Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Preview FAQ

About Microsoft Office 2010        

	What are some of the major updates to the Microsoft® Office 2010 suites from previous versions?
	Microsoft Office 2010 offers you rich and powerful new ways to deliver your best work ¾ at work, home or school ¾ on your computer, from a Windows Mobile-based Smartphone or via a Web browser.1 Quickly and creatively grab your audience’s attention and inspire them with your ideas by using enhanced and easy-to-use tools, customizable templates, color schemes, and photo-editing capabilities. With a new co-authoring experience, you can work with people from different locations at the same time. And by offering more ways to access your files from almost anywhere, Office 2010 puts you in control of getting things done according to your schedule. Simplify your tasks and create amazing results with Office 2010 — wherever life takes you.
	What products are included in the Office 2010 suites?
	Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 — only available via volume licensing Includes: Microsoft® Excel® 2010 Microsoft® Outlook® 2010 with Business Contact Manager Microsoft® PowerPoint® 2010 Microsoft® Word 2010 Microsoft® Access® 2010 Microsoft® InfoPath® 2010 Microsoft Communicator Microsoft® Publisher 2010 Microsoft® OneNote® 2010 New addition to suite Microsoft® SharePoint® Workspace 2010 New addition to suite Microsoft Office Web Apps Integrated solution capabilities such as enterprise content management (ECM), electronic forms, and information rights and policy capabilities
	Microsoft Office Professional 2010 Includes: Microsoft Excel 2010 Microsoft Outlook 2010 Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 Microsoft Word 2010 Microsoft Access 2010 Microsoft Publisher 2010 Microsoft OneNote 2010 New addition to suite	Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010 New! Includes: Microsoft Excel 2010 Microsoft Outlook 2010 Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 Microsoft Word 2010 Microsoft OneNote 2010
	Microsoft Office Standard 2010 — only available via volume licensing Includes: Microsoft Excel 2010 Microsoft Outlook 2010 Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 Microsoft Word 2010 Microsoft OneNote 2010 New addition to suite Microsoft Publisher 2010 New addition to suite Microsoft Office Web Apps	Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010 — licensed for noncommercial use Includes: Microsoft Excel 2010 Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 Microsoft Word 2010 Microsoft OneNote 2010
	Microsoft Visio 2010 and Microsoft Project 2010 are also available but are not part of the suites.
	What are the Office Web Apps?
	The Office Web Apps allow you to work with your Microsoft Office files from more places and on more devices by providing browser-based viewing and lightweight editing of Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010 and OneNote 2010 files. Access your work at any time from a Smartphone or computer with an Internet connection.2 The Office Web Apps are designed to work with Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox and requires SharePoint 2010 or a Windows Live account. Note: Office Web Apps will be available through Windows Live at a later date during Technical Preview and will have limited functionality at this milestone.
	Why should I use Office 2010?
	Office 2010 can help you express your ideas more visually. With Office 2010, you can easily create powerful visuals and apply professional-looking designs to photos and text, and to videos in PowerPoint. From new and improved picture-editing effects such as saturation and watercolor to video editing and formatting capabilities such as trimming, fades and reflections, Office 2010 opens up a world of design options to give life to your ideas.
	Enjoy the familiar Microsoft Office experience on the web. With Office Web Apps, you can take advantage of greater flexibility when working in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. That’s because you can access your work at any time from a Smartphone or computer with an Internet connection.2 Create amazing documents using Office 2010 and then easily post them online so you can share your work with others from across town or around the world. It’s convenient and easy.
	Connect, share and accomplish more when working together. Now you can get more done when working in groups. The new co-authoring experience with Word 2010, PowerPoint 2010 and OneNote 2010 lets you work on a file with multiple people simultaneously from different locations. Brainstorm ideas, control versions better and meet deadlines faster — it’s a snap with Office 2010.
	Store and track all your ideas and notes in one place. With Microsoft OneNote 2010, you get the ultimate digital notebook for tracking, organizing and sharing your text, photos, and video and audio files. New features such as version tracking, highlighting and Linked Notes give you more control over your notes so you’re always on top of the latest changes and sources of your information.
	Create powerful data insights and visualization. With new data analysis and visualization features in Excel 2010, you can easily track and highlight important data trends. For example, the new Sparklines feature delivers a clear and compact visual representation of your data with small charts in a cell. The new Slicers feature lets you filter and segment your PivotTable data in multiple layers so you can spend more time analyzing and less time formatting.
	Access your work across devices and platforms. Office 2010 gives you a familiar and intuitive experience across PCs, Smartphones1 and various Web browsers so that you have the freedom to use the system from more locations and on multiple devices.
	Deliver more compelling presentations. With PowerPoint 2010, you can effectively engage your audience by embedding and personalizing videos within your presentation. The embedded video file can be customized by adding video triggers and styles directly within PowerPoint 2010, saving you time and money.
	Create sophisticated business process forms with little or no code. InfoPath 2010 is designed for both advanced business users and developers, depending on the type of forms-based solution and organization needs. Without writing code, advanced business users can use InfoPath 2010 to design sophisticated electronic forms to quickly and cost-effectively gather information. Developers can create advanced forms for departmental and enterprise business processes, including composite applications and workflow sequences, with InfoPath 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and SharePoint Designer 2010 — using little or no code.
