Microsoft Word is a powerful companion for all tasks related to creating, editing and checking text on your computer. It works with all popular document formats, including support to save files as PDF, or send documents by email through Outlook right after writing them.

Whether you create a text from scratch or use one of the many templates included, Microsoft Word will help you with a wide array of tools: tables, text formatting options, color schemes, support to insert images and clipart and more. Microsoft Word also includes a powerful spellchecker and tools to revise documents with marked text and personal notes. Support for video, however, is still missing.

In all, Microsoft Word proves to be an excellent tool for text processing, from a simple note to a complex report with images, graphs and tables.

Microsoft Word is such a popular word processor for a reason – it's both user friendly and full of advanced features.

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I tested both the Technical Preview and the Beta version released months ago, and happily I've found a bunch of new features and improvements in the final version. For starters, the Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Business pack includes five apps, namely Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote. If you need to test more Office apps, you can try Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus instead.

As regards appearance, all the Microsoft Office 2010 apps have been slightly modified. They still keep the "ribbon" interface – in a much clearer, almost minimalist style – but the Office button has been renamed to "File" and now shows a different pane. Not only does it include direct access to all document-related tasks, but also shows detailed information about the document you're currently working on.

Leaving changes aside, the truth is that Microsoft Office 2010 has pretty much the same features we already saw in the Technical Preview. The context menu in Word, for example, has been greatly improved and lets you see changes in real time as you browse through the different options. You can now add videos to your PowerPoint presentations, remove redundant messages from conversations in Outlook and insert small color charts inside cells in Excel spreadsheets. There are also tools to translate text, take and use screenshots, and apply special effects to the images you use in your documents. What's more, Microsoft Office 2010 now lets you save your documents on SkyDrive and share them online in just two clicks.

Regarding performance, Microsoft Office 2010 seems to be as fast and light on system resources as the Technical Preview. There's a significant improvement in the time the suite apps take to launch, and how they behave when working on your documents.

In all, Microsoft Office 2010 is an excellent productivity suite with great new features that make it easier and more comfortable to use, and also turn it into an even more professional solution for daily work tasks.

Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Business lets you fully test the new, long-awaited version of the world's most popular productivity suite.

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With spreadsheet sharing, Microsoft Excel is the ideal way of sharing, managing and analyzing information. This version of Microsoft Excel has improved access across the board, from a cleaner interface to better usability. The ribbon-like interface caused controversy when it was first introduced, but it's much easier to navigate for beginners, since you can now see all the options instead of having them hidden away in menus.

That's not to say the application has become any simpler to learn to use. Microsoft Excel is still a bit intimidating for beginners, although luckily it comes with tons of templates that help users get a better handle on it. One of the best new features it comes with allows you to restore spreadsheets you've accidentally closed. Consequently, it's now much easier to correct mistaken actions. The graphs and graphics you can add to your tables are also much improved.

Sharing data is easy as well, since you can use the Microsoft Excel web app, which allows any invited people to view or edit your spreadsheets. There are even mobile versions so you can access your spreadsheets on the move.

Microsoft Excel sets the standard in spreadsheet software. It comes as part of Microsoft Office 2010, which also includes other leading apps such as Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. It is incredibly powerful, and while there is a lot to learn in order to get the most out of it, anyone will be able to produce very attractive presentations with the data they enter into Excel spreadsheets.

Microsoft Excel 2010 is essential for many people at work, and there isn't a better spreadsheet application available.

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I tested the Technical Preview released a few months ago, and happily I've found a bunch of new features and improvements in this beta. For starters, the Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus pack includes a bunch of apps for you to test: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access, Publisher, InfoPath, Communicator, SharePoint Workspace and Outlook with Business Contact Manager - unlike the Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Business edition, which ony features five apps.

As regards appearance, all the Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus apps have been slightly modified. They still keep the ribbon interface – in a much clearer, almost minimalist style – but the Office button has been renamed to "File" and now shows a different pane. Not only does it include direct access to all document-related tasks, but also shows detailed information about the document you're currently working on.

Leaving changes aside, the truth is that Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus has pretty much the same features we already saw in the Technical Preview. The context menu in Word, for example, has been greatly improved and lets you see changes in real time as you browse through the different options. You can now add videos to your PowerPoint presentations, remove redundant messages from conversations in Outlook and insert small color charts inside cells in Excel spreadsheets. There are also tools to translate text, take and use screenshots, and apply special effects to the images you use in your documents. What's more, Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus now lets you save your documents on SkyDrive and share them online in just two clicks.

Regarding performance, Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus seems to be as fast and light on system resources as the Technical Preview. There's a significant improvement in the time the suite apps take to launch, and how they behave when working on your documents.

In all, Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus is an excellent productivity suite with great new features that make it easier and more comfortable to use, and also turn it into an even more professional solution for daily work tasks.

Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus lets you fully test the new, long-awaited version of the world's most popular productivity suite.

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Being the cheapest of all three editions, Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Student is also the smallest one. It only includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote – unlike the Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Business edition, with five apps, or the Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus pack, which features the full collection. However, these four apps are more than enough to complete school assignments and take care of household projects – such as creating and maintaining a domestic budget.

