Office archive | MS-Next

Loading Newer »

Less

Archive for the 'Office' Category

Word 2008: Word Publishing Layout View

Published by nb October 11th, 2007 in Office. 1 Comment

In my previous post, the focus of attention was our new Office 2008 User Experience. For this post, I will turn the focus to another area that I am deeply passionate about — Microsoft Word 2008. At MacBU, many of us have the great fortune to work on multiple areas of interest. So when I’m not “pushing pixels” in our new Office UI, my other role is Lead Program Manager for Word for Mac. Together with my passionate and dedicated team, we’ve been hard at work on a feature that has been three years in the making. With this new post, I am pleased to talk about one of our latest labors of love — the new Publishing Layout View.

+ click to enlarge

First, some background. For those using Word for Mac, you may already be familiar with Notebook Layout View from Word 2004. Notebook Layout View is a specialized notebook-like environment optimized for quick note-taking. By adopting the appearance of the familiar spiral paper-based notebook — with notebook tabs and rule lines — you can quickly capture thoughts and information as you would in an actual paper-based notebook. Notebook Layout View represented a new design philosophy in the development of Word for Mac. The premise of this new approach was to present a minimalist and “task-based” user interface in which 90% of Word’s typical UI is hidden and only exposing features relevant to the task at hand, in this case note-taking. Our customers have responded positively to this approach because the user interface is more approachable and less “bloated”, thereby making relevant features easier to find. I’m pleased to say that we’ve further streamlined and improved this popular feature in Word 2008, but that’s a subject for another blog post.

Now let’s fast-forward to Word 2008. For years we have known that Word is used to create a wide spectrum of documents that fall under two basic categories:

Text-centric documents — these include manuscripts, reports, resumes, letters, etc.
Layout-rich documents — these include newsletters, brochures, flyers, greeting cards, business cards, among others

Word has long provided a full complement of the features necessary for the creation of these two different categories of documents. However, given that all of such features were presented all at once with a single “one-size-fits-all” user interface, users found it difficult to find the right features for the right task.

Continue at source.

Update on Office 2008 progress!

Published by nb October 10th, 2007 in Office. 0 Comments

Last Wednesday was our general “ZBB” target for the Office 2008 project, a major milestone on the road to release and something we’ve been pushing hard for over the past several months. We saw some fantastic surging by the development team to clear out backlogged product issues late into Wednesday night. Thursday, we sat down to review project status and metrics in depth, and to hear all teams report out on their plans and readiness to lock down for release. The bottom line takeaway that you may be most interested in: all teams have confirmed readiness to ship on the current schedule. As previously announced, this means RTM in December and general availability starting on January 15th (by region).

ZBB what? This stands for Zero Bug Bounce, or as alternately phrased, Zero Bug Backlog. At this point we have been logging, tracking and verifying all changes to the product in great detail for some time – collectively we refer to this list of logged issues as the “bug list”, though in reality it includes a variety of issues including bug/defect reports, tracking records for artwork or content, usability improvements, numerous suggestions (submitted by team members or beta testers, or representing customer or partner requests), and various other categories of issues. The ZBB milestone is defined as the date across which we will no longer carry logged product issues that are more than one week old. Hence, the “backlog” of issues has been cleared out, and all older pending decisions on what we are or are not going to change before we ship have been made. It also means that the developers have “caught up” or “outpaced” the incoming find rate of our test efforts.

From here on out, the focus is increasingly on lock down. We are testing for defects literally around the clock, using a variety of methods ranging from automated efforts such as “massive file testing” to targeted manual test passes and “ad hoc” free testing. We also continue to log and fix significant issues found in private beta testing. At this point we remain busy fixing bugs as they are found (any one of our millions of lines of code could be the source of a defect,) but there will now be increased scrutiny on making changes – i.e., is there sufficient customer need to justify a proposed code change given the associated risk of regression (the outside chance that making a given change causes a new and potentially more severe problem.) Stabilizing the product for release requires conscious commitment to slowing and eventually stopping the changes we’re making to it, and as a result we now start reviewing all proposed changes daily in “triage”.

Continue at source.

