Technical Beta of Office 12 released

Microsoft has announced the release of the technical beta of its productivity suite, Office 12. 10,000 customers and partners will preview the most important release of Office in more than a decade. The press release states :

Microsoft Office “12” is designed to help improve information workers’ productivity through a new results-oriented user interface, powerful graphics and diagramming engines, and advanced task and information management tools. In addition, through broader investments in enhancing business intelligence, collaboration and enterprise content management capabilities within Office “12,” there are new solutions to help customers control content, streamline business processes, collaborate across organizational boundaries and make more-informed decisions.

The new user interface (UI) is designed to guide users through the tangled undergrowth of legacy code and thousands of functions, many of which are unused by most customers. Each application in the suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc) will have its own intuitive navigation system. In some cases the taskbar and familiar buttons have been replaced by a “Ribbon” system.

Some users have feared that a lengthy training program will be necessary to master the changes. Microsoft has reassured customers that the timescale is less than many have imagined.

[Source: Microsoft]