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Microsoft Office 12

It seems like yesterday when Microsoft released Office 2003 and here we are with another version.  The new Microsoft Office 12 or it maybe Office 2006 is expected to be released to the public in late spring of 2006.  Overall, there has not been many changes to features and the way Office works, but there has been huge changes to the interface and layout of many of the Office 12 applications.

Some of the new features to Office 12 include XML based file formats (there is an "x" added to every Office file format now), a "ribbon" at the top replacing tradition drop-down menus and improved workflow between Office applications. Without a doubt, the most apparent change to Office is the ribbon-style menu at the top of most Office 12 programs. The old drop down menus that included File, Edit, View and so on are gone from Office 12 and they are not even available as an interface option.

Word 12 The only really big improvement to Word 12 is the ribbon menu at the top, which plays a huge role in the usability and functionality of Word because it is the only way to access most of Words tools and formatting options. The tabs on the ribbon for Word are labeled write, insert, page layout, references, mailings, and review. The write tab contains all of your font styling and paragraph options. The new default font for Word is no longer Times New Roman, but rather Calibri.  I like the new font a lot compared the the old Times New Roman, because Calibri looks very smooth, rounded, and professional. The insert tab contains ways to add graphs, clip art, links, Word Art, tables, and more. Page layout handles things like page margins, size, and background colors. The references tab is especially neat for people who have to type essays and papers for school or work and have to include their sources. This tab includes many ways to add footnotes, MLA-formatted bibliography and sources page, table of contents, and captions. The mailings tab holds wizards for creating envelopes and labels. Finally, the last tab, review, contains editor notes, proofing tools (spell check, grammar, and thesaurus). Also, in the font area, you can now see what each font looks like in the drop-down menu without having to apply it to the document. Overall, Microsoft Word 12 works almost identically to previous versions of it, but it's interface is dramatically changed to make things more streamlined and easy to use.

Excel 12 As with Word 12, the only real change to Excel 12 is the interface. As with all other Office 12 products, the ribbon menu appears at the top to replace the drop-down menus. Microsoft has made all of the features and options in Excel right at your fingertips with this ribbon menu. All of these features and neatly organized into seven tabs on the ribbon. These tabs are labeled sheet, insert, page layout, formulas, data, review, and add-ons. The "sheet" tab is basically like the "write" tab in Word, it contains all of your styling options. Worksheets are now huge in Excel as they can contain 1 million rows and 16,000 columns. As in the rest of the suite, the view features are moved to the status bar, and a slider lets you zoom in and out of a spreadsheet to your liking instead of using the preset zoom percentages of earlier versions.

PowerPoint 12 The ribbon-style menu, in our opinion, is the most useful in PowerPoint 12 because it combines all of PowerPoint's powerful presentation abilities into one neatly organized area. PowerPoint 12's graphics abilities are also greatly improved making them more dynamic and flexible. For example, you can now convert a bulleted list into a diagram with one click on the ribbon menu and then continue to modify the diagram with options that appear automatically on the same ribbon tab. Some other new features in PowerPoint 12 are the ability to save custom layouts and new text effects with the soft-edge and outer glow effect seen in Excel's charts and graphs.

Overall, Microsoft Office 12 is a huge visual and workflow improvement over previous versions of Office. There is isn't much to this update about new functionality, but rather improving interface quirks and making the suite more easy to use on a day to day basis. The new ribbon menu reduces confusing menus and dialog boxes, but at the cost of some screen space. System performance with Office 12 was not too bad. The first time  I opened the programs right after the install, they did open up a little slow, but after that they were fine. Microsoft isn't forcing users to have a top of the line computer to run Office 12 either. They say that Office 12 will require Windows XP SP2 and will need a minimum of 256MB of ram and a 512mhz processor. However, the more you have the better for multitask with the graphics and videos.  The tabbed layout of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint may be a much needed change if you are sick of clicking through the plethora of drop down menus, because Microsoft hopes that the new layout will be more intuitive and relaxing.

Next Windows Version

The next version of the operating system includes the updated Windows Media Player 11 and a complete set of diagnosing tools for the computer.  The user will be announced when one of the hard disk drives has problems or is about to fail and it offers the possibility to backup the vital data. Now we understand what Mike Burk, Microsoft product manager for Windows Vista, meant when he said that “Microsoft’s goal is to establish standards which will allow computers to fix themselves in a way that has never been attempted before”.

It is unknown when Microsoft will publish Windows Vista but the promise that the final edition will be available in the second half of 2006 are still valid.

With Windows Vista, Microsoft plans to break its own record and promises that the users will be able to start and shut down their operating system in three seconds.

Here’s what the company says on Windows Vista’s official site: “Windows Vista computer starts and shuts down as quickly and reliably as a television, typically within 2 to 3 seconds. Windows Vista processes login scripts and  startup programs and services in the background so you can start working right away. You'll also shut down and restart your computer less often by using the New Sleep state, a simple one click on and off experience which not only reduces power consumption, but also delivers and protects user data”

Current Windows versions try to reduce booting time by placing the most frequently accessed data on the hard disk’s optimum areas.

For Windows Vista, Microsoft comes with a new technology, called "SuperFetch", in which all the libraries necessary for a certain program will be preloaded before the system is turned on, so when the user will open the application, the system will only start the interface.

It’s not obvious if “SuperFetch” will reduce the global boot time, but let’s hope that the above paragraph is more than just a marketing strategy.

Overall, there is not much to shout about in this version of Windows it pretty much looks and feels like Windows XP  If you are running Windows 2000 or Windows XP and are happy with it and have all the updates then stay with it and wait till the next major service pack to be release to upgrade.  As we all know with most operating system there has to be 1 or 2 service packs for each windows, maybe there won't be any for this release, hummm

ICQ, Microsoft MSN Messenger and such services have been popular among teenagers and other home users for the past couple of years, nothing new there.  But lately many businesses have been finding their employees are spending hours each day communicating this way.  With the older technology of the telephone available, not to mention face-to-face communication, isn't it kind of strange that so many people prefer to communicate by typing messages to each other?

Microsoft Office 2003

When Microsoft release Office XP onto the market it look like it didn't have enough exciting features to make it last.  That is one reason why Microsoft Office 2003 is on the run again, it will be running to you in mid 2003, my guess just in time for back to school season which is September for most of us.  With the release of 2003 also comes new and improved features such as tools for Tablet PC users.  The big change here is that in Word and Excel you can make ink annotations directly within the document.

Another enticement to 2003 will probably also included a new freeform notepad application called OneNote which accepts typed, spoken, and handwritten notes.  Outlook users get a massive and long overdue makeover for the program's interface, however for FrontPage, Access and Publisher user there are less improvements.

One major change is the operating system in which 2003 will run under is that you need Windows XP and Windows 2000 with service pack 3.  It will not install under Windows 95/98/Me.

Word 2003 looks and feels almost identical to XP except for the new research pane, which looks up word under the cursor or any other text and big long await editable reading view, which displays a document in a paper like layout.

Excel 2003 adds a new data processing functions.  It also sports a new list toolbar with icons that automatically expand a data entry region as new items are added and that turns on a total row with the option to toggle average, count, max or other operations for values in the regions columns

PowerPoint, Access and Outlook gain the SmartTag feature which displays an icon that leads to options for items like addresses, pasted text and stock abbreviations.

Final words it looks like Microsoft has once again out done itself again.  See you in 18 months from now Microsoft Office