Microsoft Reverals Office 2013, Launches Customer Preview

[exfileme]

As predicted, Microsoft has launched the Office 2013 Customer Preview.

Microsoft Reverals Office 2013, Launches Customer Preview : Read more

 

[teh_chem]

One word into the title and there's already a spell-check fail. C'mon, really?

Anyhoo, the biggest thing would be getting a stable office suite on (affordable) tablets. University students have been asking for years if they should use a tablet for their school work (the answer always being "no" because office apps for tablets are buggy and crappy and not widely-supported). I'm interested to see how this plays out.

 

[A Bad Day]

*Looks at my Office XP*

*Looks at Office 2013*

*Looks at my Office XP*

How time flies...

 

[back_by_demand]

Microsoft Reverals

Holy Christ Kevin!!! Get a GRIP!!!

 

[back_by_demand]

Office 365 ProPlus

Has all the componants of Small Business Premium, but also provides you with a fast acting caffeine boost that can relieve the symptoms of fatigue and tiredness and help you feel more awake.

 

[math1337]

I'm really kind of meh about the cloud features. Office 2010 already had skydrive features, and I don't really want them mashed in my face, especially since I do a lot of typing on the go.

I'm looking forward to the new readers and proper pdf support though.

 

[livebriand]

I like the simpler shadows in it, but the icons are butt-ugly, and I can't stand the white. (with no option to change it) Office 2010 looks beautiful in comparison...

 

[JamesSneed]

One word into the title and there's already a spell-check fail. C'mon, really?

Anyhoo, the biggest thing would be getting a stable office suite on (affordable) tablets. University students have been asking for years if they should use a tablet for their school work (the answer always being "no" because office apps for tablets are buggy and crappy and not widely-supported). I'm interested to see how this plays out.

That is pretty damn funny. Office does have a spell checker maybe Toms should give it a shot.

 

[andy_newton]

No more ribbon?

 

[alxianthelast]

Office 365 installer and website warning: 32 bit and 64 versions don't get along.

so.... don't combine them and just have the 64 bit version run by itself?! I'm confused.

 

[glenricky]

Too bad, it's best suited with windows 8, but it cannot be installed in windows 8 release or consumer preview, full version only

 

[blazorthon]

[citation][nom]john_4[/nom]I'll stick with Libre Office and save some cash.[/citation]

I like Libre Office too, but there are situations where you might have to use MS Office, especially in business environments.

 

[lradunovic77]

Who needs an option to share documents on Facebook? Really? Office 2013 is using Metro interface... insane. Looks like Windows 7 and Office 2010 will be only option for businesses. No Windows XP support and no Windows Vista Support. Meh...

No thanks i will stick with Libre Office and Ubuntu.

 

[lradunovic77]

Office 2013 just like Windows 8 is less than Windows 7 and Office 2010 because MS decided that same OS has to run across multiple platforms. What a stupid decision.

 

[beardguy]

This looks great. I bought office 2010 not that long ago, but I really hate the tabular interface, there's way too much shit going on and I find the interface clunky and confusing.

Hopefully Office 2013 will be more streamlined and intuitive.

 

[HenrikG]

I hate how everything Microsoft has been doing lately is so damn "Fisher Price" looking.

 

[CaedenV]

[citation][nom]beardguy[/nom]This looks great. I bought office 2010 not that long ago, but I really hate the tabular interface, there's way too much shit going on and I find the interface clunky and confusing. Hopefully Office 2013 will be more streamlined and intuitive.[/citation]
Welcome to the year 2007, the ribbon UI has been arround for over 5 years now. It is admittedly a bear to get use to, but once you get the hang of what they are trying to do it isn't terrible (especially if you use a combo of the ribbon and key commands). Still, Ive gotta say that I like the idea of going back to drop menus, as they really are the best.
I'm going to give this a try over the next few days. But something tells me that I would rather stick with office I already own then be saddled with another subscription service. When Balmer said he wanted to move to a subscription based service for office (and windows) when he first got the job I thought it would be the end of Windows... thankfully it will only be the end of Office.

Oh, and skydrive support?
Seriously, download the skydrive application, right click on your 'my documents' icon, properties, move, and point it to a folder in the skydrive folder. Instant skydrive support for all of your documents. Better than flash drives, or emailing files to yourself, or CDs, and works for all of your computers and windows phones. I did the same thing for my desktop... it's a real lifesaver. Instant backup, simple file transfer to all your computers, and accessible by anything with an internet connection.... God help you if your Live ID is compromised though

 

[Shin-san]

Good commercial, but I don't see much of a point in upgrading

 

[CaedenV]

... while installing I was looking at task manager to see what it was up to. While 'cleaning up' (installing) it was pulling down 22Mbps... the only time I have ever seen anything close to that is when testing my connection, I have never seen real world use (for a single site/service) break 10-12Mbps before.

