Microsoft has been delivering unparalleled softwares for offices and workstations for a very long time. Be it Windows or Office, most of the Microsoft’s products are best at what they do. This time Microsoft has huge plans for the year 2012. Along with rolling out a new version of Windows, i.e. Windows 8 and Kinect for Windows, Microsoft is also rolling out a totally new version of Microsoft Office, codenamed Office 15.
In late 2009, Gurdeep Singh Pall, the then corporate Vice President of Microsoft Office Lync and Speech Group has already shown Microsoft’s excitement towards Office 15. P. J. Hough, CVP of development of Microsoft Office, posted on Microsoft’s Executive blog that “Office 2012 is the most ambitious undertaking yet for the Office Division”. Let us closely see what this new release of Office 2012 holds in stores for us.
The Naming of the Next Version of Office
This time there is a lot of speculation on the name of the next version of Office. This new version of Office is codenamed “Office 15”; Microsoft Office 2010 was codenamed “Office 14”, so this goes with the series. This version might simply be called Office 2012 following the previous trend of naming, but the fact that a lot of people at Microsoft’s PR team refer to it as “Wave 15”, we think that this version of Office might end up being called “Wave 15”.
What’s New to expect in Office 2012
Office 2012 will contain an improved version of all previous applications. But the major difference would be visible in the newer applications like SharePoint, Office apps, Lync and Microsoft Exchange. Microsoft Exchange 15 is going to be pretty similar to the Exchange 2010 in the terms of giving users more control and giving authority to administrators to perform more critical tasks. The Outlook application is also very neat and clutter free and resembles the styles of Microsoft’s Office 365 Suite.
One more major difference will be the inclusion of a new application which is codenamed “Moorea”.
This application will be pretty much similar to the Office Lab’s “Canvas for OneNote” app which was in the testing phase quite a time back. Moorea will allow user to navigate, display and edit their OneNote notebooks in new ways. It also lets you create layouts with text and images and links to Office documents on a metro style tiled screen. This looks ideal for packaging a whole lot of content on a small, screen which again hints for tablet compatibility. Moreover, Moorea saves these files in a HTML format.
User Interface for Office 15 or (Office 2012)
Disappointingly, Office 15 will not be having a fully metro style GUI and will follow the styles of the previous version of Office. But there are several suggestions that it will be optimized for Windows 8 Metro interface. A few screen shots of Office 15, leaked in March 2011, prove the same.
No new themes have been added in PowerPoint by default; but there is a new feature that lets you preview themes directly from Office.com
Compatibility with Tablets
We all know that Microsoft Windows 8 is made for functioning on both computers and tablets. Now that Microsoft office 15 is modded to be compatible on Windows 8, the question arises whether Office 15 will run on tablets or not. Though Microsoft has stated that office will have some Metro style enhancements but its compatibility on ARM devices and tablets still remain a mystery.
The look and the interface of OneNote is also designed in a way that it will be easily navigable on a tablet. Though there is a strong possibility that this version will run on tablets as well, but there is an equally likely chance that there might be a tablet specific version in the making.
Office 2012 Release Date
The production of Microsoft Office 15 is going on in full swing and Microsoft is itself pretty much excited about it. On 30th January 2012, Microsoft released the Community Technical Preview (CTP) of the Office 15 for select participants and has promised that a beta version of the same will be released for all in the summer of 2012. As Microsoft Financial year ends in July, so anything release after July would be called “Office 2013”; but some of Microsoft’s employees have already called it Office 12 so it will most probably be released before late summer.
Conclusion
A large number of additions and improvements show that Microsoft has really put a lot of efforts in Office 15. Microsoft Office brings out a lot to cherish about: be it the Metro-ish UI or the new application Moorea. And if the same version of Office runs on the tablets as well, then Office 15 will totally be a game changer. Let us wait for the launch of the beta version and hope for the best to happen.
Note: The above article has been authored by Rajat Kapoor of TechPluto.com
