For many people, Microsoft Office is
the reason they buy Windows in the first place. Corporations have
standardized on Office, and it’s a product suite with a long tradition.
Over time, Microsoft intends to move Office online and have users pay
for it as a service.
To this end, Office 365 (www.microsoft.com/office365)
was launched. The online versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint aren’t
nearly as feature-complete as the shrink-wrapped Office 10
applications, but they can read and write files and perform basic
content modification. You can purchase a subscription plan for Office
365, and depending upon the plan you get a subscription to Office 2010
Desktop applications as well as access to Exchange Server, SharePoint
Server, and Lync Server. This is a corporate play to compete with both
OpenOffice (which is free) and, more importantly, Google Docs. Plans
for enterprises, small business, and education exist for this product.
The next version of Microsoft Office is
Microsoft Office 2013. This is the successor to Office 2010, and it is
in early beta. The early technical release shows a tile-based
interface, with a ribbon and a Windows 8 look and feel. You can get a
look at the preview home page by visiting www.microsoft.com/office/preview.
The Office 2013 preview page. These apps will set the standard for the
conversion of Windows legacy applications to the new, tile-based apps.
Office 2013 is an important development
because it is the first large Desktop legacy application suite to be
converted into the tile-based interface; this will affect the
conversion of all of the other major Desktop applications on the
Windows platform. Microsoft views Office 2013 as a cloud-connected
service, and it will use a model similar to the one you are now seeing
in the tile-based apps.
Tip
You can preview Office 2013 by downloading it from www.microsoft.com/office/preview/en/try-office-preview.
