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MS Unveils Office 2007, Multiple Versions

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the new-clippy-friends dept.

rfunches writes "MSNBC reports that Microsoft's next version of Office, now known as Office 2007 (previously code-named Office 12), will continue targeting the corporate audience through multiple versions of Office 2007. Versions announced include 'Office Professional Plus 2007' and 'Office Enterprise 2007.' From the article: '[Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007] will integrate capabilities of SharePoint, a collaboration program and Web portal that is designed to run over corporate networks and the Internet...and also incorporate Microsoft Office Communicator, a corporate instant messaging service.'"

10 of 298 comments (clear)

  1. Do I forsee... by ackthpt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Hi, Joe, Here's the presentation on Wizzo Chocolate Corp. I'll be out of the office until the meeting with Wizzo, have a look at it and make any changes you see fit.

    To open attachedment click here [*click*]

     This project was created in Office Enterprise, some features may not be present in your version of Office Professional Plus - You will not be able to make any modifications to this project.
    So.. how many people are really likely to get the lightweight version, hmm?
    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:Do I forsee... by b0r1s · · Score: 3, Insightful
      How many people in small offices really need:

      Access

      Visio

      Sharepoint

      Project

      InfoPath

      Publisher

      A lot of offices don't need most of the tools (think: your typical 2-10 person small business), and not having to pay for them is very helpful.

      --
      Mooniacs for iOS and Android
    2. Re:Do I forsee... by Martin+Foster · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A lot of small companies, organizations and people in general could do miracles in Access if they would quit treating MS Excel as one...

    3. Re:Do I forsee... by toddbu · · Score: 3, Insightful
      I think it is Fear Of Not Having Every Feature which drives a lot of purchasing

      But it could also work against you. If you start pushing documents out the door and your customers complain that they can't read then then you have to turn off the advanced features, at which time people start to ask "why am I paying for this?". Any time there's a lot of sharing going on then you need a lowest common denominator, or you need to take Acrobat's approach and provide read-only and read-write versions.

      --
      If you don't want crime to pay, let the government run it.
    4. Re:Do I forsee... by linuxmop · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Your unjustified speculation is cute and everything, but Microsoft has offered multiple versions of Office for as long as I can remember. Some packages include programs such as Access that not everyone needs. They have even offered Word + Works Suite for low-end PCs. In none of these cases have they prevented you from reading or writing data files created with the more expensive suite (given that your suite the program in question, e.g. Access).

      But hey, why have a reasonable discussion when you can just bash Microsoft for something it hasn't done?

    5. Re:Do I forsee... by PitaBred · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Access makes a nice front-end to a database. Connect it's data stores to MSSQL or another SQL server, and it's actually quite good for just a quick DB interface maker.

      --
      My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
  2. If I may correct that a bit. by khasim · · Score: 4, Insightful
    It integrates email, IM and phone in an amazing way (by email I mean Outlook , no you cant use pine :( ).
    What you meant to say was ...

    "It integrates MS Exchange/Outlook, MS Messenger and MS Phone in an amazing way."

    And no, I don't want voice mail in my email. People store too much crap in it already.
  3. Re:Offices are getting sick of this by DaHat · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Lucky for your office, one of Office 12's most under sold benefits (new XML based documents) will not just be limited to Office 12, in addition they will be releasing patches for XP and 2003 for sure (I am not sure about 2k currently) so that far more people can enjoy the benefits.

    --
    Help Brendan pay off his student loans
  4. Re:Corporate IM service by Scyber · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Corporate IM is actually becoming pretty popular. It replaces the need to quickly call or run over to someone to ask a quick question that email is overkill for (or that you need an immediate answer for). Lotus Notes has had an IM client (SameTime) in it for a little while now.

  5. Multiple versions? Mmm...must be a good thing by Jivha · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wonder why people are falling for this talk about "multiple versions" in Office 2007. The available retail versions of MS Office 2003, as listed on Microsoft.com

    - MS 2003 Professional Ed.
    - MS 2003 Standard Ed.
    - MS 2003 Small Business Ed.
    - MS 2003 Student & Teacher Ed.

    And the versions of the upcoming Office 2007 as listed in the article

    - Professional
    - Standard
    - Enterprise
    - Small Business
    - Home & Student

    Guess what - all of one extra edition - "Enterprise" (Student & Teacher appears to have been rebranded as Home & Student). The way the article and the submission is written it would appear that multiple versions were the next best thing to sliced bread since, um, Office 2003?