• Seattle Times, Friday, October 9, 2009 2:35 PM

When it launches next year, Microsoft Office 2010 is now expected to come in a "diet" version. Called Office Starter, it will be preloaded on new PCs and include a basic version of Word and Excel that can be used to create, edit and view documents.

It's not clear how the Office Starter version will compare to Office Web Applications, Microsoft's free online version that will compete with Google Docs. Separately , if you buy a new PC, you can purchase a key card at a retailer instead of a boxed copy of a software DVD. The key card has a number printed on it that one enters to unlock the Office software on their computer.

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