RSSOffice 12 Beta 1 Released to Testers
By Nate Mook | Published November 16, 2005, 9:28 PM
10,000 Microsoft beta testers received a long-awaited e-mail Wednesday evening: Welcome to Office 12. Beta 1 of the next-generation Office suite has been released and is now available for download -- assuming Beta Place doesn't buckle under the mad rush for bits.
In a statement heralding the beta's arrival, Microsoft vice president Chris Capossela called Office 12 "the most significant release in more than 10 years" that comes only after "many years of research and development." But the devil is in the details.
Beta 1 has been broken down into various separate components. Like its predecessors, Office 12 Professional includes Word, Excel, Access, InfoPath, PowerPoint, Publisher and Outlook.
Testers will get a taste of the new user interface Microsoft has created, which replaces the standard toolbars with "ribbons" that offer features specific for the current task. Outlook 12 has a few new features of its own, including a "To Do" bar for viewing mail, tasks and appointments in a single pane, and built-in RSS reader.
Despite the changes, Microsoft has kept its applications trim. The Office 12 Professional CD weighs in at just over 400MB. FrontPage 12, which has been re-focused for SharePoint development as Expression Studio becomes Microsoft's consumer HTML tool, stands on its own at 200MB.
Old Office hats like Microsoft Project, OneNote, Visio Pro, and Business Contact Manager are also available individually, ranging from 100MB to 200MB.
The newcomer to Office 12 is Groove's Virtual Office suite, which Microsoft acquired earlier this year. Aside from its main 190MB download, Groove has three add-ons: Groove Management Services, Groove Data Bridge and Groove Relay Server.
Beta testers will also get a taste of the new server-based offerings. Microsoft has packaged Office 12 Server into a single 408MB download, which contains Project Server and the new SharePoint Portal Servers. These servers will offer hosted Excel and InfoPath capabilities.
Also available on its own, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 weighs in at just over 160MB. Microsoft warns there will be no upgrade path from Beta 1 for the Office 12 Server products.
Aside from the new server functionality and task-oriented user interface, the big change coming to Office 12 is the new Open XML file format. Although not a published standard like OpenDocument, Microsoft Office Open XML packages editable XML files within a ZIP archive and will be licensed royalty-free.
Microsoft has provided testers a compatibility pack to add support for Open XML to Office 2003. However, the company says that the format will likely change during the Office 12 beta, and any files created in Beta 1 "may not be compatible with the new file formats in later releases."
Office 12 system requirements are also currently up in the air. But Microsoft is aiming to support all users currently running Office 2000 and beyond. "Our goal is that you will not need to upgrade your hardware (you may need to upgrade to a supported operating system)," the company says, adding that no performance optimization has been done for Beta 1.
With the first milestone complete, Microsoft is already looking down the road. Office 12 Beta 2 is scheduled for spring 2006, and will be open to a much larger number of testers. A final release of Office 12, which has not officially been named, is expected for late 2006 -- around the time Windows Vista hits store shelves.
i want tries office 12
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Is the "separate" Groove 4 beta available for download?
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I need a instalation key gor Office 12, does anyone have one ?
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Simply fantastic. This is one of the most refreshing UI's I have seen in years. I love it!
EDIT: I find it funny to see how all other office suites try to copy the MS Office UI and then see microsoft change the UI completely.
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OMG, I love the new layout for MS Office 12. This is going to be great.
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Could you please send me a copy of the office 12 beta. If not, could you direct another techie to where I could get it?
my email is robertegreen1@hotmail.com
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I am in the Beta Testers program but I have not received the Office 12 Beta. Can anyone spare a copy of their beta of this fascinating suite.
my email is robertegreen1@hotmail.com
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I like to test the nem version,but ,how can i have it ? please send it to me
My regards
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Dude this isn't a damn charity, go find it yourself. There are plenty of threads with clues on how to find it. If you still can't find, you probably wouldn't be smart enough to use it in the first place.
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Uh-oh....I waited too long and they completely screwed up the download servers. I can't believe it's not just a simple ftp download. Software ompanies really need to learn occam's razor.
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Umm.. I don't like it.
