Microsoft introduces 'Starter' version of Office

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

    Microsoft introduces 'Starter' version of Office


    Posted: 08 Oct 2009
    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
    v0id's Avatar Posted By: v0id
    08 Oct 2009



  1. Posts : 396
    Windows 7 Professional x64
       #1

    Full(more or less) word and excel for free? Sound good to me.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 7,878
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #2

    Yeah Word and Excel would meet the needs of most people. I've never been able to justify the cost of Office at home..so I've been happily using Open Office as an alternative for years. It would be nice to actually have Word for those cases where a file conversion doesn't go perfectly into OO.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 396
    Windows 7 Professional x64
       #3

    pparks1 said:
    Yeah Word and Excel would meet the needs of most people. I've never been able to justify the cost of Office at home..so I've been happily using Open Office as an alternative for years. It would be nice to actually have Word for those cases where a file conversion doesn't go perfectly into OO.
    Exactly. Word especially and excel to an extent are the only ones I use in office.

    And like you said, Open Office is a really great free product. Kudos to the developers of it.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 400
    Windows 7 Home Premium (Retail) Full version - With SP1
       #4

    QuackPot said:
    pparks1 said:
    Yeah Word and Excel would meet the needs of most people. I've never been able to justify the cost of Office at home..so I've been happily using Open Office as an alternative for years. It would be nice to actually have Word for those cases where a file conversion doesn't go perfectly into OO.
    Exactly. Word especially and excel to an extent are the only ones I use in office.

    And like you said, Open Office is a really great free product. Kudos to the developers of it.
    Much the same situtation here except my heavier use of Excel. The thing that kept me from jumping on the Oo bandwagon was my Excel sheets are all very heavily macro driven. I wonder if the Excel under the Starter version will accept them.


    Thank you.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 17
    Windows Vista/Windows 7
       #5

    Actually I am always using only word application in Office suite, it is good news for me.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 31,242
    Windows 11 Pro x64 [Latest Release and Release Preview]
       #6

    Strangely enough the only Office application I would really miss is Outlook - no other PIM, and I have tried a few over the years, quite works in the same way

    I know it's probably familiarity rather that some brilliant design or feature but outlook just seems to fit my way of working.

    Word and Excel are more than adequately matched by Open office - and as I have a mix of documents and both suites installed will find that I quite happily use Open office for OpenOffice native files and Office for office files
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 1,112
    XP_Pro, W7_7201, W7RC.vhd, SciLinux5.3, Fedora12, Fedora9_2x, OpenSolaris_09-06
       #7

    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.
    Just what I've always never-wanted.

    Running sw that 'requires' an internet connection...
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 31,242
    Windows 11 Pro x64 [Latest Release and Release Preview]
       #8

    Hi Chuck

    I have to agree with you - the requirement for a permanent net connection will preclude a lot of the very markets that this will appeal too. The developing world's net infrastructure is patchy at best
      My Computers


  9. Posts : 124
    W7 64b - Leopard 10.6.2 - Ubuntu 10.10 (MBP Snow Leopard 10.6.3)
       #9

    ^ I think office starter 2010 and office online 2010 are two separate products...
      My Computer


 
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

  Related Discussions
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 7 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 7" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

© Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:18.
Find Us