Microsoft Office 2010 for Providers

Important note: this document is designed for Local Support Providers (LSPs). This page was last modified on Tuesday, 31-Jan-2012 14:21:28 EST.

On June 15, 2010 Microsoft released Office 2010 for Windows, the latest version of this software suite which includes applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Office 2010 is a consolidation and refinement of the substantial revisions in Office 2007. Because of this, Information Systems & Computing (ISC) believes that upgrading from Office 2003 will entail a significant learning curve for many Office users, while upgrading from Office 2007 will be relatively trivial.

Office 2010 uses the same default file formats that Office 2007 and Office 2008 use (examples include .docx instead of .doc for Word and .xlsx instead of .xls for Excel). Users of Office 2003 for Windows can install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack to read Office 2007/2008/2010 files in their default format. Users of Office 2004 for Mac OS can install the Open XML File Format Converter for Mac.

Office 2010 is compatible with Windows 7, Windows Vista SP2, and Windows XP Service Pack 3. Note that Office 2010 will not install or function on PCs running any non-SP3 version of Windows XP.

Provider note: Microsoft has once again narrowed the operating system space footprint of Office with this latest version. It is unlikely that future versions of Office for Windows will run on Windows XP.

ISC supports the Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook components of Office 2010 for its clients, including off-campus students.

Provider note: Outlook 2010 functions as expected with the University's Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 servers.

Microsoft Office 2010 has somewhat greater system requirements than many previous versions of Microsoft Office. ISC suggests the following minimum system requirements:

• 2.0 GB of RAM
• between 1.5 GB and 3.0 GB of free hard drive space

Provider note: a full installation of Office Professional Plus 2010 on a fully patched Windows 7 Ultimate system took 2.6 GB.

Office 2010 is not compatible with Oracle EPM/Hyperion. Do not install Office 2010 for users of Oracle EPM/Hyperion.

Office 2010 is not fully compatible with Adobe Acrobat Professional 9.x and Adobe has no stated plans to make it compatible. For more information, please see Adobe's knowledge base article on the topic.

Office 2010 can be installed in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. ISC strongly suggests that the 32-bit version be installed if there is any expectation that third -party Office plug-ins will be used. This applies even if Office 2010 will be run in a 64-bit version of the Windows operating system.

ISC Technology Training Services has Office 2010 training available, including a course specifically designed to ease the substantial transition from Office 2003.

Changes

Office 2010 includes Office Web Apps, which (except for the full OneNote experience) are decontented versions of the Office desktop apps. Office Web Apps require SharePoint Foundation 2010 for institutional use or a Windows Live ID for individual use.

Office 2010 includes refinements to the Office 2007 interface. The ribbon is now more consistent across applications and also offers some degree of customization. In addition, more keyboard shortcuts have been added and the File menu has returned.

Other features new to Office 2010 are a built-in capability allowing "Save to PDF" (as opposed to the add-in in Office 2007), a background removal tool for PowerPoint graphics, improved Pivot Table tools in Excel, and message threading in Outlook.

Availability

Office 2010 Professional Academic (which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access) is available from the Computer Connection for $99 (educational pricing).

Microsoft software is available to University of Pennsylvania departments through the Microsoft Select Program, a volume license agreement. A detailed description of the Microsoft Program including product information and a FAQ has been prepared by the Office of Software Licensing. All purchases of Microsoft Select software are made through the Computer Connection.

Provider Note: Office 2010 is available in a total of seven different versions, down from the eight versions of Office 2007.

• Starter: available only through OEMs and includes Word and Excel.
• Home and Student: includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.
• Home and Business: includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook.
• Standard: available only through volume licensing and includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, and Publisher.
• Professional: includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access.
• Professional Academic: includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access.
• Professional Plus: available only through volume licensing and includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, Access, InfoPath, SharePoint Workspace, and Communicator.

Some components of Office are less common and/or less well known than Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access. These applications are:

• OneNote: a little-known application designed to serve as a digital notebook. OneNote works especially well with Tablet PCs.
• Publisher: Microsoft's long-running basic desktop publishing package.
• InfoPath: an electronic forms creation tool.
• SharePoint Workspace: a renamed version of Groove, the work team-oriented collaboration application that was purchased by Microsoft in 2005.
• Communicator: an integrated communications client and works with instant messaging (IM) and Voice Over IP (VoIP) systems, though not those at the University; designed for large organizations and is only available with volume-licensed versions of Office 2010.

Microsoft's chart of what's included in all seven Office versions is here.

Analysis

Unlike Office 2007, Office 2010 is an evolutionary revision of Microsoft's application suite, building on the significant changes in Office 2007. With its Office Web Apps, Office 2010 is also Microsoft's first attempt at competing with the web-based office suites such as Google Docs.

ISC believes that most University users who choose to upgrade to Office 2010 will be well served by either the individually purchased Professional Academic or the institutionally purchased Professional Plus versions.

--John Mulhern III, Lead for Client Technologies, ISC Technology Support Services (June 24, 2010)