Microsoft Announces Office 2010 Starter [Starter to Replace Works; Available Free of Charge]

One of the best software solutions ever to have been released by Microsoft is the Microsoft Office Suite and Microsoft is well aware of that. With Windows 7 coming soon we’re bound to also see Office 2010 emerge. And Redmond has decided to make available a Starter version of Office 2010 which is supposed to replace Microsoft Works be available totally free.

So what will the Starter version have to offer? According to Microsoft the starter will come with limited features and you can expect it to deal just with Excel and Word documents. If you think you can go ahead and install Starter on your computer and immediately start working on your spreadsheets and documents for free, then you’d be a little wrong. In fact, the Starter version will be part of the Office 2010 family and it will be available only on new computers.

If you hated Works for various reasons then you’ll be happy to know that Office Starter edition is a totally redesigned piece of software. The Starter edition has full file compatibility with Office documents and comes with the “Ribbon” user interface. Furthermore Microsoft is considering offering an ad-supported version, which would run in a web browser window.

As you can see, Microsoft is trying to innovate and we, faithful Office users, should really appreciate it. But wait, there’s even more! Microsoft will start selling Product Key Cards in various electronic stores. These cards will be used to activate the Office 2010 copy already pre-installed on new PCs.

One more interesting feature Microsoft is going to introduce is the “Click to Run.” Basically you’ll be able to stream and immediately use Office 2010 just like you normally do with video downloads. The PC will initially download the stuff needed to get you going while the bulk of the download will be available later on as everything will be quietly downloaded in the background. That way you’ll be able to start your Office 2010 trials almost immediately after initializing the download. Whenever you will decide to keep using Office 2010 you’ll have to get one of those Key Cards to activate it.

What do you think? Anxious to try Office and Office Starter 2010 for yourself?