	What is the Microsoft Office Backstage™ view?
	Microsoft Office Backstage view replaces the file menu across the core Microsoft Office 2010 applications. Backstage view helps you find commonly accessed commands when opening or finishing a document, including opening new or existing files, defining document properties, and sharing your information. Designed using data on product feature usage generated by the Customer Experience Improvement Program, the Backstage view also brings together related tasks, making it easier to work with your documents. For instance, printing tools — previously spread across several commands (page layout, preview, print) — are all together in one Print tab within the Backstage view. You can assign metadata to a file, check it for accessibility, or make sure it’s finalized and ready to share with others. Backstage lets you share, print, and publish your documents with just a few clicks. Backstage view is extensible. For businesses, IT can incorporate work and information flows from other systems and highlight them right within the most useful Microsoft Office application. For example, Backstage view lets you bring those back-end accounting or HR workflows right into Office 2010.
	What is the Ribbon?
	The Ribbon replaces traditional menus and toolbars with a fresh, highly visual layout of commands, organized into a set of tabs, to help you find the features you need fast. The Ribbon was introduced in Office 2007, when it enhanced a few of the Microsoft Office applications. It made the available commands and tools more visible and easier to access so you could focus more easily on your content. In Office 2010, every application has the Ribbon, including favorites such as OneNote 2010, Publisher 2010, InfoPath 2010, SharePoint Workspace 2010 (the new name for Microsoft Office Groove 2007) and the new Office Web Apps. The Ribbon brings new features such as Outlook 2010 Quick Steps to your attention and is customizable so you can personalize it to your work style.
	Can I customize Office 2010 based on how I use the product?
	With an improved Ribbon across all the Office 2010 applications, you can access your favorite commands quickly and create custom tabs to personalize the experience. Ribbon tabs can be customized or replaced with your own custom tabs. Through the Options menu in the Backstage view, you can easily create new tabs that bring together your favorite commands and groups. Existing tabs can also be customized to fit your needs. If you’re a business IT professional, take advantage of the new Microsoft Office Backstage view to incorporate work and information flows from other systems and highlight them right within the most useful Microsoft Office application. For example, Backstage view lets you bring those back-end accounting or HR workflows right into Office 2010.
	What does co-authoring mean in Office 2010?
	Co-authoring refers to the ability for multiple authors to edit a document, presentation, spreadsheet or notebook at the same time, allowing you to connect, share and accomplish more when working together. With the new co-authoring experience available for Word 2010, PowerPoint 2010, OneNote 2010 and Excel 2010 (through Excel Web App), you and your co-workers can work on a file from different locations, brainstorm ideas, control versions better and meet deadlines faster.
	Will Office 2010 products be available in 64-bit versions?
	Office 2010 products will be available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
	What other related products does Office 2010 work with?
	Here are some examples of products that Office 2010 will work with: Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Use Backstage view to easily share your work to SharePoint Server from Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access, InfoPath and SharePoint Workspace. Co-author your documents using SharePoint 2010 together with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Use SharePoint 2010 to access your Office Web Apps with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, and access business forms with InfoPath 2010.   Windows Live Use Windows Live to access, store and share your documents via Office Web Apps for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote so you can access your files from virtually anywhere.   Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. Together with Microsoft Exchange Server, Outlook provides an enterprise-grade messaging platform. With Microsoft Exchange Server, you can receive voice mail and faxes directly to your inbox, and they can be accessed virtually anywhere using your PC, Outlook Mobile1 or Outlook Web Access. Compliant, security-enhanced messaging is simple and effective across the organization using Outlook 2010 and Exchange Server 2010. Innovative tools such as MailTips notify users when they are about to send an e-mail to a group or an individual who is outside the organization. Tools such as Retention Policy and Automated Policy Application use Windows Rights Management Services to allow corporate messaging to be transmitted with advanced security and retained for records management. Improved connectivity with Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 will support the use of multiple Exchange accounts in Outlook 2010, making it simple for a user to manage several accounts in one place.   Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 works with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to provide a streamlined communications experience from within Office 2010 applications. Rich presence is available throughout Office 2010 applications to provide information about a person’s availability and status. Wherever you see a presence icon, hovering over it will reveal a menu of communications options from which you can initiate a real-time conversation without having to switch applications. It’s easy to move from one communication modality to another with Office Communications Server 2007 R2. Start a conversation with an instant message from within an Office application such as Outlook, escalate to a call, add video or share a document. A desktop-sharing session can be initiated directly from Backstage view in Word 2010, Excel 2010 and PowerPoint 2010.   Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2. By using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 with SharePoint 2010, you can now share and collaborate on powerful analyses that refresh automatically. In addition, SQL Server allows IT to manage user-generated Excel spreadsheets directly from SharePoint, giving you peace of mind that your analysis is continuously available, up-to-date and security-enhanced.

