Is Microsoft&#39;s Office Becoming More Like Windows?
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Office, Microsoft Corp.&#39;s (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) collection of programs for business documents and tasks, is fast becoming a software platform unto itself.
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The core code for Microsoft&#39;s Windows OS is undergoing a rewrite to make it slimmer for use in a wide range of future products, including&#160;Windows 7, the OS that will succeed Vista.The internal project, code-named &quot;MinWin,&quot; is not being readied for a product just yet but will be part of&#160;Windows 7, said Eric Traut, a distinguished engineer, during a recent presentation at the University of Illinois. A video of his talk has been posted online.The kernel is the fundamental code underlying an OS that manages services for applications such as drivers, file management and memory.&quot;A lot of people think of Windows as this large, bloated operating system, and that&#39;s maybe a fair characterization, I have to admit,&quot; Traut said. &quot;But at its core, the kernel, and the components that make up the very core of the operating system, is actually pretty streamlined.&quot;Traut showed a demonstration of MinWin, which lacks a graphical user interface. It takes up just 25M bytes when stored on disk, compared to the massive 4GB the full Windows Vista OS needs, Traut said.MinWin can run on under 40MB of RAM, he said. &quot;That&#39;s kind of proof there is actually a pretty nice little core inside of Windows,&quot; Traut said.But Microsoft still wants to shrink it. &quot;It&#39;s still bigger than I&#39;d like it to be,&quot; Traut said.Microsoft uses its kernel in a range of products, from its client Windows OS to servers. Keeping the kernel as small as possible enables it to be used in OSes for lower-memory environments, such as embedded devices.&quot;This will provide us the ability to move into even more areas,&quot; Traut said.Microsoft has said it will release Windows 7 by 2010, although the company has not revealed much detail on its features.&#160;
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The next version of Office for Macs -- Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 --  isn't due out 'til later this month. But Microsoft execs are already talking up the suite's new features.
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Microsoft has some serious questions to answer....
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InfoWorld - The 2008 Microsoft Office System Developer Conference this week focuses on the company's Office application suite as an application development platform in and of itself.
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New versions of Office, Exchange, too. But are businesses ready to buy?
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Microsoft's latest version of Office for Mac adds some nifty interface improvements and a bunch of new features. Should you switch?
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(InfoWorld) - For business users who want Microsoft Office on their cell phones, Windows Mobile 6, the upcoming version of Redmond's mobile operating system to be unveiled next week, will be a must-have upgrade. Mobile 6 comes with mobile versions of Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. With the continuing increase in sales of smartphones at the expense of handheld devices, Office makes a lot of sense, especially for synchronizing with desktop files, according to Rob Enderle, principal at the Enderle Group. Carriers and handset manufacturers who believe they can put the limited memory and storage to better use, however, are out of luck. Microsoft Office still comes with Mobile 6. According to John Starkwether, a product manager in the Mobile and Embedded Devices Division at Microsoft, Office is part of the package. Starkwether conjectured that if a vendor really wants to exclude Office from the operating system, an accommodation might be possible. Additional upgrades to the mobile OS include Microsoft's Direct Push Technology with automatic synchronization of Outlook calendars, tasks, and contacts using Exchange Server. For security and management, Mobile 6 will also give mobile network managers the capability of remotely wiping out all data from a device should it be lost or stolen. Other security features include certificate options and storage card encryption. Business users will also be pleased with the inclusion of mobile versions of the .Net Compact Framework and SQL Server in order to access a company's standard line of business applications remotely. The Office applications are the most robust to date for the limited capacities of a cell phone. Spell checking in Word, though, is not included. E-mail viewing will be easier on the eye with formatting, tables, and pictures viewable as originally generated. One-click options for e-mail, such as "reply all", moving a message to a subfolder and "delete" have been added to accommodate the restricted functionality of a small device. Windows Vista users on the desktop will be able to swap music, pictures, movies and Outlook information between the Vista PC and the mobile device. Windows Live will integrate mail, messenger, search, contacts, and spaces. Call history is now placed inside the individual contact card. Enderle said that although there was "a lot of great stuff" in Mobile 6 Microsoft still has to focus on ease of use. "Compared to the Apple iPhone with its simplified interface, Mobile 6 is still complex to use," Enderle said. Devices with Windows Mobile 6 will ship worldwide in the second quarter.
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New version of Microsoft Office for small businesses to include more accounting and customer information features.
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Microsoft did something right with its new Office for Mac 2008 suite.
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Microsoft Corp.&#39;s retreat from its Longhorn ambitions and its decision to add several Longhorn technologies to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 may rob the next Windows release
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Microsoft outlined a new feature that will be included in Office 2008 for Mac.
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With Office 2007 radically reorganizing the way users think and work with applications, today, Microsoft announced a royalty-free licensing program for developers who want to make use of Office's new, distinctive style. If you're wondering whether there are strings attached...wonder no more.
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Over its first six months, the latest Windows version can't hold a candle to XP. But: Office 2007 sales rock.
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The notion that cheap or free Web-based word processing or spreadsheet programs could replace traditional software like Microsoft Office (MSFT) is becoming more realistic all the time. Outfits like Google (GOOG), ThinkFree, and Zoho have new and better services every day.
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Now that Microsoft has released the Windows Vista operating system and the Office 2007 productivity suite, talk has shifted from months of launch-date speculation to concerns over specific safeguards needed to ensure that the new software is secure.
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Software maker has its eye on consumers who might be ready to make the switch from Windows.