MS Office 2010 Beta

[Smeagle]

Hey guys.

A couple of months ago I had my laptop's OS reinstalled, and as such, all my program files went. I couldn't find my disk that I used to install my old MS Office 2007 (Small Business), but still had the product key. I tried using this key with the 60 day trial (comes with Vista) to activate the full version, but to no avail. I have been advised my solutions are to:
a) find the 2007 CD (unlikely )
b) install the 2002 Office XP Proffesional that's collecting dust in my drawer (going back in time )
c) stop being a cheap-ass and go buy it again ($500+ )
d) download the beta version of MS Office 2010, that's free and valid until 31st October, giving me enough time to make a long-term decision.

Has anyone had any experience with this new suite? Good/bad/otherwise?

As it is, I'm having some trouble installing it (the Home/Student version stops at Stage 2, coming up with "exception in the download thread: tp error".
So I'm currently trying out the Professional Plus version that Google Chrome says will take 2 days to download (9.2/684.5MB)

Any help with that, too?

 

[Crow03]

I've been using Beta 2010 for a few month now.

Very easy to install but I have had to reinstall a couple of times after Outlook completely crashed (i.e just stopped working and wouldn't restart). I've also got Office 2007 installed so that may have caused some of the problems. Other than that it's been very stable and so far I haven't had any backward compatibility problems with Excel or Word and Outlook took over of my contacts and emails from 2007 perfectly.

As for the product itself, I really like it and will be buying it when it comes out. Some of the small things that I use quite a lot like sending .pdf files out of Excel and Word work very well and simply. Other things like sparklines that I never would have thought of turn out to be quite handy. The interface seems more intuitive than previous versions.

If I was you I'd definately go the 2010 route. A word of warning for anyone wanting to install 2010 alongside of 2007, you can't. It seems to disable the 2007 licence and for some reason needs to go through a re-installation if you want to re-use 2007.

 

[Bomber-Blitz]

Hi,

chances are the License Key you have is an OEM key (if the license key is stuck on a what look like an ATM card its defiantley OEM), which means it's a key for a preloaded version of MS Office, you never had a disc. Simply take the laptop back to where you bought it and ask them to reload the OEM Ms Office (it is perfectly legal - as without the key it wont work after 30days) then put your OEM key in and eveything will work. the OEM key will not work with the downloaded trial or a full version cd. it needs the OEM disc. If the place you bought it from wont do it. try a local computer company - they will need to have the OEM install disc. id do it for you but im in melbourne.

 

[MisterB]

Have been using official Office 2010 for about a week now. Had to re-install it immediately after the initial installation to eliminate a silly "Insufficient memory or disk space, cannopt display the requested font" error. Yeah right, on a 4Gb 640 Gb laptop. Anyway, re-installation solved the problem.

Seems okay.

 

[HSSB]

Anyone got any screenshots of MS Office 2010, particuarly Word?

 

[MisterB]

The UI is not that different from Office 2007. At least Word, Excel, PowerPoint that is. Visio & Project 2010 have now been brought up to the same look with the Ribbon.

 

[HSSB]

The UI is not that different from Office 2007. At least Word, Excel, PowerPoint that is. Visio & Project 2010 have now been brought up to the same look with the Ribbon.

Cheers

 

[janicejryan]

Does anyone know when will be the official MS Office 2010 be released?

 

[MisterB]

I believe that the release date (retail) is 12th May.

The official release is already available to Volume Licensees, MSDN & Technet subscribers which is how I have an official copy.

 

[CF]

I think the general public release will be june or july

 

[MisterB]

http://www.techau.tv/blog/office-2010-release-date-announced/

Whilst release date is May 12, probably wont appear in stores until June

Some screen shots
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_2010