Coincidence? Microsoft Launches Office Next Blog

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By Kevin Parrish
published

Microsoft has launched a new blog called Office Next, just days before the company is rumored to be releasing the public beta of Office 2013.

Is it a coincidence? On the heels of rumors that Microsoft plans to release the Office 2013 beta at a press conference on Monday, the company has now launched the Office Next blog.

The first entry is by PJ Hough, Corporate Vice President of Program Management in Microsoft's Office Division. He makes an interesting comment at the very end, declaring that this new version of Office -- aka Office 15 or Office 2013 -- will be "the most transformational release" he's worked on in the 18 years of his Microsoft tenure.

"I'm really excited to kick off this conversation and connect you with the engineers who are building future releases of Office," he writes. "Here, they'll discuss the improvements we make, the designs we choose and the data and feedback that inform our decisions."

This first entry offers a batch of positive comments stemming from those testing the technical preview announced back in January. "This testing helps us find and fix problems, and feedback from customers helps us fine tune our products to their work styles," he adds. "When they use early versions of our products and services on their turf, we learn a ton about how to evolve them to best support the ways people work."

Positive comments offered in the blog include a mother and PTA board member, a student, and a business owner. Following these remarks is Hough's eager conclusion to the blog entry, stating that he's ready to share more about some of the company's new products and services. Information will also be shared via @office and the #officepreview hash tag on Twitter, he said.

Start reading Office Next by heading here.

Kevin Parrish
10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • phamhlam
    I can't wait to download the beta.
    Reply
  • math1337
    Still has ribbons. Still has word, excel, and powerpoint. So transformational...
    Reply
  • memadmax
    meh, office is office.... It's supposed to be for production line work(blogging is far from that)
    If we were to deploy this crap we would prolly disable the blogging/cloud/whatever functions as we need people to WORK, not screw around on crap like this....
    Reply
  • cybersans
    I can't wait to download the final.
    Reply
  • Khimera2000
    memadmaxmeh, office is office.... It's supposed to be for production line work(blogging is far from that)If we were to deploy this crap we would prolly disable the blogging/cloud/whatever functions as we need people to WORK, not screw around on crap like this....
    I dont see this as the case. I beleave that intergrating Blog, Social network, and Cloud features are very usefull and important features for Companies moving forward.

    The reasons are as follows:
    1) most companies already have links to some form of social netwrking.
    2) The military has already allowed people to use Facebook on government networks ( this was not previously allowed)
    3) People are becoming alot more mobile with the electronics they buy.
    4) there are lots of people that are using Social Network sights to find jobs, or to find employees.

    I would say it would be bad toignore the fact that people have already heavily migrated to social media, that people are moving around with limited storage (16 gigs on a phone, 32 tablet, but at home 2 terrabites for example), and the more active roll companies are having on sights like facebook.

    I would no put it beyond M$ to intergrate tools in there next release that would allow for some kind of social network intergration. If your sending out a message to all th customers, the ability to compose and broadcast messages to multiple communication streams instantly from one window would be nice. Not to mention its a buzz kill if you cant get important documents to who needs it, a cloud set up for team projects would allow members to work independently, or as team while minimizing the potential of loosing important documents (forgetting your notebook as you fly home from an over seas trip.)
    Reply
  • thecolorblue
    get rid of the ribbon and i will upgrade, don't and i won't
    Reply
  • hardcore_gamer
    cybersansI can't wait to download the final.
    From TPB ?
    Reply
  • belardo
    Let me guess... Microsoft will remove the fonts this time, because not many people actually choose different fonts... other than Comic Sans.
    Reply
  • gameover1993
    I cant wait to see difference
    Reply
  • back_by_demand
    memadmaxmeh, office is office.... It's supposed to be for production line work(blogging is far from that)If we were to deploy this crap we would prolly disable the blogging/cloud/whatever functions as we need people to WORK, not screw around on crap like this....Social networking elements are being pushed in lots of major corporations, being able to more easily share information has been a goal for years and now we have the technology. One person says social network and everyone thinks people are dicking around on Facebook. Not the case.
    Reply