Office Starter 2010 drops the crapware, adds ads

You’ve already seen most of Office 2010. It was released to manufacturing two months ago and has been widely available to Microsoft partners and anyone with an MSDN or TechNet subscription. (Check out “Office 2010: a deeper dive” for more details on what’s in the full version.)

But the one Office 2010 version you probably haven’t seen is the elusive Starter edition. Microsoft hasn’t made review copies available to the press, but they did make the software available last week to partners who want to preinstall Office on new PCs for sale with Windows 7. I’ve had a chance to test a couple of new PCs with Office preinstalled. Here’s what you’ll see if you buy a new PC with this Office edition included.

For a detailed look at what’s in Office Starter 2010,
see my complete screenshot gallery.

Office Starter 2010 includes only Word and Excel, in stripped-down versions designed to work well with basic documents but without access to advanced features. In fact, Microsoft pulls no punches in its communication with OEM partners, who have specific instructions set out in section 5D of the license agreement:

You will provide the following notice in a clear manner to End Users before they buy the Product (e.g, in technical specifications, advertisements, packaging and point of purchase materials):

“This PC is preloaded with reduced-functionality versions of Word and Excel that include advertising. It does not include PowerPoint or Outlook. Purchase an Office 2010 Product Key to activate full-featured Office software on this PC.”

Reduced functionality? Advertising? It sounds like a horror show, but the reality is nowhere near as frightening as that description.

It’s also a marked improvement over Office 2003 and Office 2007, which were typically installed as trial versions on new PCs and pretty much set the bar for the crapware category. If you accepted the trial for either of those editions, you got the full Office program to work with, but only for 60 days. After the trial period ran out, you had to pay to continue using the software. Office Starter 2010, by contrast, never expires. You can continue using it for as long as you own your PC.

So what’s in Office Starter 2010? Let’s get the mechanics out of the way right up front: As a retail customer, you can’t buy Office Starter 2010 in a store or online. It’s available only to PC builders who use the OEM Preinstallation Kit to install the Microsoft Office 2010 Single Image, which installs Starter edition but also provides the setup files for other Office versions. OEMs are encouraged to include a referral code with each preinstallation, so they can get a commission when users upgrade to a full Office version. They’re also encouraged to install the Bing Bar (a browser add-on that works with Internet Explorer and Firefox), Windows Live Essentials, and Microsoft Security Essentials. (As my colleague Mary Jo Foley notes, OEMs gets a significant price break if they install the Bing Bar and Windows Live Essentials with Office Starter.)

An OEM can make the preinstallation process as easy or as difficult as they want. For low-volume installations, you can run a batch file and have Office ready to run for the first time in a matter of about 10 minutes. Or you can script the installation along with Windows 7 setup, adding branding, a referral code, and other custom settings. The first time an end user runs Office, they’re given three options: activate Office with a key they’ve already purchased; go online to purchase a product key; or use Office Starter 2010.

Next page: What’s included? What’s missing? –>