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Microsoft Office

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Microsoft Office Logo

Microsoft Office is a office suite of productivity programs created or purchased by Microsoft and developed for Microsoft Windows, and Apple's Mac OS and Mac OS X operating systems. As well as the core office applications, the Microsoft Office brand includes associated servers and Web-based services. Recent versions of Office are now called the "Office system" rather than the "Office suite" to reflect the fact that they include servers as well.

Contents

[edit] Common Office programs

These programs are included in all editions of Microsoft Office 2003, except Microsoft Office Basic Edition 2003. Microsoft Office Basic Edition includes Word, Excel and Outlook only.

[edit] Word

Microsoft Word is a word processor and is considered to be the main program of Office. It possesses a dominant market share in the word processor market. Its proprietary DOC format is considered a de facto standard, although its most recent version, Word 2007 uses a new XML-based format called .DOCX, but has the capability of saving and opening the old .DOC format. Word is also available in some editions of Microsoft Works. It is available for the Windows and Macintosh platforms.

Common extensions: .doc (Word 97-2003), .docx (Word 2007), .dot

[edit] Excel

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program. Like Microsoft Word, it possesses a dominant market share. It was originally a competitor to the dominant Lotus 1-2-3, but it eventually outsold it and became the de facto standard. It is available for the Windows and Macintosh platforms.

Common extensions: .xls (Excel 97-2003), .xlsx (Excel 2007), .xlt

[edit] Outlook/Entourage

Microsoft Outlook, not to be confused with Outlook Express, is a personal information manager and e-mail communication software. The replacement for Windows Messaging, Microsoft Mail and Schedule+ (Plus) starting in the 1997 version of Office, it includes an e-mail client, calendar, task manager and address book. Although historically it has been offered for the Macintosh, the closest to an equivalent for Mac OS X is Microsoft Entourage, which offers a slightly different feature set.

Common extensions: .msg .pst (Outlook 97-2003), - Microsoft Outlook 2007

[edit] PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint is a popular presentation program for Windows and Macintosh. It is used to create slideshows, composed of text, graphics, movies and other objects, which can be displayed on-screen and navigated through by the presenter or printed out on transparencies or slides. Windows Mobile 2005 (Magneto) will have a version of this program. It possesses a dominant market share. Movies, videos, sounds and music, as well as wordart and autoshapes can be added to slideshows. It is available for the Windows and Macintosh platforms.

Common extensions: .ppt (Powerpoint 97-2003), .pptx (Powerpoint 2007), .pot

[edit] Other programs included in the Windows versions

  • Microsoft Access – Database manager. For the 2003 version, included in Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003, and Microsoft Office Professional Enterprise Edition 2003. .mdb .mdt .mda .mdw-files
  • Microsoft InfoPath – Application that enables users to design rich XML-based forms. Included in Microsoft Office Professional, and Microsoft Office Enterprise Edition 2003.
  • Microsoft MapPoint – Mapping and geographic software tools.
  • Microsoft Visio – Diagram software with many functions included.
  • Microsoft Office Picture Manager – Basic photo management software (similar to a basic version of Google's Picasa or Adobe's Photoshop Elements).
  • Microsoft Project – Project management software that allows users to keep track of events and other PM related items. Microsoft Project allows users to create network charts and Gantt charts as well. .mpp-files
  • Microsoft Publisher – software for creating newsletters, business cards, flyers, greeting cards or even postcards. It has built in templates to help users professionally design and make publications. Also, Publisher 2003 has support for commercial printing and large quantity ink jobs. Unlike its more popular brethren (save, perhaps, Outlook), Publisher has a negligible market share in a field dominated by Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress. .pub-files
  • Microsoft OneNote – Note-taking software for use with tablet PCs or regular PCs. .one-files
  • Microsoft Office Communicator – Integrated communications client, enabling information workers to communicate in real time. Communicator is used effectively world wide for conferences and meetings.
  • Microsoft Office InterConnect – Business-relationship database available only in Japan. [1]
  • Microsoft SharePoint Designer – a WYSIWYG HTML editor and general web design program from Microsoft, replacing FrontPage.
  • Microsoft Office Groove – a proprietary peer-to-peer software package aimed at businesses
  • Microsoft Office Accounting Express/Professional – an essential tool for managing business finances
  • Developer Tools – (included only with developer editions)

