why are there so many versions of microsoft office

[fullfloridiancj]

what the hell is the difference between Microsoft office professional academic 2010

and microsoft professional plus 2010

the 1st one seems to be 30 more expensive

what would you recommend?

 

[miles01110]

what the hell is the difference between Microsoft office professional academic 2010

and microsoft professional plus 2010

the 1st one seems to be 30 more expensive

what would you recommend?

"Academic" probably refers to the price. Pro Plus, IIRC, is the volume license version of Office Professional.

 

[Daveoc64]

what the hell is the difference between Microsoft office professional academic 2010

and microsoft professional plus 2010

the 1st one seems to be 30 more expensive

what would you recommend?

There are three versions here:

Microsoft Office Professional
Microsoft Office Professional Academic
Microsoft Office Professional Plus

The first two are the same, but the Academic version is much cheaper and only available to some students and staff members of educational institutions. The licence also restricts its use to non-commercial purposes.

Microsoft Office Professional Plus adds Microsoft InfoPath, Lync and Sharepoint Workspace on top of the Microsoft Office Professional edition.

Wikipedia has a table showing the differences:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_2010#Editions