 

Microsoft Office 2010 System Requirements & Compatibility

 

	Are there special system requirements for running Office 2010?
	Preliminary system requirements for Office 2010 include the following: Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista or Windows 7 You don’t need to replace hardware that is capable of running Office 2007; it will support Office 2010.  Processor: 500 MHz or higher Memory: 256 MB or higher Hard Disk: 1.5 GB; a portion of the disk space will be freed after installation if the original download package is removed from the hard drive.
	Which browsers are supported for the new Office Web Apps?
	The Office Web Apps are designed to work with Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox.

 

Microsoft Office 2010 Beta & Purchase

 

	When will the Office 2010 Beta be available?
	The Office 2010 Beta is scheduled to be available later this year.
	When will Office 2010 be available for purchase?
	Office 2010 is entering a limited technical preview starting in July and will release to manufacturing in the first half of 2010.
	How much will Office 2010 cost?
	Pricing will be announced at a later date.
	Is there a Macintosh version of Microsoft Office 2010?
	Office 2008 for Mac is the current version of Office for Mac users. Office 2008 launched in January 2008 and is the leading productivity suite available on the Mac platform, delivering a full and compatible Office suite for Mac users. While we haven’t shared a launch for the next release of Office for Mac, we typically ship a new version of Office every two to three years.
	Are Office Web Apps free? What are the different ways people can get them?
	For business use, Office Professional Plus and Office Standard 2010 licenses will each include access to the Office Web Apps. A customer will then be able to run the Office Web Apps on SharePoint 2010. For personal use, Office Web Apps will be available as a free ad-supported service to consumers via Windows Live.