Office 2008 for Mac Details Revealed

Published by nb September 26th, 2007 in Office and News. 1 Comment

The Macintosh Business Unit (Mac BU) at Microsoft Corp. today announced at the Apple Expo in Paris its product lineup for the upcoming Microsoft^® Office 2008 for Mac release. The flagship product, Office 2008 for Mac, is the core suite that includes Microsoft Office Word 2008, Microsoft Office Excel^®2008, Microsoft Office PowerPoint^® 2008 and Microsoft Office Entourage^® 2008 for exceptional productivity on the Mac. A new combination for Mac users is Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition, which features the Office 2008 applications together with the Microsoft Expression^® Media digital asset management system. Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition is geared toward professional users who need Microsoft Exchange Server support and Automator tools and are looking for one product to meet their productivity and digital asset management needs. Completing the product lineup is Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition, a specially priced version for users with basic productivity needs.

All versions of Office 2008 for Mac support the new Open XML file format and are Universal applications that will perform natively on Power PC- and Intel-based Macs. Each version will be available in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Swedish, and, for the first time, in the Nordic languages (Danish, Finnish and Norwegian).

“We built Office 2008 with the unifying goal of making it easier for Mac users to access the tools they need to get the job done — whether it’s creating a brochure for their business, managing their family schedule and finances, or finalizing a presentation to share between Macs and PCs,” said Craig Eisler, general manager of the Mac BU at Microsoft. “And, of course, Office 2008 for Mac will provide the document fidelity with the 2007 Microsoft Office system that our users need to stay connected with their friends and co-workers on PCs.”

Delivering the Industry Standard

Office 2008 for Mac features a leading suite of applications that Mac customers rely on to get their work completed with Word 2008, Excel 2008, PowerPoint 2008, Entourage 2008 and Microsoft Messenger for Mac. Mac users can simplify their day by using powerful new tools and easily located classic Office for Mac features.

As showcased at Macworld Expo 2007, Office 2008 for Mac is designed to help users get more from their Macs by making key functions accessible through a more intuitive design and by introducing smart features such as Ledger Sheets in Excel 2008, My Day with Entourage 2008, Publishing Layout View in Word 2008 and SmartArt graphics in PowerPoint 2008 that are simple to use and yield powerful results. Entourage 2008 also features improved Windows^® Exchange Server support, with enhanced reliability and functionality.

“We’ve worked closely with Microsoft since it launched the first version of Office for Mac more than 20 years ago,” said Ron Okamoto, vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations at Apple. “Office delivers tremendous compatibility across platforms for Mac and PC customers, and we look forward to another great user experience with Office 2008 for Mac.”

Continue reading ‘Office 2008 for Mac Details Revealed’

A new hint about Microsoft Office 14

Published by nb September 24th, 2007 in Office. 0 Comments

Master data management will be part of Office 14, a first Community Technology Preview (CTP) of which is due in the first quarter of 2008.

That’s according to a September 19 blog post by Microsoft IT Pro Evangelist “PatricG.”

Master data management is technology that allows for the management of common reference data across disparate IT systems or groups. Microsoft stuck a toe in the MDM space in June 2007 with its acquisition of privately held MDM specialist Stratature. Microsoft said at the time of the acquisition that it planned to withdraw existing Stratature products from the market and instead integrate the Stratature +EDM technology into Office applications and servers.

The first iteration of Stratature’s technology that will be part of Office 14 — most likely a component of the SharePoint Server product, it would seem– is codenamed “Bulldog,” according to PatricG’s post. Bulldog’s successor is codenamed “Greenwich,” he said, providing no delivery vehicle for that particular release of MDM. Greenwich will add new integration, analytical and transactional capabilities on top of what’s shipped with Bulldog, PatrickG said.

From PatrickG’s blog post:

“Bulldog includes Microsoft process and standards applied to the Stratature code base as well as several important new capabilities. Bulldog will meet these requirements while laying the foundation for the long-term master data management vision at Microsoft. In concert with the product enhancements, we will be building the product ecosystem including sales channels, customer support, partner readiness, demos and training materials.”

PatrickG said Bulldog will be aligned with the Office 14 wave for the CTP, Technology Adoption Program (TAP) and release-to-manufacturing deliverables. He said the CTP is due to go to select customers by Q1 2008.

Continue at source

Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 3

Published by nb September 19th, 2007 in Office. 0 Comments

Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 3 (SP3) represents a major evolution in security for Office 2003. It further hardens the Office suite against potential attacks and other security threats. This service pack also includes fixes that have been previously released as separate updates for Office 2003

You can get specific information about this update in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article (923618): Description of Office 2003 Service Pack 3.

