Ten Thousand Testers Start Downloading Office 12 Beta 1 Bits
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The wait for the first official Office 12 bits is over.
As of 12:01 a.m. EST Thursday, Microsoft will open the floodgates and allow the 10,000 pre-approved technical beta testers to start downloading the Office 12 Beta 1 bits. Microsoft is calling the next version of Office "the most significant release in more than 10 years," according to a corporate statement. Last week, Microsoft sent e-mail notices to Beta 1 testers, telling them to expect Beta 1 code some time within the next two or three weeks. The first Office 12 beta is closed and testers are covered by non-disclosure agreements. Hence, Microsoft is providing little public information about what to expect.
Company officials said they will offer Beta 1 versions of Word 12, Excel 12, PowerPoint 12, Outlook 12, Access 12, InfoPath 12, OneNote 12, Publisher 12, Project 12, Visio 12, and Groove Virtual Office 12.
A new charting/graphics engine, plus a new Outlook 12 "To Do" bar will be part of the Beta 1 release, as well, company officials said. Microsoft also will make available to Beta 1 testers a new version (called 3.0, by some) of SharePoint Services, as well as versions of some indeterminate number of new Office 12 servers. A Microsoft spokeswoman declined to say which servers or how many will be made available to testers. When asked if the Excel Server 12 and InfoPath Server 12 products, shown at various keynotes earlier this year, would be part of the Beta 1 round, the spokeswoman declined to comment, noting that packaging decisions are still not final. But she did say that testers will be able to try out new "server functionality" as part of Beta 1. Beta 1 testers also will be able to test drive the new Office 12 user interface, which Microsoft has been showing off during recent trade shows. They also will be able to try out the default XML file formats, Save as PDF and Save as XPS (Metro) capabilities that Microsoft has previously discussed. More data visualization and data analysis capabilities, part of Microsoft's business-intelligence push, will be sprinkled throughout the Office 12 Beta 1 applications. The new charting/graphics engine is aimed at allowing users to "apply design options in a matter of a few clicks," the spokeswoman said. And the aforementioned "To Do" bar, which will be built into Outlook 12 Beta 1, will bring together appointments, tasks and e-mail in a single view, she added. Beta 2 will be much bigger and broader, and is slated for this spring, the spokeswoman said. Users interested in testing Beta 2 can sign up now on the Office Preview Web site. The final release of Office 12 is still on track for the latter half of 2006, company officials reconfirmed. Microsoft partners said they have been told that the company is aiming to deliver Office 12 Beta 2 in March 2006. |
Comments (3)
All these suites get bloated with new features that hardly anyone but office-suite geeks ever use. I bet most of these beta testers have no idea what is really useful to the average user or small businesses that actually represent over 80% of the economy.You really think the guy with less than ten employees in an auto parts store really cares about a program that produces a XML website with RSS feeds in 400 languages? He can't find office help that can spell 'cat' if you spot them c_t. Some kids coming out of school can use computers, but don't understand the basic use of all the whistles and bells for office work. The answer isn't to further complicate the office products we have, but to make the old ones more user friendly. Wanna bet that Microsoft won't put a usable manual of operations in the program? Microsoft wants to sell software. They can't sell enough unless they bring out "new and improved" models. Within a few years, they cut off customer service to the older software so you're forced to buy new. Gates might as well hire guys to go into mom and pop stores and threaten to break their legs if they don't buy his product. It's a racket, not a quest for needed 'new' features and improvement. And of course, there's a whole industry of folks like you that make a living off of Redmond's racket by writing about their latest 'new and improved'products.
Posted by William Henslee | November 17, 2005 10:01 AM
I'm not quite sure why you're blaming Microsoft for the failings of the American education system, but addressing your other points: as you'll know if you've read much about Office 12, part of the aim is to make the products more task-oriented, and thus easier to use. Yes, I've no doubt that there's plenty of new features, but the main reason it interests me is the new interface.
Posted by Ian Betteridge | November 17, 2005 5:03 PM
When Microsoft introduced Windows 3, everyone to whom I showed it was very enthusiastic.When button bars were introduced, those I asked were very pleased indeed.The Windows 95 user interface was greeted in these parts with "Gotta get me some of that".Everyone to whom I've shown Office 12 has looked like they just stepped in something unpleasant.I believe Microsoft just found their Waterloo.
Posted by George Rice | November 18, 2005 2:44 PM