Microsoft Office 2010 Starter edition is a scaled down freeware version of the full-fledged Microsoft Office 2010. Other than the free Started edition, the productive suite is available as Home and Student, Home and Business, Standard, Professional, Professional Academic, Professional Plus editions. All these retail versions are easily available for purchase but not the Starter edition. Microsoft Office 2010 Starter is available exclusively with OEM-supplied computer.

The Started edition of Office consists of limited-functionality versions of Word and Excel and includes advertising. It does not include PowerPoint or Outlook. It allows users to upgrade easily to a complete Office 2010 productivity suite when they are ready.

Disclaimer: We are providing the download links as a backup for owners of OEM machines who may have lost the setup files of Starter edition due to formatting or any other error. We don’t recommend other users to download and install it on any other computer system. Read below.

If you like Office 2010, you should purchase it. Office Starter 2010 is not a trial; it has a perpetual license that does not expire. Office Starter 2010 is an advertising-supported base productivity suite that is available only on new PCs. It must be preloaded on new PCs at the point of manufacture. Office Starter 2010 is not available for existing PCs at any time after manufacture; such as, Office Starter 2010 cannot be installed on new PCs being sold by resellers, even brand-new PCs. It will not be sold through distribution or available to end users as a standalone product. (-Microsoft)

Caschy, a popular blogger from Germany has recently discovered that Microsoft stores the setup files of Office Starter 2010 on their servers. But before download, please read the Disclaimer above.

Here is a list of available versions that you can download:

Download Microsoft Office Starter 2010 (English) (Microsoft has removed the file, link is no longer working.)

To install Office Starter 2010, you don’t need any product key. If you want you can also create a portable version of Office Starter 2010 from its start menu entry.

If you want to download the setup file in your language, just replace the LCID string in the web address as suggested by Martin, Ghacks Editor. For example, replace en-us with another LCID string. You can find a list of strings on this page.

If you want a full-fledged office productivity suite but do not want to use Microsoft Office Starter edition, we recommend users to try open-source or freeware alternatives like LibreOffice or if you want cloud features try Google Docs.

Microsoft is offering an online help utility to Office 2010 users having issues with the product key for their copy of the productivity suite to help them resolve their problems.

Earlier, we have posted many articles aiming to help out Microsoft Office users. Some articles related to Product Key problems. If you are having any issue with Office 2010 product key, you can refer to those articles. See this article to reset your Office Product Key using a small program. Or do you want to change Microsoft Office product key easily without the help of any other program? Wondering how to check the activation type and check the license status of Office? Want to use Office trial version for more than 30/60 days, up to 180 days?

Coming back, the special online help utility is aptly titled Office 2010 Product Key Solution. The online helps provided by the Redmond company is available free of charge to all Microsoft Office users as reported by Softpedia. Through the site, users will find simple step by step solution to: find their product keys, enter the product key to activate Office, troubleshoot various issues related to their product key and Office licensing, and get a replacement product key if they misplaced theirs.

As seen in the screenshot above, basically the online help and troubleshooter divided among four most common issues.

For example, if a user has lost his Office product key, than he has to select the last option, “Can I get a replacement Microsoft Office 2010 product key if I lost it?” The troubleshooter than asks a few more questions to find the exact solution for the user.

If the user is not satisfied with the troubleshooter in resolving the issue themselves, they can opt to contact a Microsoft Customer Service representative.

This is a good service for Office 2010 users, but what about those who are using the older versions of the productivity suite, such as Office 2007 and Office 2003? The Redmond company has only provided links to two websites for helping them enter product key.

• Enter the Product Key for Microsoft Office 2007
• Enter the Product Key for Microsoft Office 2003

Well, they can get some help when it comes to troubleshooting product key errors through a Knowledge Base article, KB 2549291.

Users can download Office 2010 60 days trial versions using the links posted in this article. Microsoft Office 2010 Service Pack 1 can be downloaded using the links provided in this article.

