Microsoft Office 2010 : After 20 Years, Still The Best

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I have installed MS Office 2010 recently on top of Windows 7. Thought I would share a few first impressions and reflections here. Simply put, Office apps are lot more visually pleasing in Office 2010 and greatly productive as they have always been.

If there is one functionality I would request in MS Office, it would be the ability to publish documents in to ePub format as well. PDF support is already built in, starting from 2007.

I do not know exactly when the first office was officially released, but based on Wikipedia entry, it was some time in the fall of 1990. That would mean, it’s 20 years since the first release.  Lots of things have changed since I first looked at Office applications in 1995.

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Source:  Page 50, Info World, 19th November 1990 via Google Books

Of all software applications I worked on, MS Excel is still the application I love the most for its power, functionality and brutal simplicity while note taking application OneNote comes second. Outlook is still the most used application and its new feature Social connectors looks awesome.

There are subtle changes in the interfaces that I find quite intuitive. When I first accessed 2007 applications, I had little difficulty initially in getting things done. But if you have accessed 2007, 2010 will not surprise  you at all.

For the value and productivity MS Office brings to individuals and organizations alike, I find the cost of the software is next to free. 

While many people talk down on MS Office, I haven’t come across any alternative in all these years, even any closer to what MS office does the way it does. 

I love Google Apps, but use only for very very basic things. If somebody think Google Apps can replace MS Office applications, I am sure, they may probably haven’t scratched the surface of Office functionality yet.  I prefer to use MS office applications with SkyDrive rather. For some time, I have even used Open Office, but it’s definitely not for me. I don’t hate Microsoft that badly that I have to settle myself for anything.

I recently got my first Mac with iWork apps but haven’t used for any serious stuff yet, so it would be too early to say anything.

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