More information on what’s to come in relation to Office 12 :
The notion of “business intelligence,” or easy access to critical company data, is one of the key areas for improvement that the company has identified for the next version of its flagship desktop software. On Monday, the company shared some of its plans in that area, including the outlines of a new server-based system for managing Excel spreadsheets.
As part of Office 12, Microsoft will add the ability to store and manage spreadsheets from a central server, allowing companies to create business rules around how different workers can access the data. Microsoft remains vague on how it will sell the new ability. The company has said the server-based “Excel Services” abilities will come as part of a future version of the company’s SharePoint technology.
Read the while article at CNET
Hey – really cool. So how do I actually use this if I’m not connected – lets say – on a plane ?
How have MS managed to create a replicated secure local datastore for your documents, without actually using replication?
(Of course, IBM Workplace does this *already* with the rich client, where you can mark documents in central repositories as of interest, and they come with you in your travels. If you amend them, they automatically get put back into circulation. Remember the Aptrix document management system ?
Kinda like the idea of a “file server”, but far far easier to use. Like 10 years on, but available now sort-of-thing.
So – we’ve gotta wait another year or so for Office 12 to catch up with something that IBM has been shipping for 20 years (a notes solution), or 1 year (the IBM workplace stuff).
Talking about the future is dangerous, especially if your side is playing catch-up on this one.
Ever yours,
—* Bill
Bill,
As ever good questions. Will get back to you on this once more becomes publicly available