Microsoft, on Tuesday, released Office 2010 Service Pack 1.

As expected, Microsoft released the first Service Pack (SP1) for Office 2010 productivity suite at the end of June. Office 2010 SP1 includes all previously released updates, in addition to several new updates. Which improves overall security, performance, and stability of the suite.

SP1 will be available through Windows Update, as a manual download from the Download Center and from Microsoft Update. Microsoft plans to push the update to Automatic Updates within 90 days. The software giant has released SP1 for all 40 language versions of Office 2010. Products that will get fixes and updates include Office 2010, Project 2010, Visio 2010, Office 2010 servers, Office Web Apps, Search Server 2010, SharePoint 2010 Products and FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint.

We have earlier covered what Microsoft is expected to include in Office 2010 SP1:

• Security and Non-Security Updates for March 2011 - Released March 8, 2011
• Office 2010 February 2011 Cumulative Update (KB 2493730) - Released February 22, 2011
• Security and Non-Security Updates for February 2011 - Released February 8, 2011
• Non-Security Updates for January 2011 - Released January 11, 2011
• Office 2010 December 2010 Cumulative Update (KB 2479673) - Released December 14, 2010
• Security and Non-Security Updates for December 2010 - Released December 14, 2010
• Security and Non-Security Updates for November 2010 - Released November 9, 2010
• Office 2010 October 2010 Cumulative Update (KB 2449183) - Released October 26, 2010
• Security and Non-Security Updates for October 2010 - Released October 12, 2010
• Security and Non-Security Updates for September 2010 - Released September 14, 2010
• Office 2010 August 2010 Cumulative Update (KB 2396341) - Released August 31, 2010
• Security and Non-Security Updates for August 2010 - Released August 10, 2010
• Security and Non-Security Updates for July 2010 - Released July 13, 2010
• Office 2010 June 2010 Cumulative Update (KB 2259686) - Released June 29, 2010

Microsoft has addressed the following issues in SP1:

• Outlook fixes an issue where “Snooze Time” would not reset between appointments.
• The default behavior for PowerPoint “Use Presenter View” option changed to display the slide show on the secondary monitor.
• Integrated community content in the Access Application Part Gallery.
• Better alignment between Project Server and SharePoint Server browser support.
• Improved backup / restore functionality for SharePoint Server.
• The Word Web Application extends printing support to “Edit Mode.”
• Project Professional now synchronizes scheduled tasks with SharePoint task lists.
• Internet Explorer 9 “Native” support for Office Web Applications and SharePoint.
• Office Web Applications Support for Chrome.
• Inserting Charts into Excel Workbooks using Excel Web Application.
• Support for searching PPSX files in Search Server.
• Visio Fixes scaling issues and arrowhead rendering errors with SVG export.
• Proofing Tools improve spelling suggestions in Canadian English, French, Swedish and European Portuguese.
• Outlook Web Application Attachment Preview (with Exchange Online only).

You can download the service pack from the download links below:

Office 2010 SP1 32-bit Edition (http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26622)

Office 2010 SP1 64-bit Edition (http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26617)

Microsoft has announced on Monday that they are going to release Office 2010 Service Pack 1 by the end of June. SP1 releases for both Office client suites and SharePoint server products will be made available is now available now.

The software giant plans to discuss about Office 2010 SP1 at length during TechEd North America this week. Microsoft will detail its schedule plans and more details around the SP1 release, including the plans for language version updates, though it is mentioned in the blog post that, “All language versions of SP1 will release simultaneously.”