Service Pack 3 also includes stability improvements developed as a result of user input from the Microsoft Online Crash Analysis in Office 2003 and from Microsoft Product Support feedback.

Some of the changes in Service Pack 3 modify the behavior of Office 2003, including changes that disable some features by default and increase control for computer administrators.

Source: ActiveWin

Microsoft Office 2007 SP1 Technical Preview Available

Published by nb August 16th, 2007 in Office. 0 Comments

If you were a member of the Microsoft Office Product Evaluation TAP, you should now have access to the Microsoft Office 2007 System Service Pack 1 Technical Preview. Just log into Connect, and check under Microsoft Office. This is going to be a short one preview. Microsoft is only accepting feedback for about 30 days, so start downloading now!

Source: WindowsConnected

Microsoft Office 2007 Professional VHD

Published by nb July 19th, 2007 in Office. 0 Comments

This VHD contains both the 30 day edition of Windows Vista Enterprise Edition and an evaluation of Office 2007 Professional which includes Publisher, Excel, Outlook, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access, and Word. See how with these new platforms can simplify how people work together, find information and improve business insight, help protect and manage content, and reduce IT costs and improve security. Test drive today to experience how Windows Vista and Office 2007 work better together!

Download: Microsoft Office 2007 Professional VHD

Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats

Published by nb June 19th, 2007 in Software and Office. 0 Comments

Users of the Microsoft Office XP and 2003 programs Word, Excel, or PowerPoint?please install all High-Priority updates from Microsoft Update before downloading the Compatibility Pack.
By installing the Compatibility Pack in addition to Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003, you will be able open, edit, and save files using the file formats new to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007. The Compatibility Pack can also be used in conjunction with the Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003, Excel Viewer 2003, and PowerPoint Viewer 2003 to view files saved in these new formats. For more information about the Compatibility Pack, see Knowledge Base article 924074.

Download: Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats

Vista and old Office

Published by nb May 10th, 2007 in Windows and Office. 0 Comments

Someone may got question if they buy Windows Vista and want to install previous version of MS Office (like Office 2000, XP, or 2003 rather than 2007), what can they do? The question is upon licensing rather than compatible or system support issue. David Overton of Microsoft UK Small business team have solution for you, which summarized below:

- If you have the Home and Student (was the Student and Teacher) Edition then this can be installed on 3 computers in the same household.

- If you have a previous “Full Packaged Product” – the pretty box you bought at a retailers – version of the product then this can be removed from one computer and installed on a new computer. It can only be installed on one computer at any time.

- If your software is provided as part of a volume license agreement then you can install on a new computer or other computers, but if you change the number of computers that it is installed on you may have to pay more for the extra usage.

- If you have neither of these then you have an OEM copy – this is provided and supported by the people who supplied your computer and part of the license provision is that it belongs to that computer only and can not be transferred anywhere else.

More guide if you want Office 2007 and Office 2003 co-exist on the same Windows machine, please visit this entry .

Microsoft attempts to lock down Office

Published by nb May 1st, 2007 in Office and News. 1 Comment

Microsoft is touting a new set of security features designed to lock down Word and Excel. The software giant said it hopes the move will end Office’s run as a favourite target of malware authors and remote attackers.

Josh Edwards, technical product manager for Microsoft Office, explained in an interview with vnunet.com that Microsoft completely restructured the way it approaches security in the latest release of Office.

Edwards said that the new approach began three years ago when the company realised that it had to make security a central priority.

“The idea was how we could integrate security in such a way that it is not a feature, but more of a philosophy,” he said.

In order to shift security to centre stage, Microsoft took several steps to ensure that security research was integrated into the development process for Office.

Edwards said that the company brought in outside researchers to find weaknesses, and required its project managers to become proficient in security.

The renewed focus on security for Office is well timed. Increasingly sophisticated attackers have shifted much of their focus from vulnerabilities within Windows to applications such as Excel and Office.

“Every file type, every application that is broadly used, is facing the same situation right now,” said Edwards.

“Office, being a commonly used application, has received a lot of that attention, and has driven a lot of the things we’re doing with security.”

One these measures is the move to the OpenXML document format. The new format stores different parts of the document separately, keeping formatting and document information away from the actual data itself.

Full story @ source.