Office 12 Is Now Microsoft Office 2007?

With several article floating around the Internet lately debating which name the next generation of Office will have, "Microsoft Office 2007" seems to be the likelier candidate instead of the "Office 12" that had been marketed earlier. However, the name isn't a sure thing. Company officials have stated that they haven't yet locked up the name, but are indeed on track to ship the next version of the popular suite to the public by the second half of 2006.

Microsoft's naming convention has been pretty straightforward in the past, historically using even numbers for Mac versions and Odd numbers for Windows versions (there is one exception to this rule). Until now, the news that the next Office will be named "Microsoft Office 2007" is speculation, but it could in fact be good speculation.

Each application in the suite is also speculated to have an added title, so it looks more like "Microsoft Office Word" rather than just "Microsoft Word." The latest naming convention is bound to draw a few heads, especially those of administrators who have to constantly deal with ever-changing product names. It is almost as confusing as the time Microsoft decided to call their Windows 2003 Server the .NET Server.

Bink.nu seems to have the latest news on the name change, they're doing everything but putting a huge red "GUARANTEED" sticker on it. Although there are a few others that report the name change isn't for certain, Bink.nu has been right on the money with a lot of their predictions.