Microsoft plans to include the following fixes:

• Security and Non-Security Updates for March 2011 - Released March 8, 2011
• Office 2010 February 2011 Cumulative Update (KB 2493730) - Released February 22, 2011
• Security and Non-Security Updates for February 2011 - Released February 8, 2011
• Non-Security Updates for January 2011 - Released January 11, 2011
• Office 2010 December 2010 Cumulative Update (KB 2479673) - Released December 14, 2010
• Security and Non-Security Updates for December 2010 - Released December 14, 2010
• Security and Non-Security Updates for November 2010 - Released November 9, 2010
• Office 2010 October 2010 Cumulative Update (KB 2449183) - Released October 26, 2010
• Security and Non-Security Updates for October 2010 - Released October 12, 2010
• Security and Non-Security Updates for September 2010 - Released September 14, 2010
• Office 2010 August 2010 Cumulative Update (KB 2396341) - Released August 31, 2010
• Security and Non-Security Updates for August 2010 - Released August 10, 2010
• Security and Non-Security Updates for July 2010 - Released July 13, 2010
• Office 2010 June 2010 Cumulative Update (KB 2259686) - Released June 29, 2010

Initially, Office 2010 Service Pack 1 will be offered as a manual download from the Download Center and from Microsoft Update, and no sooner than 90 days after release, will be made available as an Automatic Update.

Microsoft Office 2010 was the first release of the productivity suite to include both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Microsoft packed both versions onto one DVD across seven different flavours. Office 2010 also includes a free version with Microsoft Word and Excel. The free version, dubbed Office Starter, has reduced functionality of Word and Excel and advertising.

Microsoft has revealed on Monday that Office 2010 SP1 and SharePoint 2010 will be available by the end of June.

“Service Pack 1 is on track for release at the end of June,” said Microsoft’s Office team in a blog posting on Monday.

SP1 releases for both Office client suites and SharePoint server products will be made available. All language versions of SP1 will release simultaneously. Initially, Service Pack 1 will be offered as a manual download from the Download Center and from Microsoft Update, and no sooner than 90 days after release, will be made available as an Automatic Update.

Microsoft also provided an overview of some important fixes that Service Pack 1 will include.

There are far too many changes in SP1 to list here, but the list below is a sample of SP1 highlights to get things started. This is a list of things that you can do now that you couldn’t before, or things that are just better than they were with the original release:

• Outlook fixes an issue where “Snooze Time” would not reset between appointments.
• The default behavior for PowerPoint “Use Presenter View” option changed to display the slide show on the secondary monitor.
• Integrated community content in the Access Application Part Gallery.
• Better alignment between Project Server and SharePoint Server browser support.
• Improved backup / restore functionality for SharePoint Server
• The Word Web Application extends printing support to “Edit Mode.”
• Project Professional now synchronizes scheduled tasks with SharePoint task lists.
• Internet Explorer 9 “Native” support for Office Web Applications and SharePoint
• Office Web Applications Support for Chrome
• Inserting Charts into Excel Workbooks using Excel Web Application
• Support for searching PPSX files in Search Server
• Visio Fixes scaling issues and arrowhead rendering errors with SVG export
• Proofing Tools improve spelling suggestions in Canadian English, French, Swedish and European Portuguese.
• Outlook Web Application Attachment Preview (with Exchange Online only)
• Office client suites using “Add Remove Programs” Control Panel,  building on our work from Office 2007 SP2.

Each product in Office and each Server capability area will have changes in SP1. The service pace will also roll-up Public Update and Cumulative Update releases to date. It will include all of these fixes, and represent a milestone in the support life-cycle of Office and SharePoint 2010 versions.

Initially, Office 2010 Service Pack 1 will be offered as a manual download from the Download Center and from Microsoft Update, and no sooner than 90 days after release, will be made available as an Automatic Update.

GoogleDocs official blog announced on Thursday that Google is releasing the final version of a new plug-in, named Cloud Connect, for Microsoft Office users that will automatically sync their documents to Google Docs. With Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office plug-in, Google brings collaborative multi-person editing to the familiar Microsoft Office experience. Functionality of this plug-in is like that of Microsoft’s Office Web Apps functionality and sync to SkyDrive.

