The new Word's Start Screen.[/caption] Microsoft’s bet on the cloud—and thus on its data centers, built to handle the combined load of millions of customers—just grew a lot bigger with the unveiling of the latest version of Office. (The customer preview is available here.) Indeed, the new Office is decidedly cloud-centric: it saves documents to Microsoft’s SkyDrive cloud-storage hub by default, allowing users to access their files on a PC, smartphone or tablet. Personalized settings (including templates and custom dictionaries) will “roam” across virtually all devices. Tangent to that, screen sizes and markups will adjust for large and small screens. The new Office also incorporates the results of Microsoft’s recent acquisitions, including Yammer—a business-centric social network with SharePoint and Microsoft Dynamics integration—and Skype. It includes the People Card available in Windows 8 and Windows Phone, which features individuals’ contact information and social-networking activity. In a nod to Microsoft’s increasing focus on touch-screens—as epitomized by Windows Phone and its recently unveiled Surface tablet—Office has been designed to support touch controls such as pinch, zoom and swipe. Microsoft will include versions of the new Office with Windows RT, its upcoming version of Windows 8 for ARM-based devices. In addition, Microsoft has introduced three new Office 365 subscription services: Office 365 Home Premium (with 20GB of SkyDrive storage and 60 minutes of Skype world minutes; aimed at families and consumers), Office 365 Small Business Premium (business-grade email and other tools for SMBs), and Office 365 ProPlus (more advanced business capabilities and management tools, for enterprises).
Microsoft's New Office Will Place Company's Data Centers to Test
[caption id="attachment_2591" align="aligncenter" width="580"] The new Word's Start Screen.[/caption] Microsoft’s bet on the cloud—and thus on its data centers, built to handle the combined load of millions of customers—just grew a lot bigger with the unveiling of the latest version of Office. (The customer preview is available here.) Indeed, the new Office is decidedly cloud-centric: it saves documents to Microsoft’s SkyDrive cloud-storage hub by default, allowing users to access their files on a PC, smartphone or tablet. Personalized settings (including templates and custom dictionaries) will “roam” across virtually all devices. Tangent to that, screen sizes and markups will adjust for large and small screens. The new Office also incorporates the results of Microsoft’s recent acquisitions, including Yammer—a business-centric social network with SharePoint and Microsoft Dynamics integration—and Skype. It includes the People Card available in Windows 8 and Windows Phone, which features individuals’ contact information and social-networking activity. In a nod to Microsoft’s increasing focus on touch-screens—as epitomized by Windows Phone and its recently unveiled Surface tablet—Office has been designed to support touch controls such as pinch, zoom and swipe. Microsoft will include versions of the new Office with Windows RT, its upcoming version of Windows 8 for ARM-based devices. In addition, Microsoft has introduced three new Office 365 subscription services: Office 365 Home Premium (with 20GB of SkyDrive storage and 60 minutes of Skype world minutes; aimed at families and consumers), Office 365 Small Business Premium (business-grade email and other tools for SMBs), and Office 365 ProPlus (more advanced business capabilities and management tools, for enterprises).
The new Word's Start Screen.[/caption] Microsoft’s bet on the cloud—and thus on its data centers, built to handle the combined load of millions of customers—just grew a lot bigger with the unveiling of the latest version of Office. (The customer preview is available here.) Indeed, the new Office is decidedly cloud-centric: it saves documents to Microsoft’s SkyDrive cloud-storage hub by default, allowing users to access their files on a PC, smartphone or tablet. Personalized settings (including templates and custom dictionaries) will “roam” across virtually all devices. Tangent to that, screen sizes and markups will adjust for large and small screens. The new Office also incorporates the results of Microsoft’s recent acquisitions, including Yammer—a business-centric social network with SharePoint and Microsoft Dynamics integration—and Skype. It includes the People Card available in Windows 8 and Windows Phone, which features individuals’ contact information and social-networking activity. In a nod to Microsoft’s increasing focus on touch-screens—as epitomized by Windows Phone and its recently unveiled Surface tablet—Office has been designed to support touch controls such as pinch, zoom and swipe. Microsoft will include versions of the new Office with Windows RT, its upcoming version of Windows 8 for ARM-based devices. In addition, Microsoft has introduced three new Office 365 subscription services: Office 365 Home Premium (with 20GB of SkyDrive storage and 60 minutes of Skype world minutes; aimed at families and consumers), Office 365 Small Business Premium (business-grade email and other tools for SMBs), and Office 365 ProPlus (more advanced business capabilities and management tools, for enterprises).