 

Using Microsoft Office 2010

	Can I access my files when I am away from my primary computer?
	Yes. Office 2010 gives you a familiar and intuitive online experience across individual computers (including Macs) and operating systems, Smartphones and browsers so that you have the freedom to use Microsoft Office from more locations and on multiple devices. The Office Web Apps let you work online from anywhere, in multiple browsers, and Office Mobile 2010 helps you stay connected while on the go.1
	How do I access Office 2010 files from the browser?
	For businesses: You can access your Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote files from a SharePoint Server that is running the Office Web Apps by selecting Open in Web from the drop-down menu next to the file. When you are ready to access the document, simply log back on to your company’s network for access from your Internet Explorer, Safari or Firefox browser. You can publish and access InfoPath 2010 Forms in a browser powered by SharePoint Server 2010 as well. For personal tasks: You can access your Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote files by posting your documents online. When you are ready to edit or view the document online, simply log on to Windows Live from Internet Explorer, Safari or Firefox. A Windows Live ID is required for accessing the Windows Live Document account.
	How do I access Office 2010 from my phone?
	You can access your Office 2010 files from your phone in the following ways: Office Mobile 2010. Office Mobile 2010 can be launched from your Start menu on any phone running Windows Mobile 6.5.4 You can also open Office file attachments within your e-mail or documents stored on your Windows® phone directly. Smartphone Web browser. Publish your documents to SharePoint Server 2010 or Windows Live services, and access and view documents from your Smartphone browser.5 You can access InfoPath forms via a full-featured mobile browser powered by SharePoint Server 2010.

Top 10 Benefits of Office 2010 Beta

Microsoft Office 2010 Beta

Get It Now

For home, small business, and school Download the Office 2010 beta if you’re a student, running a small business, or using Office at home. Download Now

For enterprise and mid-sized business Download if you’re an IT professional or a developer or want to use Office at work. Download Now

Microsoft® Office 2010 offers rich and powerful new ways to deliver your best work at the office, home, or school. Grab your audience’s attention and inspire them with your ideas visually. Create results with people at the same time and stay connected to your files across the town or around the world.¹ With Office 2010, you’re in control of getting things done and delivering amazing results according to your schedule.

1 Express your ideas more visually Office 2010 opens up a world of design options to help you give life to your ideas. The new and improved picture formatting tools such as color saturation and artistic effects let you transform your document visuals into a work of art. Combined with a wide range of new pre-built Office themes and SmartArt® graphic layouts, Office 2010 gives you more ways to make your ideas stick.

2 Accomplish more when working together Brainstorm ideas, provide better version control, and meet deadlines faster when you work in groups. The co-authoring experience for Microsoft® Word 2010, Microsoft PowerPoint 2010, Microsoft® Excel Web App and Microsoft OneNote shared notebooks let you work on a file with several people at once – even from different locations.2

3 Enjoy the familiar Office experience from more locations and more devices With Office 2010, you can get things done more easily, from more locations and more devices. Using a smartphone or virtually any computer with an Internet connection, you can work when and where you want to work.3 Microsoft Office Web Apps Extend your Office 2010 experience to the Web. Store your Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote files online and then access, view, edit, and share content through the web.  Microsoft Office Mobile 2010 Stay current and respond quickly using enhanced mobile versions of Office 2010 applications, specifically suited to your Windows Mobile-based smartphone.

4 Create powerful data insights and visuals Track and highlight important trends with new data analysis and visualization features in Excel 2010. The new Sparklines feature delivers a clear and compact visual representation of your data with small charts within worksheet cells. Filter and segment your PivotTable data in multiple layers using Slicers to spend more time analyzing and less time formatting.

5 Deliver compelling presentations Captivate your audience with personalized videos in your presentation. Insert and customize videos directly in PowerPoint 2010—trim, add fades and effects, or bookmark key points in the video to call attention to selected scenes. Videos you insert are now embedded by default, relieving you from managing and sending additional video files.

6 Manage large volumes of e-mail with ease Compress your long e-mail threads into a few conversations that can be categorized, filed, ignored, or cleaned up. The new Quick Steps feature let you perform multi-command tasks, such as reply and delete an e-mail in a single click, saving you time and in-box space.