The plug-in is available today and will work on Office 2003, Office 2007 and Office 2010. It will allow users to automatically backup a copy of their Word documents into Google Docs. Google says its plug-in will backup documents to Google Apps each time a user saves a document in Microsoft Office.

The plug-in allows multiple users to collaborate and edit Office docs. Multiple people can edit documents and have their changes synced at each save. Despite the collaboration features, the document editing isn’t real-time. Google will prompt users to resolve sync conflicts on multi-user documents.

Google’s Cloud Connect introduces a new toolbar into the Office UI which also provides a public Google Docs link to the document you have open. This enables authors to simply share the link for an online version of their document. The toolbar also displays the sync status of the document and a sync button to save the most recent changes. Changes will also be saved when a user clicks the ‘save’ button in Microsoft Office. Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office also remembers edits if the user is offline to sync the documents once a net connection becomes available again.

Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office is available for download.

Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office Featured Videos:

Overview

Collaborative editing

Revision history

Share a doc

Resolve overlapping edits

Edit offline

Syncing to the cloud

Microsoft Office 2010 was released back in June, 2010 and has different types of activations like Multiple Activation Key (MAK), Key Management Service (KMS) for volume licensing, and the Retail licenses. You can easily find what type of activation your Office 2010 installation is using along with the status of your activation. To find out the detailed information, simply follow the steps mentioned below.

1. Open an administrative level command prompt. (To do this, click on the Start Menu, type cmd in the Start Menu search box, right-click on the Command Prompt entry and select Run as administrator.)
2. After opening the elevated command prompt, navigate to the Office14 folder:
   • 32-bit Office on 64-bit OS, use the command: “cd \Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14“
   • 32-bit Office on 32-bit OS and 64-bit Office on 64-bit OS, use the command: “cd \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14“
3. Now, execute the following command: “cscript ospp.vbs /dstatus“
4. After the successful execution of the command, look at “LICENSE NAME” for license type and “LICENSE STATUS” for activation status.

If Office 2010 is KMS activated you will see “KMS_Client edition” in the license name field, as shown in the screenshot below:

If Office 2010 is MAK activated you will see “MAK edition” in the license name field, as shown in the screenshot below:

If Office 2010 is activated using Retail license, you will see “Retail edition” in the license name field:

Thanks to the Office Deployment Support Team Blog for this update.

Microsoft has released Office 2010. It is available in three different retail editions:

1. Office Home and Business 2010
2. Office Home and Student 2010
3. Office Professional 2010

Office Home and Student 2010 is the basic edition that is retailing for $149.99 and includes the core Office modules including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Office Home and Business 2010 which retails for $279.95 and includes Microsoft Outlook on top of what is offered in the basic edition. Office 2010 Professional which retails for $499.95 and is the only edition that includes Access 2010 and Publisher 2010.

Previously, we shared how you can get a fully functional 60 day trial version of Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 via TechNet center:

Download Microsoft Office 2010 and Evaluate for 60 Days

Microsoft now offers free download of trial versions of Microsoft Office 2010, so that customers can decide if they want to buy the new version or not. Trial downloads are available for all the three Office 2010 retail editions.

You can download Office 2010 using the direct download links below:

Microsoft Office 2010 Direct Downloads Links

• Download Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010 (X16-32007.exe)
• Download Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010 (X16-32007.exe)
• Download Microsoft Office Professional 2010 (X16-32007.exe)

Please note that the links provided are for Office 2010 English versions.

You can request your free Office 2010 free trial product key from the Microsoft Office website.

When you click on the Try It Now button, it will lead you to Windows Live login form. You may have to fill your first name, last name and country before you can get your Office 2010 product key and download link.

A small FAQ about Office 2010 trial version can be found here. Details about Office 2010 system requirements for all editions can be found here.

If you want to test Office 2010 for more than 60 days, then you should take a look at the Office 2010 rearm instructions:

How To Use Microsoft Office 2010 for 180 days Free without Activating?

