Despite a recent preoccupation with the web-based Office 365 service, the folks in Redmond haven’t stopped working to bring regular MS Office to mobile users. ZDNet reports that a leaked Microsoft Office roadmap shows that the ubiquitous productivity suite is due to land on Android and iOS in October of 2014. This seems to confirm earlier rumors of an iPad-friendly version of Office, but at a much later date than previously expected.
Android and iOS users aren’t the only Office aficionados receiving good news, as the leak also indicates that touch-friendly Blue updates for Word, Excel PowerPoint and OneNote are due to appear for Windows 8 by October of this year. Furthermore, April of 2014 is set to deliver a new version of Office for Mac and Windows phone, and it looks like Microsoft Outlook will finally land on Windows RT by the fall of 2014, too. Naturally, we don’t know what features these updates will bring, but it’s nice to know they’re coming, right?
Filed under: Software, Microsoft
Source: ZDNet
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Tablets and smartphones may have taken over people’s lives, but Microsoft has managed to maintain a hold on the way many people use their PCs with one product: Trusty Microsoft Office.
Microsoft’s newest version of Office, available starting Tuesday, is a radical change from the past. For starters, Office 365 has a surprising new price model: It is available as a subscription that can automatically renew each year, if you choose. This new system constantly updates program features year round. Every time you open a program in Office, you will be running the latest version.
With Office 365, any PC can be activated or deactivated in one step.
It’s also more closely tied to the cloud, saving documents to Microsoft’s SkyDrive storage system by default, so your documents and personal settings are remotely accessible. With that, Microsoft aims to stave off Office challengers like Google Drive, which gives people a way to create and store documents online, as well as share documents and edit with multiple people.
What’s more, Office 365 gives people a centralized spot online where they can manage their account, showing them where they have Office installed so they can deactivate unused computers with one click or completely cancel subscriptions. And files are still accessible to download even if subscriptions expire.
Along with these broader features, there are significant changes to Office 365’s programs, which include Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher and Access. It does a nice job of bringing to the surface some features that were too far buried in menus for people to use. It also packs in many new features, some of which were made for touchscreens and new devices designed to run the touch-centric Windows 8. And Microsoft has updated its Office Web Apps, stripped-down programs that offer free editing, via a Web browser, of files stored online.
I tested Office 365 Home Premium, which costs $ 99 a year and can be installed on up to five computers, including Windows 7 and Windows 8 PCs as well as Macs running Apple’s OS X version 10.5.8 or later. Office 365 University, which costs $ 80 for a four-year subscription, is available for college students, faculty and staff. Office 365 for businesses will be released on Feb. 27; subscription rates will range from $ 4 to $ 20 monthly.
Traditional, non-subscription versions of Office are available for one-time fees, including Office Home and Student 2013 ($ 140), Office Home and Business 2013 ($ 220) and Office Professional 2013 ($ 400). These new suites still receive security patches, as they always have, and can only be installed on one machine and upgrades require installing whole new versions. Like Office 365, these versions of Office also now save to SkyDrive by default, tying them into the cloud.
I installed Office 365 Home Premium on two devices: A Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T, which had a touchscreen and was running Windows 8 Pro, and a MacBook Pro, which was running OS X version 10.8.2. I also looked at and edited documents on computers that didn’t have Office 365 installed by using Microsoft Web Apps. And I set up Office 365 on a Windows Phone to access and edit documents on the go.
The new version of Microsoft Word lets people have integrated conversations in editing comments.
To install on the Windows 8 PC, I used a product key given to me by Microsoft for pre-release testing, otherwise you would have to go to Office.com to buy a subscription and get a product key. (A free 30-day trial is available.) The Windows 8 PC install took about 20 minutes, and a helpful introduction walked me through key points of Office 365. One screen asked me, “How would you like your Office to look?” And I scrolled through a handful of patterns and chose a background that looked like rings on a tree stump.
When I installed Office 365 on the Mac, I just went online to office.com/myaccount, selected an option to sign into an existing subscription and entered my username and password. The download on the Mac took about 30 minutes and then I saw on my Mac the familiar tree-ring background. The version was Office: Mac 2011 because the new Office for Mac typically ships after the new Office for Windows.
The My Account Web page is a big plus for people who have had computers die and take copies of Office with them. Now, in one step on My Account, any PC can be deactivated and a new PC can be activated.
The cloud-based structure of Office 365 takes some adjustment, but users can still save files to the PC. In Word, when I wasn’t connected to the Internet and opened a document, I saw a notification reminding me that the version of the document I was reading was an offline copy. This notification also told me when the document was last updated and saved online. Each Office 365 account comes with 20 gigabytes of free storage, but all SkyDrive users get seven gigabytes each, so a person using Office 365 could potentially have 27GB of storage.
I enjoyed using new touch features, like five small squares on the far right of the Inbox screen in Outlook that made it a cinch to quickly sort through my inbox. These small icons enabled replying, moving, deleting, marking as unread and flagging for follow-up. I wrote this column in the new version of Word, automatically saving it to SkyDrive and easily opening and editing it on other computers and a Windows Phone.
