Microsoft Office 2010 Editor's Review

Microsoft Office has been the de facto office application suite for some time. At the time of the launch of the 2010 edition, Microsoft maintained a 94% share of market. Yet with an increase in the number of users for free, open-source alternatives such as Open Office, and cloud-based options such as Google Docs, does Microsoft still have what it takes to make you take the leap and buy their Office suite?

Microsoft Office 2010, as is true of almost every version of the office productivity suite, offers a great improvement over its earlier versions. One of the greatest introductions is the integration with Windows Live, Microsoft’s cloud platform. This means that documents you create at home can be edited using the online Office Web Apps software, and accessed anywhere in the world. The ribbon is now rolled out across all applications and offers a much greater and more logical control setup than in previous versions of each application. The suite comes in three editions: Home and Student, Home and Business, and Professional. All three editions come with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, H+B adds Outlook and Professional adds Access and Publisher.

Microsoft Office 2010 is, without a doubt, the best version of the Office suite to date. Microsoft updates the suite in very well-timed intervals, which meets the current expectations for usability, design and performance. Without this ability to react to market’s needs, the Microsoft Office suite would not be as successful as it is today.

Pro's: Great cloud computing integration with Windows Live, much better looking and more logical GUI.

Con's: Costly considering other productivity suites – either online or offline – are available for free.

Conclusion: The one drawback of Office 2010 is its cost, and if you only have a netbook, a smart phone or tablet, then it might be time to reconsider your options.