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Today Microsoft unveiled an invited beta program for Office 2010 (codenamed Office 14):
Today, at its Worldwide Partner Conference 2009, Microsoft Corp. announced that Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft Visio 2010 and Microsoft Project 2010 have reached the technical preview engineering milestone. Starting today, tens of thousands of people will be invited to test Office and Visio as part of the Technical Preview program.
It’s a private beta limited to invitees, the beta code will apparently not be available until August, and the final products won’t be available until the first half of 2010. You can find out about the usual incremental Office improvements at the Office 2010 Web site, but the biggest buzz is about the Web versions tentatively named Office Web applications (although Microsoft is looking for a new name):
Office Web applications — the lightweight Web browser versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote — that provide access to documents from virtually anywhere and preserve the look and feel of a document regardless of device.
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The company also announced that Office Web applications will be available in three ways: through Windows Live, where more than 400 million consumers will have access to Office Web applications at no cost; on-premises for all Office volume licensing customers including more than 90 million Office annuity customers; and via Microsoft Online Services, where customers will be able to purchase a subscription as part of a hosted offering.
So Microsoft has bitten the bullet and will go free on the Web version of their Office cash cow and the lines are drawn with Google Apps and the other free online office software competitors. Of course, Microsoft really didn’t have much choice if they wanted anyone to pay attention. Stay tuned for a raft of side-by-side comparisons and feature wrangling among the players.
Microsoft is rolling out the PR for Office 2010 (formerly Office 14) and Exchange 2010:
We’re announcing that Microsoft will begin releasing new versions of Office-related products this year. Exchange 2010 will be the first product in this lineup, entering beta for customers to download today. Exchange 2010 will become available in the second half of 2009. Office 2010 — including Office Web applications, SharePoint Server 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010 — will enter a technical preview in the third quarter of 2009 and will release to manufacturing in the first half of 2010.
So what goodies does Microsoft have for users of Exchange 2010 and Office 2010 (which reportedly will have both 32 and 64-bit versions)? Well, that’s a bit hard to discern amidst the flummery, but beyond the improved Outlook Web Access Webmail client, one other theme seems clear:
IT professionals will have more flexibility and choice to simplify deployment and lower management costs, while maintaining control. For example, Exchange 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010 give users the same value whether deployed on-premises, as a service from Microsoft and industry partners, or a mix of both.
As for the Exchange 2010 beta:
Exchange 2010 is part of the next wave of Microsoft Office-related products and is the first server in a new generation of Microsoft server technology built from the ground up to work on-premises and as an online service. This release of Exchange 2010 introduces a new integrated e-mail archive and features to help reduce costs and improve the user experience. A public beta of the server is available for download starting today at http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/2010.
There is a full laundry list of new Exchange 2010 features at the link, not a few of which are rather obscure.
Microsoft today announced "lightweight" Web versions of Microsoft Office stalwarts Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote to be delivered with Office 14 at some unspecified date which is generally believed to be in the latter half of 2009. According to Microsoft, the Web versions will have functionality comparable to Google’s suite of online office applications.
The formal name of Microsoft’s Web office suite will be "Office Web applications" and they will be delivered to consumers through the existing Office Live service or via subscription to business customers. No details on pricing were provided.
Microsoft today released Windows Mobile Device Center 6 for Windows Vista. It was one of the missing pieces noted yesterday and allows portable devices to synch with Vista PCs.
Bink.nu reports that the Microsoft Home Use Program is broken for Vista and Office 2007. That’s the program where employees of Microsoft volume license customers get free Microsoft software for home use.
George Ou figures out a security exploit of Vista’s voice recognition feature that can actually be explained to the average person. More here.
Jim Allchin seems to be enjoying his retirement.
Bill Gates is on a European promotional tour for Vista and stopped by Bucharest to open a technical support center. As part of the festivities, the Romainian President told him that software piracy worked out great for his country.
Chris Pirillo says Microsoft: Give me a Million Dollars to market Windows Vista for you. He figures he can do it better and cheaper than the expensive and lackluster efforts so far. I don’t doubt it.
Mary Jo Foley says to forget the Vienna codename because Microsoft is internally calling the next client Windows OS ”Windows 7″ and the next Office will be “Office 14.” How incredibly boring! For those who have never had the joy of dealing with OSVERSIONINFOEX, Windows does have internal version numbers and 7 is up next. I’m sure there is something similar for Office, but I’ve never had the pleasure.
