InfoWorld ran an article about the speech of Bill Gates at the Office Developer Conference. A lot of interest ofcourse on what the next version of Office System will bring and ofcourse the strategy also there is Software + Services …
… Microsoft envisions the next version of Office to have partial online functionality similar to how Outlook Web Access works
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates talked publicly for the first time on Monday about the next big Office release, code-named Office 14, which he said will give users new ways to access their applications online.
Microsoft won’t provide the full functionality of Office online, but it will offer limited capabilities to view and edit the data in Office applications. It already does this for its Outlook e-mail client with a product called Outlook Web Access, and it will offer similar capabilities for other applications in Office 14, Gates said in a speech at the Microsoft Office System Developer Conference in San Jose, Calif.
“Outlook Web Access is not the full version of Office, but if you want to go into a kiosk or an Internet cafe and browse and connect, it gives you plenty of functionality,” he said. “As we look at all the modules [in Office 14], we have in mind the equivalent of Outlook Web Access,” Gates said.
It was the first time Microsoft had confirmed the “Office 14” moniker for the next release, although the Windows enthusiast Web site AeroXperience reported that fact recently, citing an internal Microsoft document. It also reported that a beta of Office 14 would appear this year with commercial release planned for 2009. …
Source: InfoWorld.com
