Microsoft Office 2010 Home & Student 3-User

Pros: Microsoft Office is one of Microsoft lighthouse products and for reasons.

While others do offer similar products. Office do the same but with better ergonomy, in many instances it is more versatile and better compatibility across platforms and many more pros.
If you are a student then you will enjoy this version, it creates more appealing documents hence better communciation
If you are a home user then you will also have great use of it without hassles or headaches

Cons: Price tag. Yes it is expensive. I am happy to own it but still... the price tag is really high for a finite programmation onto a plastic cylinder inside a plastic box which in turn is inside a card board box!

Other Thoughts: Office has lots of templates and I like it!

Pros: With Office 2010, Microsoft allowed the ribbon to be customized.

This version does not have Outlook. For my stepson and wife, this is no problem. They use web based email, and they use iPhone, iPad, iPod, etc. for the rest. This version does not have Access, but they do not use it. I have Office Pro because I do use both.

The right-click menu has many of the items on the toolbars in previous versions. By highlighting a word and right-clicking, you can change the font, font size, bold, etc.

OneNote is amazing. My stepson has a Lenovo PC Tablet, and OneNote allows him to take handwritten notes in class. He has each subject in a separate tab, and it looks like a 7-subject notebook. At the end of the semester he is able to archive the class notes.

OneNote is similar to EverNote, but it is not cloud-based, and there are no ownership issues. Microsoft has cloud versions of Office, bit I have no experience with them.

With the release of 2013, you can get the upgrade for free. In the past, Microsoft has offered a CD/DVD for a small charge.

Cons: There are no real toolbars.

The right-click menu does not always have consistent items. The "Paragraph ... " item is not always present, and there are others.

Office 2010 does not play well with previous versions. You can run Office 2010, 2007, 2003 side-by-side, but it is not pleasant. I use Access versions from '97 to 2010, and prior to 2010, this was not a problem. If you install each version in sequence, it will run OK until your first Update.

Each version will try to update itself, and whichever is last will be the default version. When I unchecked all previous version updates, everything worked, but if I forgot, everything got trashed.

Installing previous versions into XP Mode solved the problem.

Other Thoughts: For veterans of older versions:

For toolbars, you can get the same effect by moving the "Quick Access Toolbar" below the Ribbon. You can "Customize the Quick Access Toolbar..." to add buttons to it. There is only one toolbar, but you could leave off the right-click menu items. On the "Choose commands from:" drop-down, select All Commands, and you should be able to get back the old toolbar buttons.

You can recreate the menus by Minimizing the Ribbon. When you click on the "menu", it will drop down, but the menu will be horizontal instead of vertical. Also, most of the old dialog boxes are still available by clicking the lower right diagonal arrow. The Ribbon will stay minimized after you select something.

I have used every version Office version since 4.0, and until Office 2010, I was satisfied with Office XP. I have found Office 2010 to be an improvement, finally.

Pros: Does everything you need (as an average student needing it)

Cons: Make ABSOLUTELY sure you have gotten rid of ANY files associated with any older Office programs, or installation will fail. Microsoft refuses to fix this. 'Not enough people affected' to merit a fix. Office 2010 does not like seeing anything laying around that it's predecessor was using.

Other Thoughts: It's Microsoft...so it could always be better.

Pros: Very good suite.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: Finally stepped up from Open Office and am happy with the decision.

Pros: Has All but Outlook

Cons: None

Pros: Got a great deal on this. Think I got this for $89 during the holiday deals at the end of last year.

Cons: None.

Pros: It is exactly what ya think it is. Just the basics.

Cons: It is exactly what ya think it is. Missing the other stuff one could generally use. It does not have access, outlook or visio. But, I have many computers and I like to be legit, on a budget so here we go.

Other Thoughts: If you have several computers in your home this is the way to go for the basics.

Pros: It's Microsoft.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: Don't buy more than you need. Like many people, I "overkill" on purchases, only to get the best of the best. I was paying $450 for the Office Professional 2010 and didn't even use Outlook, Access, or Publisher. This is a much less expensive route (for me anyway).

Pros: Installed nicely. Does have 32 bit and 64 Bit.

Cons: If you install 64 Bit version of this many add on's will not work. Just a heads up.

Other Thoughts: Does everything it's suppose to. Making word and excel documents no problem!

Pros: works fine with windows 7 64 bit. But installed the 32 bit version of office 2010, as it is much more stable and compatible with all the other programs.

Cons: none