[edit] Other programs included in the Mac versions

  • Virtual PC – Emulates a standard PC and its hardware. Included with Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2004.
  • Microsoft Entourage – an e-mail client and personal information manager developed by Microsoft

[edit] Web services associated with Microsoft Office

[edit] Older programs no longer included

  • Binder was originally designed as a container system for storing related documents in a single file. The complexity of use, combined with Binder being "yet another application to learn", meant it received little usage. It was removed from releases after Office 2000 to save the effort of ongoing maintenance. .obd-files
  • Microsoft Schedule Plus – Released with Office 95. It featured a planner, to-do list, and contact information. Its functions were incorporated into Microsoft Outlook. .scd-files
  • Microsoft Mail – Mail client (in old versions of Office, later replaced by Microsoft Schedule Plus and subsequently Microsoft Outlook). .mmf-files
  • Microsoft Outlook Express – Mail client (in Office 98 Macintosh Edition, later replaced by Microsoft Entourage). .dbx-files
  • Microsoft Vizact 2000 – A program that "activated" documents using HTML, adding effects such as animation. The main reason for its unpopularity was because many people had no idea what it did by looking at its box alone, and therefore didn't buy it.
  • Microsoft PhotoDraw – A graphics program that was first released in 1998 and later repackaged as PhotoDraw 2000 v2 as part of the Office 2000 Premium Edition. Microsoft discontinued the program in 2001 because their consumer graphics program Microsoft Picture It! offered richer capabilities. .mix-files
  • Microsoft Photo Editor – Photo-editing/raster-graphics software in older Office versions, and again in XP. It was temporarily supplemented by Microsoft PhotoDraw in Office 2000 Premium edition.
  • Microsoft FrontPage – Web design software (also requires its own server program for some functionality). Offered only as a stand-alone program for the 2003 version (not part of the pre-2003 office suites, was sold separately). In 2006, Microsoft announced that this was to be discontinued and to be replaced by two different software packages: Microsoft SharePoint Designer and Microsoft Expression Web.

Since 1997, Office has included Office Assistant, a system that uses animated characters to offer unrequested context-sensitive suggestions to users and access to relevant parts of the help system. Intended to make the software less intimidating to new users, it is typically disabled by experienced users. The Assistant is often dubbed "Clippy" or "Clippit," due to its default to a paperclip character, coded as CLIPPIT.ACS. The Assistant is the main use of Microsoft Agent technology. The Office Agent was hidden by default in Office XP and, following mixed public response, not installed by default in Office 2003. It has been removed entirely in Office 2007.

Also, beginning with Macintosh Office 4.2, the Macintosh and Windows versions of Office share the same file format. Consequently, any Macintosh with Office 4.2 or later can read documents created with Windows Office 4.2 or later, and vice-versa.

[edit] Support lifecycle

Beginning in 2002, Microsoft instituted a policy of "Support Lifecycles". [3] [4]

For Office:

  • Earlier versions than Office 97 (including Outlook 97) are no longer supported.
  • Office 97 (including Outlook 98) – Assisted support ended on January 16, 2004. Mainstream hotfix support ended on August 31, 2001. Extended hotfix support ended on February 28, 2002.
  • Office 2000 – Mainstream support ended June 30, 2004. Extended support is available through July 14, 2009.
  • Office XP – Mainstream support ended July 11, 2006. Extended support will be provided until July 12, 2011.
  • Office 2003 - Mainstream support will end on January 13, 2009. Extended support will end at January 14, 2014.
  • Current and future versions - Mainstream support will end 5 years after release, or 2 years after the next release, whenever is later, and Extended support will end 5 years after that.

