It may not be as big a day for Microsoft as it is Apple, but the new Office software is now available all the same.
Starting Tuesday the latest version of Office, Office Home and Student 2010, will be available, with the most basic bundle priced at $150. The suite can be installed on as many as three home computers, making multi-PC families breathe a sigh of relief, even though you can take advantage of Google’s free set of programs.
A $280 version also includes the Outlook e-mail program. A $500 bundle adds Publisher, a desktop publishing program, and Access, a database.
Those prices are for traditional packaged software. People can also buy licenses, called product key cards, to download the same sets of programs for $120, $200 and $350.
For the first time, Microsoft is also launching free Web-based versions of the four core Office programs. They will have fewer features than the desktop software.
