Microsoft’s new version of Office is now availbel to beta testers. The Beta edition is one that is free to download and install, usually has a limited period before it will stop working and is usually full of bugs. This gives Microsoft a chance to get lots of testing done for free and lots of feedback. It gives everyone else a chance to play with the new Office before it comes out and make up their minds on it.

I liked it. I think it’s going to be pretty nice. It is again a new menu layout, but it is a mix of Office 2007 and older offices. With the older offices you had your nice menu bar – File, Edit etc, across the top and some shortcut toolbars underneath. Then came Office 2007 which had tabs which were meant to make things easier but really meant you had to search for the print button.

Now it is tabs again but more laid out in the File, Edit etc. It’s quite nice and easy to use.

I am back to Office 2007 though. Outlook, which I rely on heavily has a few too many bugs. Neither of my main syncing applications like it. Google Calendar just refuses to work with it while Mobile Me keeps throwing up errors and warnings. So I uninstalled it and will put it on a test machine again later.

For now? Office 2010, I like it and I think it will be good if all these bugs get sorted before the RC edition. If you’re interested in testing it out, you can download it here : Office 2010 Beta.