Office 2013 Announced–Preview Available

Published on July 17, 2012 By Island Dog In WinCustomize News

Microsoft has announced the next version of Office with a new interface design and integration with online services like SkyDrive.

Some of the new features includes:

SkyDrive. Office saves documents to SkyDrive by default, so your content is always available across your tablet, PC and phone. Your documents are also available offline and sync when you reconnect.
Roaming. Once signed in to Office, your personalized settings, including your most recently used files, templates and even your custom dictionary, roam with you across virtually all of your devices. Office even remembers where you last left off and brings you right back to that spot in a single click.
Office on Demand. With a subscription, you can access Office even when you are away from your PC by streaming full-featured applications to an Internet-connected Windows-based PC.
New subscription services. The new Office is available as a cloud-based subscription service. As subscribers, consumers automatically get future upgrades in addition to exciting cloud services including Skype world minutes and extra SkyDrive storage. Subscribers receive multiple installs for everyone in the family and across their devices.

The new Office will also be significantly optimized for use on tablets including the upcoming Microsoft Surface.

There’s a preview download available so you can give the new Office a try.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/en

Comments

danioc

on Jul 22, 2012

Sadly, a huge step on the wrong direction (just like Windows 8), on the UI side, looks terrible and way too plain.

VistArtXPosed

on Jul 22, 2012

UI aside, why does the new Office default to SkyDrive? What if I don't want my documents to be saved on some strange, remote server and want to save to my SSD instead? If the SkyDrive servers go down, then all your docs go with it. Stick with local storage while you still can (at least as a backup).

No thanks Microsoft, i'll stick with Office 2010.

lee3908870

on Jul 22, 2012

Not bad, not great.

VistArtXPosed: Get a copy of the stand alone version, and you will not have the Cloud problem.

daniloOc: not sure what you use Office for, however, if you were an editor you would really find the changes in "Word" very helpful. Also most of us who make a living using Office and other similar software do not deal that much with the UI we are more concerned at how well the application performs, and Office 2013 so far has not disappointed.

Daiwa

on Jul 22, 2012

The new Outlook WebApp shares a lot of the same UI features. So far, I've found it to be very functional and unobtrusive, so maybe the UI for other Office 2013 apps won't be as much of an issue as would at first seem to be the case.

Having said that, I only recently got fully up to speed with Office 2010 and have no desire to learn how to do what I already know how to do all over again. 2010 may end up being my last version of Office. I wouldn't be surprised if MS at some point chose to cripple it or make it unusable on Metro8, though.

Island Dog

on Jul 23, 2012

I actually like the new UI for it. I also like how it works with Skydrive so it's the same experience regardless of where I'm using it.

danioc

on Jul 23, 2012

lee3908870: the UI is directly respossible at how well the application performs. To make it more understandable,

I really don't like how the new UI (user interface) affects the UX (user experience).

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!