Microsoft currently offers 60-day trials of Office that can be downloaded from its website.

But Microsoft is putting Office Starter 2010 to rest, and has told OEMs to switch to new tools for factory-installation of Microsoft software on new Windows 7 PCs. The new tools, which Microsoft has labeled "Office 2010 Transition OEM Preinstallation Kit," or OPK, do away with Office Starter 2010.

"The Office 2010 Transition OPK does not contain Office Starter 2010," stated.

The same kit also can be used to install Security Essentials, Microsoft's free consumer-grade antivirus software, as well as complete editions of Office 2010.

In the same documentation, Microsoft "strongly" recommended to OEMs that they use the new tools to install Office on PCs running Windows 7, and warned them that the OPK will be "required on all Microsoft Windows 8 PC builds."