 

[CaedenV]

OK,
so after playing with the new office I am proud to announce: nothing much has really changed... again
In the commercial they have dropdown menus, but the ribbon UI is still king of the day. Word, Excel, and PPT are all essentially the same as they were in office 2007, whith the noted exception of social media outputs for Word, and a simi-inteligent auto fill feature in Excel (which could be more annoying than useful).
I have not seen publisher sense OfficeXP, and it has changed a bit... but that is to be expected for such a horrible program that has had 10 years to change. Access has made a few changes for the better it seems (again, a program that needed improvement anyways). OneNote seems pretty well left alone.

Outlook seems to be a disaster. It is downright hard to look at. Take this with a grain of salt however as I have always hated Outlook, and really hated that it forces you into a specific workflow... which is aparantly incompatible with my own. I do like the new features of Outlook, and it had no troubbles with my google and hotmail accts (obviously yahoo is not supported unless you pay for YMail... but that is no fault of MS). I also like the 'peak' idea, but do not like that they moved it all to the bottom of the screen making it feel more than ever like 4 disconnected programs tossed together (mail, calendar, people/contacts, and tasks). I find my eye unable to focus on the emails, and seperate where one begins and the next one ends. It just looks like a mess.

For the whole suite:
I generally like the new Metro/cosmo look for desktop, and if this is what we can expect Win8 desktop applications to look like then I am all for it, though I will miss Aero's wonderful transparent look. I do not understand why they have not moved the headers for the ribbonUI to the title bar. Sure, keep it where it is when on a portable device, but when full screen on a 27" monitor it makes for a lot of dead-space.... bright white glaring dead space. All of the application's face-lifts are nice with the exception of Outlook which is simply difficult to look at, even if it is easier to use. I like that programs take the whole boarder of the program space (no more 'Window' space on the edge). However, this now means that you cannot resize a window until it is actively selected. Great for a mobile device, but just one more step for desktop users. I also like that each program takes on the color of it's icon, which is a simple visual cue for what you are interacting with.

Everything else though feels much the same as it has always been. I may upgrade in order to get newer versions of Access and Publisher, but otherwise it feels much the same as it has been for the last 5 years. Either way I will play with it for a bit and see if any 'must have' features surface.... but I find this unlikely.

 

[DRosencraft]

Interesting that in running it, Office 2013 doesn't actually run in Metro App form like IE does. I was expecting to be testing in the Metro UI, but it loads on the desktop. Go fig.

Anyway, preliminary use so far, it does look a little bit different, but I am jumping over from Office 2007, so that was expected. I like the little "full screen mode" button at the top right. I think I'll use that a lot when I'm in word since it'll give me a bit extra text space on screen. Some pretty cool features are in there too, like keeping temporary copies of stuff you don't save on exit, and marking the last place you were when you closed a document. And while some people don't like the blocky design, I do like it. It's more industrial and utilitarian, but I like that look, which is why I guess m hair didn't catch on fire like other people when they saw Win8.

Don't like the "bright" screen. In Office 2007 I had the color scheme switched to black. I really wish I could do that with 2013 because all that white is a little much - almost like staring at the sun. Almost pitched a fit when it looked like you couldn't use it without using SkyDrive. Luckily you don't have to, but I would definitely prefer if SkyDrive wasn't so emphasized. Yes, it's useful. Yes, I do have it. But I live in Florida, where at any time during the months of May through October, from midday to midnight, there is a likelihood that lightning will strike and knock out power at your for at least long enough to reset your router. Sometimes longer, and multiple times in one afternoon/evening. I would prefer it if while on my laptop I didn't have to wait for my internet to come on to switch between documents or save/load something else I'm working on, but that might just be me. I've also noticed that there is a little initial lag in the program showing what I type. It's really brief, like it takes an extra split second to start showing what I type. It's not a big deal, and I think I know why it's happening, but it's still a little annoying.

 

[jhansonxi]

[citation][nom]blazorthon[/nom]I like Libre Office too, but there are situations where you might have to use MS Office, especially in business environments.[/citation]
The biggest gap in Libre Office is an Outlook equivalent but you can use Office 365 for that. This makes sense if you are using Libre Office at home but need Outlook for communications and scheduling with you employer (or with a customer as in my case).

Libre Office will handle most docx files without problems. I can't remember the last time I encountered a compatibility problem.

Calc can handle most Excel spreadsheets except maybe a few statistical functions (according to some people). I haven't encountered any and I do have very complicated spreadsheets with many multi-page data lookups.

Impress is not as compatible with PowerPoint but considering the overuse of presentations (search for "PowerPoint fatigue" for examples) that's not much of a loss. It is good enough for viewing those political presentations that some family members insist on emailing me.

 

[JOSHSKORN]

At this rate I'll be switching over to Linux with Wine HQ in no time.

 

[jaquith]

I guess between Windows 8 and Office 2013 Microsoft must want to nuke their company.

What in the hell are those folks thinking?! Sell your stock today!

 

[DjEaZy]

.... windows 8 devices i love? WTF?!