As regards appearance, the four apps in Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Student keep the ribbon interface – in a clear, almost minimalist style – but the Office button has been renamed to "File" and now shows a different pane. It includes direct access to all document-related tasks, and also shows detailed information about the document you're currently working on.

Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Student has pretty much the same features we saw in the Technical Preview, and in other Office editions as well. The context menu in Word, for example, has been greatly improved and lets you see changes in real time as you browse through the different options. You can now add videos to your PowerPoint presentations, and insert small color charts inside cells in Excel spreadsheets. There are also tools to translate text, take and use screenshots, and apply special effects to the images you use in your documents. What's more, Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Student now lets you save your documents on SkyDrive and share them online in just two clicks.

Regarding performance, Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Student seems to be quite fast and light on system resources. There's a significant improvement in the time the suite apps take to launch, and how they behave when working on your documents.

In all, Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Student is an excellent productivity suite with great new features that makes it easier and more comfortable to use.

Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Student lets you fully test the latest, long-awaited version of the world's most popular productivity suite.

Download Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Student in Softonic

Though it’s a special version for students, Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Academic is not crippled in any way. It includes Word, Excel, Powerpoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, InfoPath, SharePoint, Communicator and Publisher – a complete suite of apps to make your daily homework, assignments and papers much easier.

As regards appearance, all the programs in Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Academic keep the ribbon interface – in a clear, almost minimalist style – but the Office button now gives you access to a totally different panel. It includes direct access to all document-related tasks, and also shows detailed information about the document you're currently working on.

Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Academic has pretty much the same features we have seen in other versions of the suite. The context menu in Word, for example, has been greatly improved, and lets you see changes in real time as you browse through the different options. You can now add videos to your PowerPoint presentations, remove redundant messages from conversations in Outlook and insert small color charts inside Excel spreadsheets. There are also tools to translate text, take and use screenshots, and apply special effects to the images you use in your documents.

Regarding performance, Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Academic seems to be fast and light on system resources. There's a significant improvement in the time the suite apps take to launch, and how they behave when working on your documents.

In all, Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Academic is an excellent productivity suite with great new features that make it easier and more comfortable to use. Microsoft Office's innovations also turn it into an even more professional solution for daily homework and university papers.

Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Academic lets you fully test the new, long-awaited version of the world's most popular productivity suite.

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Microsoft Office is the most popular and widely spread productivity suite, both in home and professional environments. The utilities included in it depend on the exact edition you use (Microsoft Office Professional, Standard, Small Business or Home and Student) but they generally cover all major areas in your daily computer-related tasks.

Microsoft Office 2007 features a completely redesigned interface that features the so-called "Ribbon", a quick access bar that includes buttons to the most frequently used functions. While this new design is aimed at making workflow quicker and smoother, it also takes a while to get used to (especially after spending so many years with the same design).

No matter what edition you use, the main four applications in Microsoft Office are Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, which in some cases remain as industry standards for document creation and management: Word helps you deal with all sorts of tasks related to written documents, from simple text editing to complex documents including macros, tables, images and forms; Excel is the quintessential app to deal with figures, calculations and mathematical formulae, all in 2D spreadsheets or 3D colorful diagrams; PowerPoint helps you create attractive presentations with sound effects and transitions to accompany your talks and lectures, combining ease of use with professional results; and finally Outlook is the standard e-mail solution in many corporate environments thanks to its seamless integration with Exchange servers, support for digital signatures and powerful extra tools (Tasks, Calendars, and more). Microsoft Office is a complete productivity suite.

Whether you like Microsoft as a brand or not, Microsoft Office 2007 is undoubtedly an industry standard in productivity suites.

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Almost identical to Microsoft Excel in appearance, Kingsoft Spreadsheets Professional 2012 is a good alternative that's also compatible with Microsoft's popular spreadsheet application. Consequently, it's able to both read and edit .xls and .xlsx file formats. In addition, Kingsoft Spreadsheets Professional 2012 can also produce other file formats like .et, .txt, .csv, .pdf and .dbf. If you need to send a file you've created on Kingsoft Spreadsheets Professional 2012 to someone who's using Microsoft Excel, they should have no problem opening it.

Kingsoft Spreadsheets Professional 2012 has all the basic features you expect in a spreadsheets application, including a calculator, graphing tools, multiple different spreadsheet template options and other tools for complex data analysis. In addition, Kingsoft Spreadsheets Professional 2012 has two different interface options for you to choose from. One looks like a pre-2007 Microsoft Excel, while the 2012 interface option is a little more colorful and aesthetically pleasing.

There are also some new features that were added specifically to this latest version of Kingsoft Spreadsheets Professional 2012. The program comes with more than 100 commonly used formulas, a multiple tab interface and the ability to encrypt your documents to ensure security.

The nice thing is that if you're familiar with Excel, this processor's interface will be easy to navigate since it's very similar. This program does cost money to purchase a license key, however, which open source alternatives like LibreOffice and Open Office do not. It will ultimately come down to preference as to which spreadsheets program you choose if you're looking for an alternative to Excel.

Kingsoft Spreadsheets Professional 2012 is very similar and a good alternative to Microsoft Word for users who want to try something new with lots of the same features.

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