Technical Beta of Office 12 released … at last
At last we have something to hang our hats on. So, hats off, gentlemen (and equivalent others), Office 12 has arrived. At least in Technical Beta.
Microsoft, true to form, sizzles with fulsome self-praise. This productivity suite is aimed at nothing less than “redefining the Office experience”.
But, does it? Well, if they get round to sending a copy to yours truly, I’ll be able to tell you. The answer, though, is, pound to a penny, yes and no.
The Channel Register tells us :
Recent versions of Office - Office 2000, Office XP and Office 2003 - have lacked the features required to persuade 30 per cent of the Office user base to move off of the eight-year-old Office 97. Customers have eschewed tighter integration and splashy features, believing Office 97 to be “good enough.” Just 15 per cent of PCs are running Office 2003.
Office 12 will share Windows Vista’s WinFX XML mark-up interface. File formats are also in XML. The suite will feature improved business intelligence (BI). “Excel spreadsheets will be able to access corporate data held in SQL Server while a server-based set of Excel Services will allow customers to secure and share data.”
A big improvement will be the use of “Ribbon” icons replacing dropdown menus. The idea is to make many “hidden” features more accessible.
Office will also come in various Editions “with a ‘premium’ edition of Office due. It is not yet clear what features [it] will carry or what the price will be. The current ‘high-end’ edition of Office is Office Professional Edition, priced $380 per copy.
[Source: Channel Register]
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POSTED IN: Microsoft, New Products, Office 12
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