program.
People also will be able to run word-processing software Word,
spreadsheet-maker Excel and other applications through Web browsers,
and edit documents together with other users.
“With the 2010 set of products, organizations will save, innovate and grow as their people benefit from working across the PC, phone and browser,” said Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft’s business division.
The company said 8.6 million people are already using Office 2010 and related products as part of Microsoft’s largest-ever testing program.
Microsoft’s new Office, the first refresh of the software since 2007, comes as Google’s online Apps, which perform similar business-related functions to Office, have gained steam. Some businesses have switched to the Internet-giant’s Web-based software for the lower costs and fewer administrative hassles.
Microsoft can’t afford to let sales of one of its most-profitable products slip. Last year, 90% of its business-division sales came from Office. The business division made up 60% of the software giant’s operating income.
Microsoft and other tech firms are still recovering from the downturn in spending caused by the recession. So far, the recovery has been dominated by consumers. But the release of Windows 7 late last year and aging PCs at many businesses has raised hopes that when corporate purse-strings loosen, tech companies will benefit.
Earlier this year, Microsoft said it would offer four retail boxed versions of Office 2010, including a new academic version for $99, a basic version for $149 and a full-featured package for business users at $499.
The company also said it will allow users to buy a “key card” that gives them access to a lower-priced version of the software on an online-only basis. “Office Home and Student,” priced at $149 for the boxed version, will be available for $119 as an online-only version, it said.
Google sells its software for $50 a user, and the software runs on Google’s data centers, so customers don’t have to install or help administer the Apps.
With the current version of Office, Microsoft is seeking to cater for a growing trend toward “cloud computing,” offering computing services over the Internet and paid for on a metered basis. The company’s SharePoint site allows users to store and share documents on the Web, making them available on many different devices.
“Our employees expect the same types of technologies they have at home at the workplace,” Elop said. “Employees also want more options for mobile work.”
Microsoft said it was also launching a free version of its Office Mobile 2010 for Windows Mobile phones that already run Office Mobile. The new version will allow people to share documents across many different devices, from phones to computers.
Microsoft shares were recently up 1.2 percent to $29.22. The stock has gained more than 45 percent during the past year.
I use OpenOffice (openoffice.org). It’s open source and free… Take that Microsoft!!!
I hope they don’t radically change the interface like they did in MS office 2007. They changed so much that it’s almost like learning the applications all over again. I know what to do but I have trouble finding the actual tools or palette.
“Web-friendly” means that Microsoft is trying to force you to do all your stuff online and pretend like it is a web page, whether or not that actually suits you and the way you operate best. Cloud computing is a good idea for backup, but for everything else I am sticking with my own fairly new hard drive and the 2002 version of Office I bought for my previous computer, so that I can actually find all the menu commands instead of wasting half an hour trying to uncover where the newer version hid an option, if they didn’t get rid of it. When the Internet goes down, or I’m in transit and somebody wants to charge me an arm and a leg for a slooooow WiFi connection, I’ll still be able to get some work done.
“Social networking features” = Excel and Word will randomly put up dialog boxes to try to make you tweet about what you’re in the process of doing, so that you lose your train of thought? And the only way to get back to your work will be to fill it in and hit OK? Just another reason why you should never open the cellophane!
Up until 2007 Office was the single best reason to stick with a PC (at least in an office environment). The 2007 version was and still is an unmitigated disaster. Unless the Evil Empire can make Office user-intelligent again, I’m replacing our whole network, on computer at a time, with Macs. So far, so good…seamless transition; far superior product.
It also occurs to me where this all is headed: Microsoft and others want to maneuver us into a situation where we won’t have complete control over our own data and files, because it suits their business model to have things that way. But we can still say “no thanks, that’s not a good tradeoff for us.” Don’t just be thinking about the lower price tag, don’t just be dazzled by supposedly wonderful new capabilities. Think about the downside–how this is going to interfere with what makes sense for you on any given day, and with your ability to chart your own course.