[edit] Server components

[edit] Editions

The newest version of Microsoft Office is 2007, which was released at the same time as Windows Vista (on January 30, 2007). The Windows version of Microsoft Office 2007 is available in eight editions: (Please note that for the most part, pricing reflects installation on only a single computer.)

  • Microsoft Office Basic 2007 (Available only through OEMs)
  • Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007
  • Microsoft Office Standard 2007
  • Microsoft Office Small Business 2007
  • Microsoft Office Professional 2007
  • Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007
  • Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007 (Available only through volume licensing)
  • Microsoft Office Professional Enterprise 2007 (Available only through volume licensing)

The Macintosh version, Microsoft Office for Mac 2004, is available in three editions. All include Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage. They are identical except for pricing and the inclusion of Virtual PC in the Professional Edition. Microsoft notes that Virtual PC is incompatible with Intel Macs and recommends that Intel Mac users purchase the standard edition.

  • Office for Mac 2004 Student and Teacher Edition
  • Office for Mac 2004 Standard Edition
  • Office for Mac 2004 Professional Edition

[edit] Cross-platform use

Microsoft develops Office for Windows and Macintosh platforms. Recently, Microsoft announced that it will discontinue Visual Basic for Applications support in future versions of Office for Macintosh. In addition, Microsoft's MacBU has also ceased development on a universal version of Virtual PC, since developing a new version of their virtualization software for the Intel Mac would be just as hard as creating a whole new product from scratch. [5].

Most versions of Office can also be run on Unix-like operating systems through the use of a compatibility layer such as CrossOver or WINE. The older versions are said to run better in WINE than newer ones, while all versions are known to work to some extent.

There were efforts in the mid-1990s to port Office to RISC processors such as NEC / MIPS and IBM / PowerPC, but they met problems such as memory access being hampered by data structure alignment requirements. Difficulties in porting Office may have been a factor in discontinuing Windows NT on non-Intel platforms.

[edit] Versions

[edit] Versions for Microsoft Windows OS

  • August 30, 1992: Office 3.0 (CD-ROM version: Word 2.0c, Excel 4.0a, PowerPoint 3.0, Mail): (repackaged as Office 92).
  • January 17, 1994: Office 4.0 (Word 6.0, Excel 4.0, PowerPoint 3.0).
  • July 3, 1994: Office for NT 4.2 (Word 6.0 [32-bit, i386 and Alpha], Excel 5.0 [32-bit, i386 and Alpha], PowerPoint 4.0 [16-bit], "Microsoft Office Manager").
  • June 2, 1994: Office 4.3 (the last 16-bit version; Word 6.0, Excel 5.0, PowerPoint 4.0, Mail 3.2 and in the pro version, Access 2.0. Last version to support Windows 3.x and Windows NT 3.1 and 3.5.
  • August 30, 1995: Office 95 (7.0) (Word 7 for Windows 95, etc.) - coincided with the Windows 95 release.
  • December 30, 1996: Office 97 (8.0) (Word 97, etc.) (was published on CD-ROM as well as on a set of 45 3½-inch floppy disks), was Y2K safe with Service Release 2. Last version to support Windows NT 3.51.
  • January 27, 1999: Office 2000 (9.0) (Word 2000, etc.). Last version to support Windows 95.
  • May 31, 2001: Office XP (10.0) (Word 2002, etc.). Last version to support Windows 98/ME/NT 4. Improved support for working in restricted accounts under Windows 2000/XP
  • November 17, 2003: Office 2003 (11.0) (Word 2003, etc.). Last version to support Windows 2000.
  • January 30, 2007: Office 2007 (12.0) (Word 2007, etc.). Broadly released alongside Windows Vista, Microsoft's next major operating system.
  • Unknown (possibly the first half of 2009):[1] Office 14. There will be no Microsoft Office 13 due to superstition. [6]

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