Share with us your views and thoughts about the new Office 2010 using the comments below. Also do share with us if you are willing to upgrade to the new Office 2010?

If you need to change your Microsoft Office 2010 or Visio 2010 product key to resolve activation issues or other reasons, then you can do so very easily. You may also find How To Use Microsoft Office 2010 for 180 days Free without Activating? useful.

Previously we have shown “How To Change Windows Product Key After Install“, so if you need to change your Windows 7 or Vista key, you can head over to that post for reference.

Now, coming back to today’s topic on How to Change Product Key of Microsoft Office 2010 & Visio 2010, just follow the simple steps below:

• Click on the button to open the Start Menu. Now, click on the Control Panel and then click on Programs (Uninstall a program), and finally click on Program and Features.
  (Windows XP users: Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs.)

• From the list of installed programs, find Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 (or your installed version of Office 2010) or Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2010 (or your installed version of Visio 2010), which ever’s key you want to change, select it and then click on Change.

• From the newly opened dialog box, select the Enter a Product Key option, and then click Continue.

• Type your new product key and also check the option Attempt to automatically activate my product online to automatically activate your Office 2010 suite. Now click on Continue and then on Install Now.
  Note: Your computer must be connected to the Internet if you want to activate Office 2010 online.

  You can also activate Office 2010 later by running any Office 2010 app, and then clicking on the File tab > Help.

This method of changing Office 2010 product key applies to the following Office 2010 editions:

• Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010
• Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010
• Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010
• Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2010
• Microsoft Office Professional Academic 2010

If you have installed Microsoft Office 2010 and haven’t activated it, you will find that Microsoft allows you to use the full functionality of Office 2010 for 30 days. After this 30 days of free usage, you have to register Microsoft Office 2010 to continue using it. But most of you will be happy to know that much like Microsoft Windows 7 (you can extend the trial up to 120 days), you can rearm and use Microsoft Office 2010 and extend the trial up to 6 months or 180 days. After this grace period, Office 2010 will automatically start functioning in reduced functionality mode to remind the user that the software needs to be activated.

Microsoft now requires all installed copy of Office 2010 to be activated, including licenses sold through volume licensing. So, the rearm function in Office 2010 is actually provided for the convenience of corporate customers. Microsoft allows in total 5 rearm of Office 2010, where after reset, added 30 days of free usage is allowed without activation. If the rearm is timed correctly at the last day of current 30 day cycle’s end, theoretically, the 5 rearm can extend the free usage of Office 2010 up to 6 months or 180 days.

To rearm Office 2010 and get another 30 days of free usage, simply, run the OSPPREARM.EXE command file at the following folder:

%Program Files%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform\

You can open a command prompt window (Windows 7 or Vista users should open an elevated command prompt window), and type the following command:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform\OSPPREARM.EXE

If you are using 64-bit Windows OS and have installed 32-bit Office 2010, then you will need to run the following command in command prompt:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform\OSPPREARM.EXE

And the path of the file is located at:

%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform\

Another easy and simple method to rearm Office 2010 and extend its trial period involves downloading a small program and clicking on a single button. The Office 2010 Trial Extender is a free portable application that does the job for you. It can be used to execute the rearm command by simply clicking on a single button “Rearm“.

This is much faster and offers less hassle for novice users. It requires the Microsoft .net Framework 3.5 for running and can be easily downloaded directly from the developer’s website.

[ Download Office 2010 Trial Extender ]

Microsoft is going to soon launch has launched Microsoft Office 2010 to the public. If you are still not sure if you should switch to Microsoft Office 2010 or stay with the present Microsoft Office version, Microsoft is providing you the option to download and test the latest version of Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 free for 60 days through Technet Evaluation Center.

