Office 2010 Requirements, Editions, and Distribution Changes

As with any new release, Office 2010 introduces new hardware requirements and edition and distribution changes. Office 2010 will come in five editions, down from the eight editions of Office 2007. New distribution models for Office 2010 will make it easier for consumers and small businesses to try, buy, and install the suite. In the end, the collection of individual products that make up a suite will have the greatest impact on which suite an organization deploys. For example, a customer who wants Word, Excel, Outlook, and Access will need the Professional rather than the Standard edition.

Hardware Requirements

Office 2010 should run on most computers that can handle Office 2007, according to preliminary hardware requirements released in Jan. 2010 and updated in April. The requirements suggest that many organizations will be able to upgrade existing Office 2007 installations in place to Office 2010. However, some computers currently on Office 2003 will not run Office 2010, which requires more processor power and twice as much memory as the 2003 suite.