Excel spreadsheets are now smarter than ever thanks to auto-fill features. I tested one that felt like it was reading my mind as it filled in names of people who had appeared in an earlier column because it detected the same name pattern. PowerPoint presentations now include special CliffsNotes-like tools that only the presenter can see.
Office 365 feels grown up and ready for the fast pace of the Web. It’s custom made for people who use many devices, including desktop PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones. If potential users can wrap their brains around its new subscription system, Microsoft has a winning program on its hands.
Email Katie at katie.boehret@wsj.com.
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Police in Germany pulled over a 35-year old man doing 130 kph (80 mph) in a 100 kph (~62 mph) zone, and discovered he’d built an entire mobile office in the passenger seat of his vehicle. This is that mobile office. I know, I used ‘deluxe’ in the title pretty liberally.
Built on a wooden frame on his passenger seat they found a laptop on a docking station tilted for easy driver access, a printer, router, wireless internet stick, WLAN antenna, and an inverter to power it all.
A navigation system and cellphone mounted to the windshield completed the array.
Since there was no evidence he used the office while moving, he got away with a (EURO)120 ($ 153) speeding ticket and a possible fine for having unsecured items in his car.
Man, this guy gets off with a $ 150 ticket with an entire mobile office in his car WE ALL KNOW HE USES WHILE DRIVING and I get a $ 200 ticket for making an EMERGENCY cell phone call on the highway? “You were playing Game Boy.” Haha, you should have seen me hold it up to my head and try to convince the officer it was a Blackberry.
Thanks to Pyrblaze and neolardo, who agree your car is not the place for office work. Your car is a place for screaming at other drivers and waving your fist in the air. Plus sometimes punching the steering wheel.
“Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Triangles, Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and other figures, instead of remaining fixed in their places, move freely about, on or in the surface, but without the power of rising above or sinking below it, very much like shadows — only hard and with luminous edges — and you will then have a pretty correct notion of my country and countrymen.”
Stories of the day:
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Missed yesterday’s news? Watch more 90 Seconds on The Verge at 90so.tv — and now on iTunes, too!
Microsoft’s Office for iPad, iPhone, and Android is a reality. Although Office Mobile has been rumored and reportedly spotted in the wild, Microsoft has remained persistently quiet about its plans for the product. The Verge has learned through several sources close to Microsoft’s plans that the company will release Office versions for Android and iOS in early 2013.
Office Mobile will debut in the form of free apps that allow Android and iOS users to view Microsoft Office documents on the move. Like the existing SkyDrive and OneNote apps, Office Mobile will require a Microsoft account. On first launch, a Microsoft account will provide access to the basic viewing functionality in the apps. Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents will all…
Bring incredible quality, speed, and ease of use to your home office all in the name of increased productivity. This begins with built-in Wi-Fi®1 for printing and scanning virtually anywhere in your home from computers and compatible mobile devices. This also includes AirPrint2, which lets you wirelessly print photos, emails, web pages, documents and more from compatible iPad, iPhone or iPod touch devices to a compatible Canon PIXMA Wireless All-In-One. Cloud3 printing capabilities, an integrated 35-sheet Duplex Auto Document Feeder, built-in Auto Duplex Printing, and a Dual Function Panel are just some of the features that can allow you to easily multi-task. This can bring office efficiency to all-new levels and reduce cost at the same time. Video Rating: 0 / 5
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Google’s incoming 32GB Nexus 7 may be one of its worst kept secrets, with most estimates (and those leaks) pointing to a $ 249 price tag and a launch date later this week. However, it also appears that the 16GB model will drop its price down to $ 199, according to leaked images from both Office Depot and GameStop — great news for anyone who’s so far held off from grabbing the first Nexus tablet. While an official announcement’s been delayed by the forces of nature, we expect to hear more from Google sooner rather than later.
Filed under: Tablets, ASUS, Google
Office Depot and GameStop drops Nexus 7 16GB price to $ 199 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 06:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Microsoft has started shipping a final version of its Office 2013 RT software a little earlier than expected. The software maker announced the Release to Manufacturing of Office 2013 and Office 2013 RT earlier this month and the company previously promised a final version of Office 2013 RT between November and January via Windows Update. Windows RT tablets ship with a preview version of Office 2013 RT built into the operating system.
Ars Technica reports that a final version of Office 2013 RT is now available for Windows RT users. The 580MB update nixes the “Preview” branding across Office 2013 RT and is available from Windows Update. The early release means that Windows RT users will now have access to a final version of Office 2013 RT…
Create your own hilarious videos on your iPhone 4 and 3GS, iTouch or iPad. Share videos with your friends on Facebook. Be as funny and creative as you want. Even unlock bonus animations by using key phrases. Buy the App: soapboxinggame.com Video Rating: 0 / 5
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