Microsoft Office

Microsoft has pulled back the curtains on the latest version of its Office suite.

At a press conference today, CEO Steve Ballmer announced the new version, noting that a preview edition of the cloud-based Office 365 edition will be available for people to try out today.

Ballmer called this "the most ambitious version of Office we've ever done." Touting the cloud-based Office 365, the CEO also said that this is a version that lets users simply click start and being running.

Office 15 launched as a technical preview this past January, available for testing to only a … Read more

REDMOND, Wash. -- Microsoft has been beefing up its design chops in recent months, pushing the sleek Metro user interface in Windows 8 and diving into hardware design with its striking Surface tablet prototype.

But maybe the most daring makeover comes today as Microsoft unveils the new-look Office. The productivity software suite is among Microsoft's longest-in-the-tooth products, dating as it does back to 1989. It's ballooned from a relatively compact offering of word-processing, spreadsheet, email and presentation software to a vast collection of applications, each of which gets countless new features with every release.

Elegant design is often … Read more

Microsoft is expected to take the wraps off of its latest Office today and the product launch may be more strategically critical than Windows 8. Of course, you'd never know the role of Office 15 judging by the headlines. The numbers, however, tell a different tale.

As Mary Jo Foley noted, Office, which is likely to be known as Office 2013, has a few question marks. It's unclear how folks will get it. Functionality is an unknown -- at least for those of us without a copy of the beta -- and integration with Windows 8 will be … Read more

As interesting as what's in the next version of Microsoft Office are the company's distribution plans for getting its coming productivity software and services in the hands of more potential users.

Reports are circulating that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will take the public wraps off Microsoft's next version of its Office suite and services, known collectively as the Office 15 wave, on July 16. While select testers have had their hands on private builds of these products for several months, there's been little concrete information on when and how Microsoft plans to make final versions available … Read more

The June 12 Microsoft TechEd keynote was billed as being all about Windows 8 for business. But the only bit of new information shared during the hour-and-a-half presentation was a quick glimpse of branding for the next version of Office, codenamed "Office 15."

During a demonstration on stage of Windows on ARM, director of program management Linda Averett showed a quick glimpse of what Excel on the device. The software was identified as a preview of "Office 2013 RT" (with the "RT" representing Windows RT, the final name of Windows on ARM).

(A screen … Read more

Dominated by Metro apps, the Windows Store has landed its first desktop program.

Office 2010 is now available through the online store, making good on Microsoft's promise that it would offer both desktop and Metro apps for Windows 8 users. But there is a key difference between the two.

Users can download both the free and paid Metro apps directly from the store. A simple Install button downloads and then installs the app in the background. An alert flashes on the screen once the app is fully installed.

The listings for desktop software serve more as pointers to external … Read more

Is Microsoft cooking up a version of Office for the iPad? News site The Daily says yes, Microsoft doesn't exactly say no but claims that The Daily's story is inaccurate.

Yesterday, The Daily's Matt Hickey reported that he had seen a working prototype of Office on the iPad and that sources indicated the app would soon be sent to Apple for approval.

Microsoft quickly went into denial mode, saying The Daily's story was "based on inaccurate rumors and speculation" and that the photo displayed by The Daily is "not a real picture of … Read more

Microsoft's gone on the offensive about a report saying it's on the verge of publishing Office for Apple's iPad.

In a statement issued to the New York Times' Bits blog this morning, a Microsoft spokesperson said "The Daily story is based on inaccurate rumors and speculation," adding that the company had no further comment on the matter.

For those unfamiliar with the realm of public relations, that's a more pleasant way of saying "that's bogus."

The original report, which was published earlier today in The Daily by Matt Hickey (a former … Read more

Microsoft's Office suite may soon come to the Apple iPad, according to a report by The Daily.

The blog reported today that its sources say that an Microsoft app that will include Office programs, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint will soon be submitted to the Apple App Store. The blog first noted the existence of an iPad version of the Microsoft Office suite in November.

The Daily said that it's had some hands-on experience with the new app. The user interface is supposedly similar to the current OneNote app. There is also some resemblance to Metro, the new interface … Read more