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 Channel Futures

Cloud


Free Microsoft Office 2010 — With Ads

  • Written by Matthew Weinberger 1
  • January 7, 2010
So long Microsoft Works. Say hello to Office 2010 Starter Edition. Heading in a new direction, selected PC makers will likely bundle the new Office starter offering with new PCs later this year. Office 2010 Starter Edition is a stripped down and ad-supported -- but totally free -- version of Office 2010, the forthcoming upgrade to Microsoft's ubiquitous productivity suite.

So long Microsoft Works. Say hello to Office 2010 Starter Edition. Heading in a new direction, selected PC makers will likely bundle the new Office starter offering with new PCs later this year. Office 2010 Starter Edition is a stripped down and ad-supported — but totally free — version of Office 2010, the forthcoming upgrade to Microsoft’s ubiquitous productivity suite.

Perhaps they heard us lament a bit about the pricing on the OEM versions? Here are some more details.

Office 2010 Starter Edition consists solely of Word 2010 and Excel 2010. It’s not even the full versions: their functionality will be limited in soon-to-be-seen ways. For better or for worse, it’ll use the same “ribbon” interface as the rest of the lineup, and will apparently offer the ability to upgrade to a full version of Microsoft Office from within the program. We’re wondering: will it integrate with Office Web, the upcoming browser-based cloud version of the suite?

Channel Choices

Although Office 2010 Starter Edition carries that “free” price tag, most VARs shouldn’t have a problem selling SMBs on one of the other Office SKUs with new hardware, given that the free version lacks corporate favorites Microsoft Powerpoint, Microsoft Access, and especially Microsoft Outlook.

While Microsoft Works definitely needed to go, opinions about Office 2010 Starter Edition vary. My editor, Joe Panettieri, likes Microsoft’s freemium strategy with Office 2010 Starter Edition. But I have to question the Redmond giant’s wisdom in this move.

Remember: Microsoft also plans to offer a $100 Office 2010 version aimed at university students – but so many students buy new computers before they go off to college, and don’t need anything other than basic versions of Word and Excel. Besides, many schools give their students free or deeply discounted copies of Office anyway. It seems like Microsoft is segmenting their own market…

Testing Office Web

On a brief tangent, I’ve been playing with an early preview version of Office Web Apps. While the most basic functionality isn’t in place yet — you can’t currently make or edit Word documents in the browser — I’ve gotten enough of a taste to tell you that writing a document in the Word 2010 beta and saving it to the cloud to edit later or to invite other collaborators is going to be a feature that sells a lot of people on the concept of software as a service (SaaS).

Expect more about Office 2010 and Office Web as it gets closer to curtain.

Tags: Cloud Service Providers Digital Service Providers MSPs VARs/SIs Cloud

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12 comments

  1. Avatar Bill January 8, 2010 @ 2:16 am
    Reply

    Sooo… Try our software with some limitations and WITH TONNES OF ADS for free! -OR- Use FOSS software with NO ads and FULL functionality for free! –Guess which one most people will pick!

  2. Avatar The VAR Guy January 8, 2010 @ 2:58 am
    Reply

    Bill: Your logic is sound but remember… PC vendors will likely bundle Office Starter 2010 with quite a few PCs. And most consumers/small businesses are familiar with Office. The same can’t be said for Free and Open Source Software.
    -TVG

  3. Avatar Drummer January 8, 2010 @ 4:42 am
    Reply

    They already bundle Office 2007 with new PCs for free. Unfortunately, after two months, certain functions fail to work, such as “save” and “print”. You can still open the files and “read” them, but you can’t do anything with them otherwise. Most folks don’t realize that their PC came with a “DEMO” version of Office, so in the 2 months, they’ve blindly created new documents thinking they’re getting away with a “free” copy of office. When the demo period is done, they MUST buy the real version so that they don’t “lose” all the data they’ve created.
    You don’t think this happens? I’ve seen it twice already with people I work with. Fortunately, both were helped with copies of Open Office,

  4. Avatar William Burns January 8, 2010 @ 9:02 am
    Reply

    This is supposed to be Microsoft’s idea of competition? Free but with advertising for a stripped down version of Office 2010, or a Free and Open Source version of OpenOffice which can do everything that Office can and more… Oh, and doesn’t have advertising.

    What drugs is Microsoft on?

    It hasn’t been the same since Gates stepped down.

  5. Avatar Spaulding Smails January 8, 2010 @ 10:22 am
    Reply

    Why oh why will OEMs not get a clue and make the default office suite OpenOffice? If they are happy to bundle Works and/or this crap why not just bundle OOo and just let users “upgrade” to Office if they require? Put an Upgrade to MS Office shortcut on the Desktop which redirects users to the Office download page.

    Seems so much more logical, although with computer manufacturers bent over a barrel by MS I guess logic is out the Window (no pun intended).

  6. Avatar Vanja Olson January 8, 2010 @ 11:17 am
    Reply

    I will never pay for software when free alternatives are available! When it comes to Microsoft, there is no free, even with ads, there is just pay up!

    You should also try SSuite Office for a free office suite. They have a whole range of office suites that are free for download.

    Their software also don’t need to run on Java or .NET, so it makes the software very small and efficient.

    http://www.ssuitesoft.com/index.htm

  7. Avatar machiner January 8, 2010 @ 12:49 pm
    Reply

    Of course the Var Guy would ignore the obvious intrusion onto the desktop of advertisements….People are unfamiliar with OpenOffice. *sigh*

    Lol, I just had to block 6 to read this page.

    Ads on the desktop? WTF is wrong with people?

  8. Avatar The VAR Guy January 8, 2010 @ 2:00 pm
    Reply

    Hi Folks: The VAR Guy appreciates all the healthy feedback and debate. Yes, PC makers should be taking a closer look at OpenOffice.

    But frankly, I also think PC makers should certainly evaluate and install (if appropriate) Office Starter 2010. If it’s a good, free product then why criticize Office Starter 2010? The product isn’t even here yet and it seems open source fans are dismissing it.

    -TVG

  9. Avatar Eric January 9, 2010 @ 7:45 pm
    Reply

    I think that PC makers get financial incentives for loading up their computers with trial versions of software still, don’t they? It’s probably the same with MS Office.

  10. Avatar The VAR Guy January 10, 2010 @ 3:23 am
    Reply

    Eric: You raise an interesting question. The VAR Guy and his team are in touch with Microsoft and we’ll be sure to inquire about that. When we have an answer we’ll post it in this comment area.
    -TVG

  11. Avatar Lawrence D'Oliveiro January 12, 2010 @ 4:48 am
    Reply

    The idea that more consumers might be familiar with Microsoft Office than with Free Software alternatives—well, they’re certainly becoming more familiar with the variety ways that Microsoft thinks up to shaft them.

    Apparently migrations from older versions of Office are not going so well. Time to take Free Software more seriously?

    http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2010/01/12/office_2007_migration_problems/

  12. Avatar The VAR Guy January 12, 2010 @ 4:59 am
    Reply

    Lawrence: The VAR Guy takes free software very seriously. But our resident blogger also takes Microsoft very seriously. Thanks for the link, tho, and for reading. The VAR Guy appreciates the healthy debate and open dialog.
    -TVG

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