7 Store and track all your ideas and notes in one place Get the ultimate digital notebook for tracking, organizing, and sharing your text, picture, video and audio notes with OneNote 2010. New features such as version tracking, automatic highlighting, and Linked Notes give you more control over your notes so you’re always on top of where your ideas came from and the latest changes when working in teams.4

8 Get your message out instantly Broadcast your PowerPoint presentation to a remote audience, whether or not they have PowerPoint installed.5 The new Broadcast Slide Show feature allows you to share your presentation through a web browser quickly without additional set up.

9 Get things done faster and easier Microsoft Office Backstage™ view replaces the traditional File menu to give you a centralized space for all of your file management tasks, such as the ability to save, share, print, and publish. The enhanced Ribbon across Office 2010 applications lets you access commands quickly and customize tabs to personalize the experience to your work style.

10 Access work across devices and platforms Enjoy the freedom of using Office 2010 from more locations on more devices. When you use Microsoft® Office 2010, you’re getting the familiar and intuitive Office experience across PCs, Smartphones, and Web browsers on the go.

Free “First Look: Microsoft Office 2010” e-book available to download now

Here is your chance to get a great resource, the “First Look: Microsoft Office 2010” e-book by Katherine Murray, at an unbeatable price. FREE! This e-book contains 14 chapters filled with information on the latest Microsoft Office 2010 and here is an overview of the e-book from the Microsoft Press Blog:

Part I, “Envision the Possibilities,” introduces you to the changes in Office 2010 and shows you how you can make the most of the new features to fit the way you work today. Chapter 1, “Welcome to Office 2010,” gives you a play-by-play introduction to new features; Chapter 2, “Express Yourself Effectively and Efficiently,” details the great feature enhancements and visual effects throughout the applications; and Chapter 3, “Work Anywhere with Office 2010,” explores the flexibility factor by presenting a set of scenarios that enable users to complete their work no matter where their path takes them.

Part II, “Hit the Ground Running,” focuses on each of the Office 2010 applications in turn, spotlighting the key new features and showing how they relate to the whole. These chapters provide a how-to guide for many of the top features you’re likely to use right off the bat, and they offer inspiring ideas on how to get the most from your favorite applications.

Part III, “Next Steps with Office 2010,” zooms up to the big picture and provides examples to help you think through interoperability. How often do you use the various Office applications together? Customer research shows that people often don’t realize how well the applications work together as a complete system—which means they might be laboring over items they could easily incorporate from somewhere else. This part of the book provides examples for integrating the applications and explores Office 2010 security and training opportunities, as well.

You can download your copy of the “First Look: Microsoft Office 2010” e-book HERE today.

What’s new for IT professionals in Office 2010

Office 2010 (downloadable here) provides new features and improvements that help IT administrators configure, validate, deploy, and protect their Office installations. The following sections discuss changes in these areas:

• Licensing and volume activation
• Office 2010 64-bit editions
• Security changes
• Office Customization Tool changes

Licensing and volume activation

Microsoft includes product activation technologies in the following products sold through the Volume Licensing channel: Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, and now Office 2010. Product activation is verification with the manufacturer to confirm that software is genuine and that its product key is not compromised. Activation establishes a relationship between the software’s product key and a particular installation of that software on a device.

Activation types include retail, volume, and OEM, and most require interactive steps by the user or IT professional, such as entering a product key from the packaging, or contacting a networked server or telephone service center. Activation technologies and tools vary according to the different channels for the software — retail, volume, and OEM.

The Microsoft policy requires the activation of all editions of Office 2010. This includes those obtained through a Volume Licensing program. This requirement applies to Office 2010 running on both physical computers and virtual machines.

You can use the following methods to activate Office 2010 with Office Activation Technologies:

• Key Management Service (KMS). KMS uses a KMS host key to activate a KMS host computer and establish a local activation service in your environment. Office 2010 connects to the local KMS host for activation.
• Multiple Activation Key (MAK). With a MAK, clients activate Office 2010 online with the Microsoft hosted activation servers or by telephone
• A combination of KMS and MAK.

