GCN.com :Inside the Next Microsoft Office

…When Microsoft Corp. says it’s releasing a new version of something, it usually means, at best, a dressing-up of the old version with minor enhancements (see Office 2000), or at worst, something with no improvements that actually makes life harder (see Windows ME).

But occasionally, Microsoft puts out a new version that is an improvement on every level. That looks to be the case with the new Office suite, known for now as Microsoft Office 12. The GCN Lab got its hands on the limited release Beta 1 of Office 12. The Beta 2 is due out soon and the final product is scheduled for release around the time Windows Vista ships, toward the end of 2006….

…Probably the most impressive feature of the new Word is the Document Inspector, which lets you detect and remove unwanted comments, hidden text or other identifiable information. This type of ‘document scrubbing’ is becoming a hot topic in many organizations…

…Probably Outlook’s greatest improvement is its near-total integration with SharePoint Services, Microsoft’s enterprise collaboration platform. You can connect to SharePoint calendars, documents, contacts or tasks right from Outlook, and you can edit anything live, as if you were connected to SharePoint through your browser….

…Overall, the improvements to Office 12’s user interface and the introduction of new components impressed us. Keep in mind, though, that we’re still in beta mode here and reserve the right to judge the product differently once it ships. Although we don’t expect Microsoft to significantly change or remove the fundamental features that make Office 12 attractive, you never know….