Since, Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 is the most complete edition of Microsoft Office 2010 (see Microsoft Office 2010 Edition Comparison table below), therefor it is best suited for testing and evaluation purposes. Hence, Microsoft is providing Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 for testing and evaluating purpose.

Microsoft Office 2010 Edition Comparison

Table of Editions

Programs and Features	Starter	Home and Student	Home and Business	Standard	Professional	Professional Academic	Professional Plus
Word	Starter edition	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Excel	Starter edition	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
PowerPoint	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
OneNote	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Outlook	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Publisher	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Access	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Communicator	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
InfoPath	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
SharePoint Workspace (Groove)	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
Office Customization Tool (OCT)	No	No	No	Volume edition only	No	No	Volume edition only

Remarks:

1. Office Home and Student boxed product is available in a Family Pack, allowing usage on three PCs in one house; other boxed products can be used on two PCs.
2. Office Customization Tool is used to customize the installation of Office 2010/2007 by creating a Windows Installer patch file (.MSP) and replaces the Custom Installation Wizard and Custom Deployment Wizard included in earlier versions of the Office Resource Kit which created a Windows Installer Transform (.MST). Office Customization Tool is only included in Volume License editions of Office 2010.

Please read the following before you evaluate Office Professional Plus 2010:

1. This Office Professional Plus 2010 evaluation will de-activate in 60 days and it requires the removal of any earlier versions of Office before installation. Thus, Microsoft recommends not to evaluate this software on a PC that will need an activated copy of Office after the 60 day trial period is over.
2. This evaluation software will expire in 60 days after which it will deactivate and must be uninstalled before installing a purchased copy.
3. A Windows Live ID is needed to download Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 evaluation.
4. You can request your free Office 2010 free trial product key from the Microsoft Office website.

Microsoft Office 2010 Download

• Download Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010
• Download Microsoft Project Professional 2010
• Download Microsoft Visio Premium 2010

Direct Download Links of Microsoft Office 2010

• Microsoft Office 2010 32-bit English (14.0.4763.1000_ProfessionalPlus_retail_ship_x86_en-us.exe)
• Microsoft Office 2010 64-bit English (14.0.4763.1000_ProfessionalPlus_retail_ship_x64_en-us.exe)

Click here for complete details of system requirements for Microsoft Office 2010.

Microsoft Office 2010 will hit the retail shelves on June 15. At Technet, Microsoft announced that the free upgrade period starts today. This means that users who buy and activate Office 2007 from today will be able to download Office 2010 at no more cost when it becomes available in June 2010.

All you need to be eligible for this program — Office 2010 Technology Guarantee — is the following:

• Purchase Office 2007, or a new PC with Office 2007, and activate it between March 5, 2010 and September 30, 2010.
• Have, or create a Windows Live ID.
• Redeem your Tech Guarantee before October 31, 2010 by visiting www.office.com/techg.

The Microsoft Office 2010 upgrade will be delivered to the user as a download or by DVD for a fee.

Note: Not all retailers are part of the free Office 2010 upgrade program and that there is a limit of 25 upgrades per customer.

Upgrade Paths Available:

OFFICE 2007 QUALIFYING PRODUCT	OFFICE 2010 UPGRADE PRODUCT
Office Ultimate 2007	Office Professional 2010
Office Professional 2007	Office Professional 2010
Office Small Business 2007	Office Professional 2010
Office Standard 2007	Office Home and Business 2010
Office Home and Student 2007	Office Home and Student 2010
Office Basic 2007	Office Home and Business 2010
Word 2007	Word 2010
Excel 2007	Excel 2010
PowerPoint 2007	PowerPoint 2010
OneNote 2007	OneNote 2010
Access 2007	Access 2010
Outlook 2007	Outlook 2010
Outlook with Business Contact Manager 2007	Outlook 2010
Project Standard 2007	Project Standard 2010
Project Professional 2007	Project Professional 2010
Publisher 2007	Publisher 2010
Visio Standard 2007	Visio Standard 2010
Visio Professional 2007	Visio Professional 2010

*Office Standard 2007 Military Appreciation Edition will receive Office Home and Business 2010.

