Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Edition Review -- Introducing Word Starter and Excel Starter Discussion

By Jay Garmon

Fans of Microsoft Works may be disappointed to learn that their preferred lightweight office suite has been discontinued in favor of a very different product: Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Edition. What makes Starter Edition different from MS Works and other previous incarnations of Microsoft Office? We break it down in this preview.

Office 2010 Starter Edition diverges from all previous Microsoft office productivity software in several respects: it's free, it's ad-supported, you can't buy it in stores, and Microsoft is OK with users making copies of it. Oh, and its functionality is extremely limited even though it contains the code of a full version of Microsoft Office 2010.

Read the full content of this Article: Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Edition Review -- Introducing Word Starter and Excel Starter

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[Wolfpup]

Huh...doesn't sound too bad, as long as they're really not doing anything nefarious with your documents. I might actually be fine with the "starter" versions of Word and Excel, combined with OpenOffice.

Glad to hear that the interface is more Office 2003-like. In most regards I've found 2007 a large step back from 2003, which is still my favorite Office suite (it's to the point where I think OpenOffice is a lot more competitive with Office 2007 than 2003).

[Senor Mortgage]

Sounds like a good deal for most people. I don't like the name "Starter" though. Most people think they are Intermediate or Advanced Word/Excel users but are really quite novice in terms of high end uses (especially true with Excel). I think basic or lite would have been better. Still a good competitor for OO as 90% of OOs use probably derives from their Word and Excel function.

[aafuss]

Sounds a very good to way new PC buyers to Office.