After an interesting chat at lunch in work, I decided to have a look at the imminent release of Microsoft Office 2010. There seems to be some cool new features available and everything seems to be getting much more web based including online versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The online versions will have fewer features than the full desktop software but for people unwilling to pay the extortionate price MS charges or plunge into the rough seas that is illegal downloading this is a much friendlier compromise. Windows will truly be getting somewhere when Windows 7 and Office 2010 are standard but painfully it seems it will take some time…..

1. A new navigation pane and search experience
With navigation pane, users can not only quickly switch to the beginning of any chapters by clicking the desired headlines, but also locate your desired text by inserting keywords in the instant search box. As the following image presents, the search words will be highlighted in the text.

2. New graphical goodness
Word 2010 provides users more artistic picture effects and easier picture editing, and more SmartArt diagrams, richer graphical and typographic effects on text are also available.

3. Online simultaneous editing with multiple people
In Word 2010, users can share co-author right within Word documents. Using new co-authoring capabilities, users can edit or modify Word documents with multiple people from different locations at the exact same time. You can see who else is working with you, and where they are editing. In the way, users do not need to hassle with exchanging documents via email attachments when they have to confirm them together.

4. Offline editing and syncing of shared documents online
When you open a shared document, Word 2010 will automatically cache it so that you can edit it offline, and then Word will automatically sync your changes when you come back online. So if you need to work outside the office, you will no longer need to worry about saving local copies or manually merging your changes into the server document when you get back to your office. Word 2010 takes care of all of that for you.

5. Access and edit Word 2010 documents anywhere
In Word 2010, users can store their documents online, then access and edit Word 2010 from practically any Web browser and mobile phones without compromising your document's richness.

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