Eligible Languages:

Brazilian, Chinese Traditional, Chinese Simplified, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English/International English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Russian, Turkish

Note: The language of the qualifying Office 2007 purchase will decide the language of the Office 2010 product upgrade.

Check out the faq to read up on all the frequently asked questions. It is recommended to check with the retailer to get a confirmation whether the Microsoft Office 2007 copy is eligible for the free upgrade to Office 2010.

Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta, Visio 2010 Beta, Project 2010 Beta, SharePoint 2010 Beta have been available free download and free usage till October 2010 after activated. Of the many beta products that available free download, Office Home and Business 2010 Beta and Office Professional 2010 Beta requires user-specific retail product key for activation, which can be requested online from officebeta.microsoft.com.

These MAK product key below (which is the same for every downloads) can be used to activate unlimited copy of Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta, Visio Premium 2010 Beta, Project Professional 2010 Beta, and SharePoint Server 2010 Beta.

Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta Product Key

7XD2X-JWJ94-BCHBW-W9WXP-J2WPT
2PWHY-KT4X6-96PYW-XQR7V-HW2W9
YF79C-7Y4B4-PGM89-6BKGJ-46PBT
PYMDW-8DFY2-Y68BB-XHDGD-CT443

Microsoft Visio Premium 2010 Beta Product Key

MQQGY-6JQ3R-9M89C-F9VVT-VCCKT

Microsoft Project Professional 2010 Beta Product Key

TQHBF-DY3KV-KMFRM-P43FK-3M4DD

Microsoft Project Server 2010 Beta Product Key

HRPDM-9C238-7YD9V-DBBR7-QB6BQ

Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Beta Product Key

PKXTJ-DCM9D-6MM3V-G86P8-MJ8CY

Microsoft SharePoint Server for Internet Sites Enterprise 2010 Beta Product Key

BV7VC-RMR6B-26P6Y-BTQDG-DX2KQ

After you have installed Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta, please follow these steps to activate it:

Step 1: Open Microsoft Word 2010 Beta and click on the “File” tab. This will take you to the Backstage view. Next click “Help” in the set of tabs on the left.
Step 2: Click “Change Product Key” on the right side of the screen.
Step 3: Enter the Multiple Activation Key (MAK) displayed above. Please check the box to activate automatically or restart the app to activate using the activation dialog box.
Step 4: That’s all you need to do. Entering the MAK key in Microsoft Word 2010 Beta automatically activates all the Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta applications. Click on the “File” tab to return to the Document view.

Microsoft Office 2010 Beta downloads have been active for a few days for MSDN and TechNet subscribers. Now Microsoft Office 2010 Beta downloads are available for the public and are now available on the official Microsoft Office 2010 Beta website. To be able to download the beta of Microsoft Office 2010, users need to first log in using a Microsoft Live account and fill out a short form. Downloads are available for both 32-bit and 64-bit editions and for various languages. The product key for the beta will also be displayed on those pages. This key is required to activate the beta after installation.

Interested users can download Microsoft Office 2010 beta from the following website. The following instructions were provided in order to activate the beta version using the generated key:

After you have installed Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta, please follow these steps:

Step 1: Open Microsoft Word 2010 Beta and click on the “File” tab. This will take you to the Backstage view. Next click “Help” in the set of tabs on the left.

Step 2: Click “Change Product Key” on the right side of the screen.

Step 3: Enter the Multiple Activation Key (MAK) displayed above. Please check the box to activate automatically or restart the app to activate using the activation dialog box.

Step 4: That’s all you need to do. Entering the MAK key in Microsoft Word 2010 Beta automatically activates all the Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta applications. Click on the “File” tab to return to the Document view.

You can view whats new in Microsoft Office 2010 here.

[via Ghacks]