The new 2010 Office.com online portal enters beta

office2010web

As the public Microsoft Office 2010 beta approaches, the Office online companion website set to take center stage on Microsoft’s recently acquired Office.com has also undergone a radical redesign.

In my opinion, the Office online site has long been under-appreciated by both novice and power-users alike for its vast library of additional content including but not limited to a great selection of high-resolution stock photographs, most likely due to its complexity and corporate-centric feel.

Although still in beta, the new site is already addressing such problems by prominently featuring “images” and “templates” content in a much cleaner and contemporary design.

office2010web2

In particular, the previously cumbersome image library now also features a much more streamlined interface with a handy hover download button. Furthermore, a surprising “Share your images” link in the sidebar indicates it might even be possible for users to contribute to the library with their own content. User-generated content in a productivity tool? Who would have thought!

In the meantime, keep an eye on the site as it’s also where you’ll find download links to the beta when it is rumored to be officially available next week.

25 insightful thoughts

  1. Do I see a new set of Office Icons (Word/Excel/Outlook/Powerpoint) at the bottom of the Page? These are definitly different from the Icons that are currently included in Office 2010 TP build.

  2. The site looks nice. It makes me wonder if Microsoft would have released some blue-themed Office site when Office 2007 came out. I much prefer the white-ish look of Office 2010

  3. The redesign looks good. Good to see they’re updating it.

    @VasiS: I’m not sure what you mean, they look the same.

    @Long Zheng
    I’d like to already some problems of my own, it’s just I’m not quite sure how. 😉 (I presume it’s a typo, right?)

  4. Oh cool! You can download the Beta of 2010 there! No wait, you can’t…. But you can try the Office Web Apps! Oh wait, you can’t since they require that you download and install the Beta first…

  5. Just an observation, but those Office 2010 icons look and feel like those from Expression 3.
    Niiiiice.

  6. I know the apps will have colored logos of their own color but why is the default Office logo not colorful?

  7. @VasiS: Sorry, I thought you were referring to the last build leaked (the one with the misspelled File menu), rather than the TP. Curse my lax reading skills!

  8. I should have said the logo. The logo is fine. They tweaked it anyway by adding a Walmart like starburst to it (see walmarts NEW logo)

  9. so i really wish the beta will open up! its already 2am on the freakin 18th and i need to go camp out for new moon ticks gettin anx and stuff! open OPEN open OPEN open…… damn i really need this thing to open or ill end up getting regular nm ticks and not the collectible badge with the vip. so what do you think forum? collectible vip new moon ticks or firsties on the 2010 dl?

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