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May 12, 2010

Office 2010 Wherefor Art Thou?

I’ve had a beta of Microsoft Office 2010 for some time. Microsoft has now released Office 2010 to the MSDN and Technet web distribution channels and subscribers have been able to use the product for a little while.

So, here I am, looking at the 2010 programs and wondering what the thrust of this 2010 Suite will be. Certainly, the 2010 Movie gives us an old chuckle.

But then you have to watch a geek explain the Developer roadmap in another video for the lack of clarity to sink in.

What’s coming through is:

• Although Office 2010 component programs continue to improve at the installed desktop – each program – Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, OneNote, Outlook and their cousins Visio, Microsoft Project has varying improvements and enhancements – we’ll have to find the time to discuss this, the game is to diversify the useage of Microsoft Office.
• It used to be, that Office web applications ran in the only browser that supported ActiveX components. That was why Gates and management fought like anything to avoid diluting the presence of Internet Explorer. My, those courtoom days seem so far behind now – Office Web Apps are completely re-engineered in SilverLight and HTML (which is why Microsoft had to make a stand and forcibly avoid working in Adobe Flash – eh, by gee, Apple’s learnt how to do that as well).
  
  If you have a free Microsoft Live account with Skydrive storage space, you can use (not test, but use) Excel and Powerpoint files within the browser, Word and OneNote appearing shortly. Yes, I did try it out in Google Chrome, of all things. There are provisos though. The menus (or rather, Ribbons) are anaemic, truncated versions of the real thing, and I suspect the overall functionality is limited. But there – a new gen Microsoft Office web app, running inside a non Microsoft web browser. Pity Monash University has not waited and has gone Google Apps for students and will do over the next few months for staff.
  
  This emphasis on the mobile, frenetic, “can sip coffee but too busy for lunch” city knowledge worker comes across the mobile phone platform too – I can’t test this. I don’t have a current model Windows Mobile phone (used to lug an old O2 a couple of years ago) but now I’m a Nokia person in a sea of Apple iPhones.
  
• Of course, Microsoft is keen to make money. That means instead of simply hosting a fee paying service for these mobile and web apps, Microsoft will sell corporates the plumbing to kit out your own corporate server. You’ll need Sharepoint 2010 of course and then there’s the kitchen sink syndrome. Over time, there’s been:
  
  Sharepoint itself – delivering file and document versioned storage with programmed workflows
  
  Excel Services (anyone using them, please put up your hand)
  
  Microsoft Project Services (give up on that lame Project Central thing – it sounds too much like Dai Maru (Melbournite joke)
  
  Access Services (gulp! now how do I set up enough infrastructure, skill up and offer that to the people who need it)?
  
  Word and Visio Services
  
• Then there’s the other big game, big iron stuff. If you can’t pronounce Azure or spell Business Connectivity Services, don’t let that worry you just yet.

Oops, look how fast the time has gone. Gotta my head in for a reality check, pay some bills (not Gates, he’s giving money away but not in my direction). Write more soon, until then….

 

 

Posted by Anandasim at 06:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack