Broad availability of the new Office is planned for early 2013

Dec 4, 2012 07:40 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has just announced that Office 2013 was released for businesses, while broad availability for the new Office package through retail and online channels is planned for the first quarter of 2013.

“The new Office gives customers a comprehensive set of productivity tools to help them do their best work in a world of devices and services,” Sanjay Manchanda, Office Team, said.

Businesses who want to purchase the new Office 2013 can do so via the Microsoft Volume Licensing service, with available packages including Office 2013 and related programs such as Exchange Server 2013, Lync Server 2013, SharePoint Server 2013, Project 2013 and Visio 2013.

“The new Office works beautifully with touch, stylus, mouse or keyboard to give you the ultimate productivity experience. It brings the familiar Office experience to a wide range of new devices and gives you the best experience on Windows,” Manchanda added.

The RTM version of the new Office 2013 was officially released in October, but those who have purchased Microsoft’s very own Surface RT and other Windows RT have already received the final version of the RT productivity suite.

This is actually Microsoft’s own way to boost sales of its first tablet in history, as the Surface RT comes with a free copy of Office RT for all buyers.

Those who wish to get a taste of the new Office 365 Enterprise version can always download the preview package for free, as Microsoft uses this particular build to showcase the main features of the app. The trial version works only on Windows 7 and Windows 8 and requires users to register for an account on this page.

“The new Office provides security features without compromise, includes data loss prevention, compliance management, built-in malware protection, and flexible deployment options across on-premises and in the cloud,” Manchanda also explained.