Microsoft has certainly slowed the release cycle for its Office suite of products, but they have consistently come out with new versions to coincide with the release of a new version of Windows.

Microsoft Office 2013 follows soon after the release of Windows 8. You won’t find a ton of new features, but you will find an interface that does away with the 3D look in favor of a flat look. One other huge difference is that even the boxed version does not include a disc. You will receive a product key that will activate the software you download.

There is also more cloud support included via the Office 365 features. This does require you to pay annually for the service. For users like me who have no desire for cloud features, you do not have to use the cloud.

My general feeling is that this is not a must-have upgrade unless you are sitting on older versions. Office 2010 users may not find any good reasons to upgrade. Office 2007 users should at least consider as their software is more than six years old. An upgrade becomes more interesting if you are going to be running on Windows 7 or 8. Users with even older versions of Office should seriously consider an upgrade simply to move up to software that isn’t at least a decade old!

There are four versions of the software available. I’ve listed each below with the approximate cost of the full version. Each version is licensed to a single PC.

• Office Home and Student 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote) is $139.99.
• Office Home and Business 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook) is $219.99
• Office Professional 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access and Publisher) is $399.99
• Office 365 Home Premium (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Access and Publisher) is $99.99 per year.