For the first time since the mid-1990s when WordPerfect and Lotus SmartSuite were still legitimate competitors, Microsoft is taking major steps to keep its most loyal and profitable customers, enterprises. It's letting cash-strapped companies thinking about terminating their Office contracts switch to

More significantly, Microsoft is for Office -- double its investment in Windows -- to broaden the Office 2010 menu and create an unprecedented number of choices so that companies have no financial excuse to

Sticking with Windows XP for the next several years? No problem, Office 2010 will run on Windows 7, Vista and XP, said Capossela.

Not upgrading from your old 32-bit PCs? Office 2010 will come in both 64-bit and 32-bit flavors.

If your IT department is retrenching as you shift operations into the cloud, take note: that will be partly or wholly subsidized by advertising.