Ad-Supported Office Starter 2010 to Replace MS Works

[karachidude]

Ad-Supported Office Starter 2010 to Replace MS Works

Microsoft is discontinuing its venerable Works program, an entry-level productivity suite for home users, and replacing it with Office Starter 2010, which will contain advertising.

The announcement means the end of Works, the neglected stepchild of the Office family that Microsoft kept in the basement for some 20 years. Often preinstalled on home PCs, Works was a decent productivity tool for basic chores, like family budgeting and homework assignments. It had its quirks, however, such as forcing you to save a document in the Works format, even if the file had previously been saved in another format.

According to a video on the Microsoft Office blog, Redmond decided two years ago to develop Office Starter, which explains why Works, with its Office 2003-era interface, had been ignored for so long.

The new Office Starter 2010 will come preinstalled on many new Windows PCs. Works will go away, as will those annoying "trial editions" of Office. And unlike the trial versions, Office Starter won't have an expiration date. You'll be able to use it as long as you like.

But Wait, There's Less

As you'd expect, Starter is a crippled version of Office 2010. It contains just two "reduced-functionality" apps — Word Starter and Excel Starter — that are designed for Works-style home chores, such as writing recipes and newsletters.

What else is missing? Office Starter 2010 doesn't including Outlook, OneNote, or PowerPoint. That's bad news for professionals hoping to, say, complete a presentation at home over the weekend.

Microsoft says upgrading to the full Office will be a snap. Example: If Starter 2010 is preinstalled on your computer, you'll be able to buy a Product Key Card (at retail outlets), enter the key number in your PC, and unlock the full Office program.

Starter 2010, unlike Works, has an up-to-date interface, including the Office ribbon that isn't universally loved by all who use it.

What About Those Ads?

Ugh, advertisements have come to Office. At the bottom of Starter 2010's Task Pane, a right column with links to a Getting Started guide, clip art, and templates, you'll find an ad window. It's unclear what type of ads Microsoft will funnel there, but hopefully it'll avoid flashing text, dancing homeowners, and similarly annoying fare. The message here to users is clear: To lose the ads, cough up more dough. (To be fair, an upgrade buys more features and apps too.)

Clearly, Microsoft is seeking new ways to monetize Office. The ad window in Starter 2010 is a strong indication that Redmond will try a similar strategy with Office Web Apps, its upcoming cloud-based productivity suite built to compete with online competitors like Google Docs, which is becoming popular among business users.

One thing's for sure: Few among us will miss Microsoft Works, which never got the care and feeding it needed to become a top-notch home productivity app.

Source

K'dude

[CODYQX4]

Wel, I certaintly won't let anyone suffer using this or Works. I got a legit Enterprise and Pro Plus VLK for 2007 for me (Using Enterprise 2007 > crippleware 2010), and everyone else I use a leaked key + my patch on.

Also, I wait for when 2010 is cracked.

VLK's now require activation in 2010, and it is based on the activation technology in Vista, which lets you rearm. I think a patch will be best, as the patch I made in "School of Cracking" is flawless way to crack 2007 and pass OGA. It uses the all zeroes phone activation if you need to activate, and even if you don't need the activation zeroes as you are using VLK, it will let you pass OGA.

I hope this flaw exists in 2010, given that it has been in 2007 since day 1 and 2 Service packs and countless updates failed to fix it, it will likely stay in 2007. I don't think it will in 2010, since the activation has been radically changed, and I don't think MSO.DLL is the target anymore (It runs a SPP service now).

[DKT27]

Microsoft introduces 'Starter' version of Office

Aiming to turn more new PC buyers into Office users, Microsoft has announced plans for several new ways to obtain the software, including an ad-supported "Starter" edition that can come loaded on new PCs.

In a blog posting Thursday, Microsoft said the starter version of Office will have limited features and include only Excel and Word. The starter version will be part of the Office 2010 family, due out next year, and will only be available on new PCs.

"Office Starter 2010 will provide new PC owners with immediate exposure to the Office 2010 experience on new PCs right out of the box," Microsoft said, adding that it can be upgraded to one of several full versions of Office with a new upgrade card to be sold at retail stores.

The product is a replacement for Microsoft Works, which was Microsoft's low-cost option for PC makers that wanted to include basic productivity software. Microsoft had also quietly tinkered with a free, ad-supported version of Works in recent years.

Office Starter, as opposed to Works, will have full file compatibility with Office as well as features like the 'Ribbon' user interface.

"It really is a replacement for Works," Microsoft corporate vice president Takeshi Numoto said in an interview on Thursday. "It is not a mere renaming of Works. It is an Office product."

Microsoft is trying several ideas to better compete with free rivals such as Google Docs. With Office 2010, Microsoft will also offer a free, ad-supported version of Office that runs in a Web browser. That product, which went into a technology preview last month, requires connection to the Internet at all times.

"It's a way for us to reach customers who may have not experienced Office before, (for them) to get a taste of it," Numoto said.

For years now, Microsoft has grappled with new ways of selling Office, which, along with Windows, is one of the company's two main profit engines. Although Office boasts half a million users, there are lots of folks that use pirated copies of the software or don't have Office at all.

Several years back, as part of a ThinkWeek paper seen by CNET News, Microsoft workers recommend that the company scrap Works in favor of an ad-supported product, saying Microsoft only got a couple dollars of revenue per PC when Works was included.

Numoto would not go into financial details for Office Starter, but did say that it is a "royalty-bearing" product for Microsoft, as Works was. In the past, though, PC makers have had an opportunity to earn back money if customers upgrade from a trial version of Office to the full version. Numoto wouldn't detail how that might work with Office Starter.

Microsoft is also trying out a new method for those that already have a PC to try out Office 2010, once it is available. Called "Click to Run," it brings the notion of streaming to software. Instead of waiting for the whole product to download, users can click a button and start using the software as soon as some of the basics are downloaded. The rest of the product then gets downloaded over time.

Microsoft has already seen the Web increase as a means for getting its software. Numoto said that in the last fiscal year some 23 million downloads of the Office trial, nearly double the number from a year earlier.

Still, he said, downloading a big file means a long wait. "We know we could do a lot better to streamline that experience," he said.

An additional benefit of the Click to Run installation is that it is done through application virtualization. That allows the code, even though it is still being run locally, to run side-by-side with an existing version of Office. That would allow, for example, a user to run a trial version of Office 2010, without getting rid of their existing Office installation.

Source

[Jota.Ce]

Ad-Supported Office Starter 2010 to Replace MS Works...

But Wait, There's Less

As you'd expect, Starter is a crippled version of Office 2010. It contains just two "reduced-functionality" apps — Word Starter and Excel Starter — that are designed for Works-style home chores, such as writing recipes and newsletters.

So it only will allow you to write "EXTRA, EXTRA: TODD SMELLS"...

And 5+4 will give you 12 as result.

xDDDDDDDDDDDD