- There's a free online version. Or at least there will be. It has nothing to do with whether you own and pay for a full version of Office 2010 - it'll be free to anyone. Very similar to Google Apps and Zoho, Office Web Apps will allow users to use Excel, PowerPoint, Word and OneNote online, in a web browser. The apps are scaled-down for use online, perhaps a little too scaled-down for some early reviewers. Hopefully some of these issues will be addressed prior to launch. I do very much like Office Web Apps' integration with its free online storage service Skydrive, which I've blogged about previously.
- Ribbons - the tabbed function buttons introduced with Office 2007 - have been enhanced. For apps that already had ribbons in 2007 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), they are now more customizable in that you can create your own new ribbons and populate them with your own set of functions. And apps where ribbons were not deployed in 2007 (Publisher, and especially Outlook) have been given the full enhanced ribbon functionality.
- Editing objects embedded in documents has been enhanced greatly. If you embed a photo, you can modify the coloration, background and other properties of the photo (a great time-saver for those who have done the modify-the-image-and-re-save-it-then-reattach-in-the-document hokey pokey). There's also the ability to modify embedded videos.
- "Backstage View." I'm not sure who was asking for this or what was wrong with the old way, but Office 2010 basically re-packages the "File" menu into a whole-screen dialog called Backstage View, which controls printing and the standard File menu properties and functions. More info and screen shots of each app's Backstage View here.
All in all, Office 2010 is a nice little evolution enhancing Office 2007 and making it easier to use. While it's not compelling enough to recommend that anyone should put down hard-earned money to go from 2007 to 2010, it is one more step in the right direction for the suite.
