Microsoft Office 2010 will be released to general public and retail markets shortly. If you are gearing up to buy Office 2010, a recent post on TechNet has details of things you should know about Office 2010.

Here are some highlights on how Office 2010 will be sold through OEMs and direct sales along with information about their “Office 2010 adware version” and the public beta for trying out Office 2010.

Office 2010 Product Key Card

Many OEM PCs and laptops usually preload a home edition of Office software. You can try out and use Microsoft office for a period of 60 days, after which it will work with reduced functionality and disable editing features. If you are satisfied with the performance, you can go ahead and buy a retail copy of the software.

However, starting with Office 2010, Microsoft is introducing a new way of selling Office software in the form of Product Key cards. The Product Key Card is a single license card that can be used to unlock pre-loaded Office 2010 versions.

The Office 2010 Product key card can be used to unlock, Microsoft Office – Office Home & Student 2010, Office Home & Business 2010, or Office Professional 2010.

Ad-Supported Office Starter 2010 Edition

Microsoft is completely doing away with Microsoft Works, which usually gets preloaded on new laptops and PCs. Microsoft Works allowed users to view and open Office documents on their PC.

However, once Office 2010 is launched, all new laptops and PCs will be preloaded with Microsoft Office Starter 2010 Edition. However, this edition will be act like a “adware software”. Along with reduced functionality, you will also see advertisements popping up every now and then.

Office Starter 2010 will include Office Word Starter 2010 and Office Excel Starter 2010, with the basic functionality for creating, viewing and editing documents.

Click-To-Run Downloads and Upgrades

Microsoft is doing away with the usual process of downloading and installing Office software and updates, with the introduction of a new feature called “Click-To-Run”.

Click-to-Run makes it easier than ever for customers to try or buy Office digitally by significantly reducing the time and effort required to download Office 2010 over the Internet. Click-to-Run automatically downloads and installs any software patches when connected to the Internet, helping people maintain and keep their Office software up-to-date. Click-to-Run uses virtualization technology so it allows customers to maintain multiple versions of Office. This enables them to try Office 2010 side-by-side with the existing version of Office.

Click-To-Run basically allows users to digitally try out Office 2010 on existing PC by automatically downloading and installing software patches. In addition to that, it also allows users to run multiple versions of Office on the same PC.

Previously, when you wanted to try out a new version of Office, your old version had to be removed prior to installation.

Office 2010 Versions

Office 2010 will available in only three versions:

1. Office Home and Student 2010
2. Office Home and Business 2010
3. Office Professional 2010

Office 2010 Public Beta

Microsoft Office 2010 will be available as a public beta later this year. During the beta period, Microsoft will invite users to try out and experience Office 2010.

We will keep you updated whenever they announce the beta, so that you can try Office 2010 yourself.

Have you used the technical preview of Office 2010? Did you like it? Do let us know about your thoughts on Office 2010.