Down Time

Boy Genius has revealed the screenshots of Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac. The screenshots consists on major development of Microsoft Office 2011 applications of Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2011.

The appearance of Microsoft Office 2011 are much like Office 2010, Ms. Office 2011 for Mac includes the ribbon on every application and with several new functions are also integrated in it. Ms. Office 10 was lack of Outlook but this will also be the first time Outlook will be available in the Office Suite for the Mac. The appearance between Outlook for Windows and Mac appear to be similar, including a mail preview pane, calendar, contacts, tasks and notes available for use.

The screenshots also show a quick search in the toolbar for Outlook, Excel, and Word, for searching within your inbox, spreadsheet, or documents. Office 2011 is also said to include the same multi-use feature that Office 2010 includes, allowing for you and your co-worker to work on the same document at the same time.

Microsoft officials have confirmed that Office 2010 has moved into the release candidate stage. The company said it has distributed the software to those in the technology adoption programme.

This means Office 2010 is now officially out of beta. Once it's passed the RC state, it will be released to manufacturing, then offered for sale.

The release candidate period will allow for feedback from partners, which can impact the final build. The launch is expected in June, probably close to the end of the month, as the company says it doesn't expect Office 2010 to have any big effect on third-quarter earnings.

Ramp up, shut down

In a statement, Microsoft said: “Microsoft made a release candidate available to members in the Technology Adoption Program (TAP). This is one of Microsoft’s planned milestones in the engineering process; however they do not have plans to make this new code set available broadly.”

As is to be expected, it offers new versions of Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. As of last month, the beta of the software had been downloaded two million times.

The news arrives just as Redmond's finest has announced that the free preview version of Windows 7 will shut down next month. Users will have until 1 March to spend money on the real thing, or their PCs will automatically shut down every two hours, with work not saved.

Microsoft Office 2010 prices:

* Professional - $499 boxed, $349 for product key
* Professional Academic - $99 boxed only
* Home and Student - $149 boxed, $119 for product key
* Home and Business - $279 boxed, $199 for product key

As i mentioned earlier Microsoft is all set to launched its new Office product Office 2010 in june and already the product is in RC stage. The Office suite will be updated for Windows, including ribbon support for all products, and will also be launching Office 2010 for Mac OS X sometime in 2010. Customers looking to get their hands on Office 2010 when it comes out later on this year can do so, and for free. If customers purchase Office 2007 between March 5, 2010 and September 30, 2010, Microsoft will allow you to download and upgrade to Office 2010 for free.

However, Microsoft is only allowing certain software programs to be considered upgradable through your program including the following versions of Office 2007:
How exactly does the program work?

Customers who purchase Office Home and Student, Standard, Small Business, Professional or Publisher 2007 can upgrade to that a similar version of Office 2010 when released. Standard and Small Business editions will be upgraded to Home and Business & Professional edition.

Customers will be able to download – or order a DVD for a small fee – when Office 2010 is available to the public. Customers must also purchase one of the above versions of Office 2007 from an authorized dealer.

Consumers will still be eligible for a free upgrade with or without a new purchase of a PC, between March 5 and September 30th. Office 2007 sales and activations must take place during this time frame, in order to qualify for the free upgrade.

A complete list of Office 2010 application include:

* Microsoft Access 2010
* Microsoft Excel 2010
* Microsoft InfoPath Designer 2010
* Microsoft InfoPath Filler 2010
* Microsoft OneNote 2010
* Microsoft Outlook 2010
* Microsoft PowerPoint 2010
* Microsoft Publisher 2010
* Microsoft SharePoint Workspace 2010
* Microsoft Word 2010
* Office Communicator 2010

Other updated products include:

* Microsoft Visio 2010 (not included in any Office 2010 Package)
* Microsoft Project 2010 (not included in any Office 2010 Package)

Microsoft Corp launched a fully online version of its popular Office suite of applications on Tuesday as it looks to extend its customer base and beat back rival Google Inc.

The new service, called Office 365, is available as a limited test from Tuesday, and will be on sale on a subscription basis worldwide next year.

Combining some of Microsoft's existing cloud-based services, it will be available through most browsers and on mobile devices.

That means customers can get access to Office programs like Outlook e-mail and SharePoint websites without installing software, from virtually anywhere.

The move strikes a blow against rival Google, which has had some success with its Google Apps service, which provides a low-cost, Web-based alternative to Microsoft's traditional Office software.

Shares of Microsoft were down 2.7 percent at $25.12 in morning trading, while Google fell 1.1 percent to $610.95.

Microsoft is doubling down on its commitment to the cloud with the launch of Office 365, a service that combines Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online with the cloud.

Announced at a press event in San Francisco by Kurt DelBane, president of Microsoft's office division, Office 365 is a subscription service that integrates cloud-based syncing, collaboration, and accessibility to businesses and organizations worldwide. So long as a device supports ActiveSync, customers can access their e-mail, calendars, team websites and office web apps from anywhere. The inclusion of Lync also means that Office 365 has videoconferencing capabilities.

There are two editions of Office 365. Office 365 for Small Businesses is designed for organizations of one to 25 people. It's a pre-built package that includes Office Web Apps, Lync, e-mail sync, and more. It doesn't require IT support on the user's end and will cost $6 per user per month.

The second version is Office 365 for Enterprises. Unlike the small business version, the enterprise edition can be customized based on an organization's needs. It can be customized so different teams have different access levels to Office 365's features. The enterprise edition comes with everything in the small business version, plus single sign-in, Office Pro Plus (via subscription), internal social networking tools, voicemail in the inbox, and more. It costs anywhere between $2 to $27 per user per month, depending on which features the company chooses to utilize.

The beta will be available to a few thousand organizations starting today; its full launch will occur sometime next year in 40 countries. Sometime in late 2011, Office 365 will add Microsoft Dynamics CRM to its suite of products.

Microsoft is extraordinarily bullish on the cloud. DelBane said that the company believes the cloud is as radical of an innovation as the graphical user interface. Office 365 just makes sense though; the rising demand for enterprise-level cloud apps like Dropbox and Box.net is due to its ability to help teams collaborate and coordinate their efforts.