14 DAY TRIAL // Yesterday, Microsoft made available for download the Customer Preview flavor of its next-gen Office 2013 productivity suite.
Just as expected, the new application release comes with a modified interface, designed specifically to fit the needs of Windows 8-based tablet users.
The same as the next-generation platform, Office 2013 should be easy to use on touchscreens, while providing users with looks they are already familiar with, such as the ribbon present in Office 2007 and Office 2010.
The new suite installs online, and connects to user’s Live accounts. It comes with SkyDrive integration, so that files can be saved in the cloud for access at all times, and also features new social capabilities.
Icons in the ribbon are a bit bigger, so that they can be easily used on touchscreens, while the action bar pops in from the left with Metro-style looks.
Although designed to work great with Windows 8, and even set to come integrated into Windows RT (Windows on ARM devices), Office remains a desktop application.
The Customer Preview of the new Office, available as Office 365 Home Premium Preview, includes Word, Excel, Access, Publisher, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, and the desktop version of SkyDrive.
The new suite can be installed alongside Office 2010, and both of them work just fine. Moreover, it will peek at your existing Office and import existing settings (at least for Outlook).
The new suite includes OneNote and Lync applications specifically designed for Windows 8 devices. OneNote comes with a radial menu for fast access to options and features.
The new Office also comes with Skype, and subscribers are provided with 60 international minutes each month.
The social features of the application also include Yammer, a secure, private social network for businesses, the possibility to follow people, teams, documents and sites in SharePoint, and an integrated view of contacts that is available anywhere in the suite through a new People Card.
With OneNote, people can take notes with touch, pen or keyboard. A Reader Mode in Office brings along a great reading experience capable of adjusting in accordance to the screen. There is also a new Presenter View in PowerPoint, designed to make presentations smoother and faster than before.
Following the recent acquisition of Perceptive Pixel, Microsoft also included support for multitouch and stylus-enabled touchscreens in Office 2013.
In addition to Office 365 Home Premium Preview, Microsoft also made available for testing Office 365 ProPlus, and Office 365 Small Business Premium.
Office 365 Home Premium — designed for families and consumers. This service also includes an additional 20 GB of SkyDrive storage and 60 minutes of Skype world minutes per month.
Office 365 Small Business Premium — designed for small businesses. This service also includes business-grade email, shared calendars, website tools and HD webconferencing.
Office 365 ProPlus — designed for enterprise customers who want advanced business capabilities and the flexibility to deploy and manage in the cloud. Unfortunately, the preview version of Office comes with support for only Windows 7 and Windows 8. Users who would like to install it on Windows Vista or older computers are out of luck.
Those of you who would like to have a better look at the new Office 2013 before downloading and installing it will find screenshots with the application on Softpedia via this link.
For the time being, Microsoft did not offer specific info on the release date or pricing of the new suite. However, we should expect it to arrive sometime in early 2013.