To learn about Office Activation Technologies, see Overview of volume activation for Office 2010 and Volume activation quick start guide for Office 2010 in the Office 2010 Beta Resource Kit.

Office 2010 64-bit editions

Processors that are 64-bit are quickly becoming the standard for systems ranging from servers to desktop computers. The 64-bit systems can use more virtual and physical memory than 32-bit processors. This lets users work with much larger data sets than they could previously, to analyze and solve large computational problems. Office 2010 introduces native 64-bit versions of Office products to take advantage of the additional capacity provided by 64-bit processors. This additional capacity is only needed by Office users who require Excel spreadsheets that are larger than 2 GB, for example. The 32-bit version of Office 2010 provides the same functionality and is also compatible with 32-bit add-ins. This is why Office 2010 will install the 32-bit version by default.

For information about the supported operating systems, supported scenarios, setup process, and deployment considerations for 64-bit Office 2010 clients, see 64-bit editions of Office 2010 in the Office 2010 Beta Resource Kit.

Security changes

Several new security controls in Office 2010 make it easier for IT professionals to build a robust defense against threats without diminishing information worker productivity. Five of the new controls provide countermeasures for hardening and reducing the attack surface and mitigating exploits. These include the following:

• Data Execution Prevention (DEP) support for Office applications   A hardware and software technology that helps harden the attack surface by preventing the execution of viruses and worms that exploit buffer overflow vulnerabilities.
• Office file validation   An Office software component that helps reduce the attack surface by scanning files for file format (file fuzzing) exploits before the files are opened by an application.
• Expanded file block settings   A suite of Group Policy settings that helps reduce the attack surface by providing more specific control over the kinds of files an applications can access.
• Office ActiveX kill bit   An Office feature that administrators can use to prevent specific ActiveX controls from running within Office applications.
• Protected view   A sandbox environment that helps mitigate attacks by enabling users to preview untrusted or potentially harmful files in a secure viewer.

In addition to these new controls, Office 2010 provides several security enhancements that further harden the attack surface by helping to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of data. This includes the following:

• Cryptographic agility for Microsoft Excel 2010, Microsoft PowerPoint 2010, and Microsoft Word 2010.
• Trusted time stamping support for digital signatures.
• Domain-based password complexity checking and enforcement.
• Encryption strengthening enhancements.
• Improvements to the password to modify feature.
• Integrity checking of encrypted files.

Office 2010 also provides several security improvements that have a direct affect on information worker productivity. Improvements in the message bar user interface, a trust model that remembers users’ trust decisions, Trust Center user interface settings, and single identity management are some examples of new features that help make security decisions and actions less intrusive to information workers. In addition, many of the new and enhanced security controls can be managed through Group Policy settings. This makes it easier for you to enforce and maintain your organization’s security architecture.

Office Customization Tool changes

The Office Customization Tool (OCT) is the main customization tool that is used to customize an installation of Microsoft Office 2010 (and the 2007 Microsoft Office system). The OCT is part of the Setup program and is the recommended tool for most customizations, and is available only with volume licensed versions of Office 2010 and the 2007 Office system. You run the OCT by typing setup.exe /admin at the command line.

For more information about the OCT, see Office Customization Tool in Office 2010 in the Office 2010 Beta Resource Kit.

The Office 2010 release provides the following new features:

• Two architecture-specific versions of the OCT, one for 32-bit Office 2010 and one for 64-bit Office 2010. The 64-bit version of the OCT supports 64-bit client editions of Office 2010, and provides the same user interface, capabilities, and OPA settings as the 32-bit version. The OCT files are located in the Admin folder under the x86 (32-bit) and x64 (64-bit) folders, respectively. For information about 64-bit Office 2010, see 64-bit editions of Office 2010 in the Office 2010 Beta Resource Kit.
• Import feature that lets administrators import 32-bit OCT customization (MSP) updates into the 64-bit version of the OCT and 64-bit MSP updates into the 32-bit version of the OCT. This allows administrators of mixed environments (32-bit and 64-bit) to do the Setup customizations one time. For more information, see Import an Office 2010 Setup customization file in the Office 2010 Beta Resource Kit.
• Support for adding multiple Outlook e-mail accounts.

