Spreadsheet geeks rejoice: Microsoft Office 2010 goes on sale to consumers Tuesday

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Microsoft’s newest Office goes on sale Tuesday

SEATTLE — The next version of Microsoft Corp.’s Office software will be available to consumers and small businesses starting Tuesday.

Office Home and Student 2010, the most basic bundle of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, will cost $150. The programs can be installed on as many as three home computers.

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.

Google Inc. already offers a similar set of free programs that run in a Web browser.

Online:

office.microsoft.com