I just installed the Microsoft Office 2010 Beta.  I guess I figured if I was going to be an early adopter why not just go for it.

My first impression is that a lot has changed and it all seems overwhelming.  I never ran Office 2007, so I’m jumping right from 2003 (which I loved) to 2010.

So, this is my first experience with “The Ribbon.”

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, Office 2003 was the last time you’ll ever see the familiar toolbar that’s been around since Windows 3.1.

You go from this:

To this:

(click the images for the full size)

It’s a little jarring.  More than a little.  I’m actually more stumped by this change in Office than I was going from XP to Windows 7.

But, I’m going to give it some time.

The upgrade to Outlook 2010 looks good so far, as long as I can figure out the user interface.  If I was still in a corporate job I’d be most excited about the Quick Steps feature.  It’s basically a set of user configurable mini-macros to make repetitive tasks easy.

For instance, you can set up a quick step to forward an email to your team and pre-fill the content or body with FYI.  Or reply to a message and delete the original all in one step.

But, since I’m not in that corporate world, the best feature I’ve seen so far is that Outlook 2010 lets you change your “from” address easily.

There are some changes to how emails are grouped as well.  For instance, Z and I traded a few emails today, and when I click on the subject line, I get the rest in that exchange, kind of like gmail (but way less annoying).

More to come, I’m sure.  But I was pleased with the install process, and the product looks pretty good at first glance.