Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Edition Retired for Windows 8

If you are running Windows 7 or Vista, you may be using Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Edition. Briefly, it gives you a fully featured Word and Excel package in return for a small square of advertising. All for free.

This has proved very useful for ordinary folks who want to write the occasional letter or create a small speadsheet without having to pay huge amounts of money for the full edition of Office.

But this small act of generosity is against all that Microsoft believe in and the bean counters at MS have decided that they can bear it no longer and Office Starter Edition for Windows 8 has been withdrawn. Microsoft cite incompatibilities with Windows 8; which is strange as the full edition of Office 2010 works just fine with the latest operating system.

So, if you're running Windows 7 and Office Starter Edition, do not be tempted to upgrade to Windows 8, or you will lose your Starter Edition and have to find an alternative.

Talking of alternatives, why not try Open Office. It is fully functional and compatible with all the MS Office incarnations. We highly recommend it. You can download it Here.