Microsoft Office 2010 out: what's new

This may not be the sexiest launch of the year – but the 2010 re-issue of Microsoft Office for consumers will affect the millions of people who use Windows and the . And even if you’re not rushing out to buy it now, the software will filter down over the months and years to come.
Most PCs bought over the next year will be shipped with the software.

If you don’t use Powerpoint, Excel and Outlook, chances are you at least use Word.

So what’s new in Microsoft Office 2010?

Here’s a quick video:

And a run-down of the 7 New Features

1) It mixes Facebok with Email:
Outlook Social Connector merges your inbox with your social networks, giving you a people-centric view of e-mail and letting you see the most recent status updates, wall posts, photos, attachments and appointments for the people you care about the most. Syncs with Facebook, Windows Live, LinkedIn or MySpace.

2) Linked Notes in OneNote. OneNote is a digital notebook that lets you dump and store text, video, audio and other content types in a single place. OneNote 2010 includes Linked note-taking – which lets you ‘dock’ OneNote to the side of your computer screen, take notes on a presentation, and map those notes in the presentation you’ve just seen. Whether you’re at school, remodeling a home or simply capturing notes from a client call, OneNote is a great application with unlimited potential to help you get things done.

3) Automatic graphs or “Sparklines” in Excel.
The newest feature in Excel – Sparklines – can make your numbers and figures more exciting. (Yes, it’s possible.) Sparklines are charts that fit into a single cell to show a trend at-a-glance. According to Microsoft, 83% of Office 2010 beta users agree Sparklines make it easier to visualize and gain insight from data.

4) Photo editing in Word.
Word in Office 2010 now has built-in photo editing features, which make it easier to import snapshots from the Web, edit them, and add visual effects in your document. Catering to the one in three people who apparently include pictures in their Word documents.

5) Video in PowerPoint.
Ah Powerpoint, it has taken a bit of a knocking in recent months, even getting blamed for the failure of American army strategy in Iraq, but – it’s still useful and used. PowerPoint 2010 lets you embed video directly in presentations and add stylistic effects. PowerPoint also has a new broadcast feature, where you can present a slideshow over the internet.

6) Office Web Apps.
Office Web Apps help you work on your documents from virtually anywhere, using Windows Live SkyDrive. Get things done when you’re away from your “workspace” by creating documents in Office 2010, save them to SkyDrive, and view and edit with Web Apps anywhere you have Internet access. Web Apps make it easy to collaborate with friends, colleagues and family.

7) A menu ribbon you can personalise.
The improved Ribbon in Office 2010 appears in all of the apps, and lets you customize tabs to match your individual work style.

Getting Microsoft Office:
You can buy it in PC shops, from Amazon or Office.com. Office 2010 will also be shipped with can also be purchased with the most popular PCs purchased over the next year.