Few applications are as pervasive throughout businesses and homes as Microsoft Office. I remember learning to type on a DOS based word processor that I think was Word Perfect. We got Windows 95 a while later and I was sold on being able to use the mouse inside of documents and the all-powerful spell check. If anyone doubts the reasons for Microsoft’s dominance, one need only look at the competition that it has had to date, Lotus Notes and Corel. While the a fore mentioned products were fine in their own right, Lotus is (still) incredibly complex and Corel lacks an email client. Whoever Microsoft employs in their MS Office department deserves bonuses on par with these bankers that make millions for doing …well … not a whole lot of anything substantive (aside from risking money that’s not theirs).

Microsoft has continually evolved their Office product with their finger on the pulse of American businesses. They are not above ripping off ideas from other manufacturers… I thank Google for giving them the threaded messaging idea.  Microsoft’s Office product remains relevant amongst an armada of challengers by making absolutely every piece of office software interoperable with each other.  Additionally, software like Crystal Reports, Adobe, and a few others plug just perfectly into the Office environment.  This is also the first edition of Office that has a specific version for 64 bit only environments, which promises better memory and processor utilization over 32 bit versions.

For a couple of months my fellow engineers have been using the beta release of Office 2010.  When we were able to finally get our collective hands on the RTM (Release To Manufacturer) version (I was able to get it on my laptop first because my internet pipe was fatter), I installed it and decided to do an “upgrade” of my previously installed Office 2007.  That took about 2 hours (sometimes I exaggerate for affect but this is no hyperbole, it actually took two hours to install!)  Eventually however, it did install, error free, and, after a reboot, I was up and running with the new Office 2010 system. At first blush , Outlook is similar to the 2007 version, except that today it is fully infused with the ribbon interface that was in only about half of Office 2007 product.

Aptly named, “Home” is where Microsoft figures you will spend 95% of your time, and , for the most time they are absolutely correct.  ”Home” where you can quickly access your rules, categories, address book, all your messaging functions, and most of your organizational commands.  The “File” tab has some very useful tools, like a link to Outlook Web Access, if you are using Exchange, as well as the “Out of Office” settings and a smattering of other commands that are not easily categorized.

For those of you lucky enough to have IT departments that let you use Outlook without a VPN, the “Outlook Anywhere” settings have been greatly simplified, to the point your IT department can help you over the phone from the comfort of your own living room.  In previous Outlook clients, entering the correct “Outlook Anywhere” settings was more akin to brain surgery – getting the right settings in the right menus was painful… the process also involved pressing the “advanced” button – which can give normal users a reason to pause.

If you have not tried the ribbon interface before, this is likely to be a bit shocking.  Believe me when I say that it’s medicine worth taking in the long run.  Once you learn it will you will find everything much more quickly and gone will be the days of diving through six sub-menus to get the command(s) you want.

The other feature generating a lot of buzz in the blogosphere is the threaded messaging capabilities (they are turned off by default in the RTM version of Office 2010).  However, turn it on, another peace of medicine that will “make you better” after initial discomfort (that’s my shortened versions of the “side effects” that chew up the last 45 seconds of most drug commercials).

For those of us who have been using Google’s gmail, we have become accustomed to a version of threaded messaging for some time now.  It is different, and better in Office 2010, but the idea is the same – “group all the messages from the same people and same subject lines together so you can pick up the “thread” easily”.  This feature comes in especially handy when you are on a different subject with the same group of people, in a different email chain.  ”Thread” will become another accepted word in the American lexicon, although it has nothing to do with cotton or wool string.

If and when you are tired of one thread, you press the downward facing arrow next to the subject line and the entire conversation closes to one line, allowing more screen real estate to other conversations you may be interested in.

Outlook 2010 also has one goodie that has not been given much press – integration into web-based text messaging services.  Imagine you are a landscaping business with 20 crews who have the tough rubber push to talk phones that don’t support email. Your admin assistant can tap out a quick message to some or all the crews who probably would not be able to hear a ringing phone anyway.

Its too early to give my traditional “Pros and Cons”, especially because my experience so far is limited to Outlook. I will give it my customary highest rating of “Must Consider” based on my past experience with the Microsoft Office product, my current experience with Outlook 2010, and my coworkers experience with the beta version.  As far as I can tell Microsoft has hit a triple over the year; Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, and now Office 2010.