For information about application-specific changes in Office 2010, see the Product and feature changes in Office 2010 articles in the Office 2010 Beta Resource Kit.

For download information, see Download Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta.

Additional resources:

• Getting Started with Office 2010 (Beta)
• Volume Activation for Office 2010 (Beta)

New Training on Channel 9

Are you trying to find more information to help you prepare for certifications?  Perhaps you would like to go a little deeper on some of the technologies.  Channel 9 has always been a great go-to place for developers looking for the latest information and now, they’ve added some great training content as well.

Channel 9 launched three new training courses created by developers for developers.  Channel 9 has always been about giving direct access to the engineers and future technologies from Microsoft.  These courses allow developers to get started on learning about emerging technologies at their own pace. 

 

Office 2010 Workshop

Discover how Office 2010 Beta is a broadly extensible platform for building information worker productivity solutions and see how developing for Office with Visual Studio 2010 makes this easy.

See online presentations with demos that will help you get started developing solutions from Add-ins to full featured Office Business Applications (OBAs) using Visual Studio 2010 with Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 as the core platform. 

Explore how to build solutions on SharePoint 2010

See how SharePoint 2010 is a major step forward as a development platform.  Learn how SharePoint 2010 provides the business collaboration platform for developers to rapidly build solutions using familiar tools such as Visual Studio 2010 through this self-paced course. 

Windows Server 2008 R2, “Not your average R2!”

Explore this significant Windows Server release via a self-paced training course of videos and hands-on-labs with a focus on performance, web, management, and other server solution scenarios.   Learn about developing applications for “many-core” scale, enable efficient “trigger-started” services, explore new Windows PowerShell features, create integrated solutions with the File Classification Infrastructure, build Web Platform extensions, and automate your dev-test environment with VHD and Hyper-V API’s.

Office 2010 Tips – Edit Your Pictures with Photo Filters in Office

Create eye-catching visual effects in a flash

Throughout Microsoft Office 2010, you’ll find new and popular tools to create high impact visuals to make your work really pop.  And they take just moments to use. 

Pictures speak a thousand words

New picture editing tools in Word , PowerPoint, Outlook and Excel 2010 let you trim and add special picture effects without additional photo-editing software. Use the new tools to change color saturation, brightness and contrast to easily turn a boring document into a work of art.

Step by Step:

1. Insert a picture into Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Outlook or Excel using the Insert tab on the Ribbon.2. Click on your picture and the Picture Tools tab in the Ribbon appears. Click on Format to see all of the editing options available. Or double click on the image to trigger picture editing options right away. 3. Click Artistic Effects to preview more than 20 effects to apply to your photo.

Let your work stand out

Use the new Insert Screenshot feature to quickly and easily capture and incorporate screenshots to complement your work in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and even Excel 2010.

Step by Step:

1. Locate the image you want to capture in a screenshot. 

2. Click on the Insert tab on the Ribbon.

3. Click on the Screenshot command in the Illustrations group.

4. Select from the Available Screen Shots displayed, which include any of the other windows you have open (browser window, other documents, and so on).

5. Click on the screenshot. The Picture Tools tab on the Ribbon appears. Select Corrections to sharpen, soften, or change contrast on your screenshot.

     

Quick Preview: PowerPoint 2010

For PowerPoint 2010, we are making the biggest visual update to Slide Show in nearly a decade. PowerPoint’s graphics engine is completely rebuilt using DirectX. Everything in slide show (text, shapes, animations, and more) is rendered in full 3D using your machine’s graphics card. Over the next few weeks, we’ll show you how to use PowerPoint 2010’s new tools and effects to improve your presentation.

