[WinPartners] IS&T Announces Release Project for Microsoft Office 2010 for Windows

[Kathy Pagones O'Neill]

Good Afternoon,

In collaboration with colleagues across campus, IS&T has begun a release project for Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010. This new enterprise version of the Office productivity suite for Windows will be available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions for XP, Vista, and Windows 7. IS&T's release project will focus on Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook running on the 32-bit version of Office 2010.

The 64-bit version will be available for download, but will not be supported by IS&T (see Known Issues below for more information on the 64-bit version).

Office for Mac 2011 is scheduled for release sometime this fall.

Timeline
------------
IS&T plans to offer support for Office 2010 in early August.

Although Microsoft will release the new version to retail outlets on June 15, IS&T recommends that users wait to install Office 2010 until testing has been completed in the MIT computing environment.


New Features
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Office 2010 includes many new features and improvements.

Licensing mechanism: Installation is now handled through Microsoft's Key Management Server (KMS). Users no longer have to enter a serial number during installation.

Backstage view: This view essentially adds the File menu to the Ribbon as the File tab. It includes the set of commands for doing things to a document (e.g., Save, Print).

Protected view: When an Office 2010 file appears to be from a potentially risky location, it is opened in a read-only view until the user opts to enable editing.

Outlook improvements:
* The Ribbon interface is now available in Outlook.
* The Quick Steps feature enables users to create single-click links to perform multi-step tasks.
* The new Ignore button lets users get rid of conversation threads that aren't of interest.
* Social Connector enables users to stay in touch with their social and business networks (e.g., Facebook and LinkedIn)

* Users can now see the information quota for their Exchange account more easily in the File tab.

Word improvements:
* A screenshot button has been added to the Insert tab of the ribbon.
* Photo, video, and graphics editing tools have been enhanced.
* Simultaneous editing enables straightforward co-authoring of documents.
* A drag-and-drop navigation pane makes it easy to do searches within a document.

Excel improvements:
* The Sparklines feature provides a visual representation of data in a worksheet cell.
* The Slicers feature lets users filter and segment PivotTable data in multiple layers.

PowerPoint improvements
* Photo, video, and graphics editing tools have been enhanced.

To learn more about the features of Microsoft Office 2010, go to http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/en/default.aspx.

Known Issues
-------------------
Microsoft recommends that users install the 32-bit version of Office 2010 (the default installation) on computers that are running both 32-bit and 64-bit supported Windows operating systems. This is due to issues with plug-ins and backward compatibility.

Learn more about deployment considerations for 64-bit editions of Office 2010 at Technet<http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee681792.aspx>.

More Information
----------------------
MIT faculty and staff will be able to download the software at no cost through the Microsoft Campus Agreement. Early adopters can find information about downloading the new version at Microsoft Office 2010: Available But Not Yet Supported at MIT<https://ist.mit.edu/services/software/office/2010/available>. Please keep in mind that IS&T will not be offering support until August.

If you have any questions, suggestions, or would like to participate in the release of Office Professional Plus 2010 for Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7, please contact the release team at ist-office2010-project at mit.edu<mailto:ist-office2010-project at mit.edu>.


Regards,
Kathy Pagones O'Neill, for the IS&T Office 2010 Release Team
ist-office2010-project at mit.edu<mailto:ist-office2010-project at mit.edu>
Information Services and Technology, MIT