RSSMicrosoft Details a Few Office 12 Plans
By Nate Mook | Published October 24, 2005, 6:08 PM
Microsoft on Monday talked up a few features of its next-generation Office release, due next year, which revolve around the concept of "business intelligence." A major focus of Office 12 will be on improving the way users access data in existing applications, thereby making business intelligence (BI) more pervasive.
At the core of this strategy lie changes to SharePoint, Microsoft's intranet and collaboration solution for businesses. Office 12 will tie together SQL Server Reporting Services into SharePoint, as well as offer Web-based support for Excel spreadsheets.
For example, SharePoint users can take the spreadsheet and SQL Server data from different sources to create a customized "dashboard" with charts, which will enable a company to better analyze business performance. Client side Excel spreadsheets can also be connected with SQL and utilize improved filtering and sorting.
In the interim, Microsoft is releasing a new server application designed to help business "score" their performance. Business Scorecard Manager 2005 will ship next month after the launch of SQL Server 2005 and the next Visual Studio on November 7.
Business Scorecard Manager will enable a company to track an employee's performance milestones against project goals within a collaborative environment. But the software won't come cheap: retail pricing is set at $5,000 USD, plus $175 per user.
"Until now, BI software has been too complex, costly and disconnected from the software tools people use every day to do their jobs," said Microsoft Business Division president Jeff Raikes in a statement.
In response, Microsoft says it is making big investments "in Microsoft Office, from significant extensions in existing products such as Office Excel and SharePoint Products and Technologies, to new server investments such as the Office Business Scorecard Manager."
Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox says the moves make sense, but are nothing to write home about.
"As of yet, I see nothing groundbreaking about Microsoft BI plans, but more extension of existing Office capabilities," Wilcox said. "The extension is a natural result of Microsoft's increased cross-integration of features among products like Office, SharePoint Portal Server and SQL Server."
I think ill keep my 175 dollars in my wallet on this one. Im finding That Open Office meets all my present needs.
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|of corse its advanced i remember learning about microsoft office and its advanced features when I heard about them i was really impressed at what the software can do. heck i guess its those features you kids call "bloat" geez you sound like a bunch of 12 year olds trying to force the software you like on people
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|I'm all for new and improved versions of software and tools that make the business of business easier. I'm looking forward to Office 12, I'm really anxious to try out the new GUI.
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|The only improvement I can see right now is the cost of the software. Sure, when you create that many servers, than you have to connect then. My question is how well this software works at Microsoft? Does it prevent them from flying chairs?
Actually, I like Word. I hope they'll make it better.
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|the home user... has absolutely no need for the majority of the features in office. I am a student and I used to use ms office everday to write essays and do projects and whatnot. I dont need half that bloat... I now use openoffice which also has a lot of useless memory wasters but it has everything I need and it doesnt cost $300+
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|agreed, though the usefullness of features vari upon the individual or business, it is better to have it bloated with features than to be lacking, wouldn't you say?
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|You haven't seen Office 12 in action, have you? And what exactly do you consider "bloat" — the features you don't use, or those you don't even know about?
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|Just because MS Office is feature-rich doesn't mean it's bloated. You may use only 40% of the feature, yet someone else may use a whole 90%.
OpenOffice simply has less features, so don't call it less bloated, it's simply not up to par with MS Office (although it's getting closer).
Once MS Office 12 is out, OpenOffice is kicked back into the stone-age.
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|I don't think OFFICE was ever intended for the HOME. OFFICE, get it?
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|"it's simply not up to par with MS Office (although it's getting closer"
Do you mean for ALL users, or just those that need 90% of Office's features?
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|I am pretty sure (by his comments) that he means the ones he doesn't know exist because he can't figure out how to use the 10% that he does know exist.
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|A collective yawn...
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|"it is better to have it bloated with features than to be lacking, wouldn't you say?"
O, I'm not so sure about that. A product can be so full of features, it requires a huge manual to understand where to even start. That's why I like the concept of being able to switch between standard and advanced mode, it addresses different types of users.
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|One of the UI designers of Office 12 talks about why they didn't do that here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/je.../2005/10/24/484131.aspx
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