I have recently gotten a new computer and my husband strongly recommended that I move to Office 2010 when he loaded my applications. I was really hesitant after problems upgrading applications before and so I told him he had to upgrade first. Better he be the guinea pig than me. (He had hoped that I would upgrade first so he could decide if he wanted to.)
He upgraded first, and liked the new interface and features and so I have upgraded about one week ago. I have to say my experience so far with Outlook and Office 2010 is wonderful. I love the new options, control, and features. In fact my experience so far has been so good that I wanted to write this post to recommend it to you. (No, I am not being paid by Microsoft, just being an advocate for a terrific product.)
If you live in Outlook like I do, you will find the new features and options a bit daunting at first. To help, I got this book from my library called “Microsoft Office Outlook 2010 QuickSteps”. I have really come up to speed quickly using the book. Many of the options I knew how to use already, but it was all about where to find them in the new interface and how to use new features that I never knew existed or are brand new with Outlook 2010. The application is rock solid, fairly intuitive (although using a book really speeds up the learning process), has so many really great configurable options, and has many of the same features that each Office product share such as how to print, where to find the save button, and how to add quick steps.
As for the other applications in the Office Suite, the other one I use a lot is Word. The common elements that are shared between all Office products help you to get going fast. I thought I would be intimidated with the new ribbon features, but I have found with books and a video tutorial that I am getting proficient quickly. If you are moving from Office 2007 this is definitely a worthy upgrade. You will find many of the features you never knew you would like but now have and love in Office 2010. I got my software for about $400. The price is steep, but out of all the upgrades I have done or reviewed recently, this is one of the best. I highly recommend Office 2010 to you. Just upgrading Outlook to 2010 is worth the price.