Getting Started Task Pane

When you first open Word the Getting Started page will appear automatically in the task pane.
This task pane was removed in Word 2007.
If you find this annoying you can stop it from being displayed (Tools > Options)(View tab, "Startup Task Pane").
This task pane can be displayed at any time by clicking on the Home icon in the top left corner of the task panes.

Connect to Microsoft Office Online -
Get the latest news about using Word -
Automatically update this list from the web -
More - Displays additional hyperlinks from the Office Online website.

Search for - Searches the Office Online website for help topics relating to particular words or phrases.
Open - Lists the recently used documents that you have most recently worked on. If the document you want to work on is listed, just click to open the document.
More - Displays the (File > Open) dialog box.
Create a new document - Displays the New Document task pane (see below).