Here are a few of the features you can expect to see:
· Fully hardware-accelerated rendering engine
· New transition effects and an updated user interface
· Revamped animation effects and a brand new UI (timelines!)
· Animation Painter (copy your animations between objects)
· Choreograph animations with multimedia

As we like to say here at PowerPoint, if a picture is worth 1,000 words, then a video is worth at least 24,000 per second:

Office 2010 Tips – One Click Quick Steps in Outlook 2010

Simple. Efficient. More ways to connect.

Outlook 2010’s new Quick Steps get you through your inbox faster.  Cut down on the number of steps to your common actions and find better ways to respond to your messages, easier and faster. Then explore Contact Cards to connect you to your colleagues instantly through any device—IM, phone, or email.

Tip:  Try out Quick Steps. With this feature, you can cut down common actions to just one click. Send an email to your team with an assigned task, respond to a message with a meeting invite or automatically reply and delete an email.

Step by step:

1. On the Home Ribbon, locate the Quick Steps Chunk to access common tasks.
2. Create your own Quick Steps by selecting “Create New” from the Quick Steps section of the Ribbon and use the wizard to personalize your Outlook experience.

 

Tip:  Bring up Contact Cards to IM, email, or phone without leaving Outlook. See all the key information about that person—job title, office location, photo, and presence information. Bonus: click on the speaker icon to hear your colleague say their name, and avoid embarrassments from mispronouncing.

Step by Step:

1. Hover over a name in the email thread.

2. Pin down the Contact Card with the thumb nail icon to keep the hover view in place, and explore icons to find out all the actions you can take from right within Outlook.

3. Click the email message icon to open a new e-mail to that person.

4. Click the balloon icon  to IM, or the phone icon to call your contact.

5. Click the + icon for more options, including to schedule a meeting.

Office 2010 Tips & Tricks – Office Backstage

The Microsoft Office Backstage view enhances the traditional file menu experience. It provides you a rich, intuitive set of capabilities to help you complete your work more efficiently.

Tip: Get to print faster. Printing, previously spread across several commands (page layout, preview, print), are all within a single view under the Print tab in the Backstage view.

Step by Step: 1. Click on the Office icon in the upper left hand corner, next to the Home Ribbon tab, to open Backstage view. 2. Select Print.

Tip: Assign metadata to the file; check for accessibility; or inspect your document to remove personal information or comments before posting for public consumption.  In Outlook 2010, Backstage is where you’ll find Automatic Replies (Out of Office), Mailbox Cleanup, Manage Voice Mail and more!

Step by Step:

1. Click on the Office icon in the upper left hand corner, next to the Home tab on the ribbon, to open Backstage view. The default tab provides you options to prepare your file for final finish and define mailbox settings in Outlook.

Why you can’t get your Microsoft Office Professional 2010 Technical Preview to work

Earlier today, I saw a few Partners posting to a variety of online properties about how they could not get their Microsoft Office Professional 2010 activation keys for the Technical Preview program to work through Microsoft Connect.  Just a quick update for you, in case you did not see this posted on the Microsoft Connect site.  Due to the large demand for downloads and installations we have received for the Microsoft Office Professional 2010 Technical Preview program, we have already reached the maximum number of key activations originally created for the Technical Preview program.  The Office 2010 Team is well aware of this fact and is already working on it.  In fact, here is a snapshot of a posting on the Microsoft Connect page providing an update on the situation:

So if you have received this error, please stay tuned to the Microsoft Connect site and they will be updating it with the new product keys as soon as they are available.  Also, as noted above, please do not contact the Microsoft Connect Team about this issue as the Microsoft Office Team is already aware of it and working hard to resolve it.  It is very exciting to see all of the phenomenal interest in this Technical Preview offering of Microsoft Office 2010 and to see us exceed our maximum number of key requests already!

Thank you for your incredible interest in participating in this program and we look forward to all of your feedback on the Microsoft Office 2010 program as you begin to work with it.

Source: Eric’s Blog