Office 2010 enter first review phase

July 14, 2009:Microsoft has unleashed Office 2010 to a network of early reviewers ahead of next year's scheduled release, which will see the launch of Web browser versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel andOneNote.

Tens of thousands of people will be invited to test Office and Visio as part of the Technical Preview program.

“Office 2010 is the premier productivity solution across PCs, mobile phones and browsers,” said Chris Capossela, senior vice president of the Microsoft Business Division at Microsoft. “From broadcast and video editing in PowerPoint, new datavisualisation capabilities in Excel, and co-authoring in Word, we are delivering technology to help people work smarter and faster from virtually any location using any device.”

Microsoft promises advanced e-mail management and calendaring capabilities in Microsoft Outlook 2010, including the option for users to ”ignore” unwanted threads.

Video and picture editing capability has been added to PowerPoint 2010, easy document preparation through the new Microsoft Office Backstage view, and newSparklines in Microsoft Excel 2010 to visualize data and spot trends more quickly.

Microsoft also announced that it is streamlining the number of Office editions from eight to five and enhancing each edition with additional applications and features. The company also announced that Office Web applications will be available in three ways: through Windows Live, where more than 400 million consumers will have access to Office Web applications at no cost; on-premises for all Office volume licensing customers including more than 90 million Office annuity customers; and via Microsoft Online Services, where customers will be able to purchase asubscription as part of a hosted offering.