Excel has like some weird page setup, so you would see EXACTLY how it would appear on a page, and I can't figure out how to turn it off.. Its like in print preview mode all the time, its really distracting. If you scroll over to Column H for instance, it may "jump" to the next page, so the columns are not contiguous.. I hope this isn't the final way it will look, cause that will suck.
There doesn't appear to be anything new..I didn't see any standout feature, other than support for RSS, which is now everywhere.. I have a browser and a separate RSS reader that I already have configured, and I don't think I want to go through it again in Office.
The visual affects distract, because everything is a huge toolbar, its not the same as the previous version.. I am still testing, haven't given up on it, but its going to take some getting used to.
The new version is 2005, so when you save you get the option to save as 2005 or Windows XP/2000/2003 inferring that the file format is now different, that again would suck, since I like the idea of trading files back and fourth and don't have to worry about who has which version, everyone can open it..
I guess it had to change sometime..
And, umm.. For those of you that don't have it.. I am not telling you where you can get it, but I will say one thing:
NEWSGROUPS. That's all I am saying :)
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Im still happy with Office XP... hopefully most people won't be inconsiderate enough to save in only 2005 format, if so that's their problem as i see it. Im not shelling out a bundle for something when the one i have works great.
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Excel-- You do know that you can switch to classic view under the VIEW menu, right?
So the XML doc formats, support for PDF's, and the interface didn't strike you as new, or are you just blind?
I'm glad to hear you admit that it's taking some getting used to, though... everything that is as drastically different as Office 12 is needs an adjustment period. More things will popout at you as you use it more.
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Office XP wasn't really anything special.
95 was pretty significant with the whole 32-bit update, 97 ticked everyone off with compatibility nightmares and macro viruses, 2000 was fantasic-- lot of features, stable, and oh yeah-- started to reduce the problems with macros. XP was just 2000 with the support for XP styles and compatibility along with some security/performance enhancements.
2003 has been fantastic too. Outlook 2003 alone is worth the upgrade cost, but the rest of the applications just work better too, so it's just all around great.
I'm looking forward to 12... it really did need the overhaul in the interface. I'm definitely an "advanced" user by most standards, because I regularly use 30-40% of the features and I actually know about a lot more than that. When Microsoft realizes that most people use significantly less (10% at most usually) that's a bad thing, and this interface seems to go a long way to help that.
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-Excel-- You do know that you can switch to classic view under the VIEW menu, right?-
Nope, but thanks for the advice..
XML isn't new either, it was there in 2003, so I am not blind. PDF's is new, but who uses PDF? The intereface sucks that's my point. I will try the classic view.
You still haven't pinpointed anything as "revolutionary" features.. I am not convinced I need this version. Its all "fluff" to me.
Its early BETA, but so far, I am not impressed.
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Aww man, I go through all the trouble of doing trivial beta's, I apply for the Office 12, I actually get in, they sned the e-mail........and the server goes down. This sux, lol
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Patience Daniel-san.... try, try again... and while you wait, wax on... wax off.
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lol, thats a great movie, while I wait, maybe Ill watch it.
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Is there any way to get the download without getting the email? And how did these ten thousand lucky people get the email? Is there a sign-up or were they just REALLY lucky? I use PowerPoint every week and would kill to have the new beta...
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Unless someone posts the files somewhere thats unauthorized (i.e. torrent sites etc) the only way I know of to get the program is through the beta test. Also, for the testers, you get an email with the key codes for the product. Like all Microsoft betas, you need to apply for them. The site is www.beta.microsoft.com. Due to the high volume of testers downloading, the site may not be available or be very slow.
This site http://www.thehotfix.net/beta.htm has a list of many of the current Microsoft betas and info on accessing the site to apply.
Oh yea....I am at 60% for the Office download and the speed has ranged from 350 to the current 85 KB/sec.
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what is taking so long for the leak?!! gggrrr i'm using the "pre release" build and it's ok but i want the new version :-)
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Am I the only Betanews poster who's not an MS beta tester? Oh well. Looks like I'm waiting until the spring...
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I am not an official test either, nor am I trusting a 3rd party leaked build... that just has nightmare written all over it.
I'm waiting for them to start launching public CTP's. I'm just highly impressed by the demos and screen shots I've seen, as well as the reports made by both MS and other news sources.
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Currently Downloading the beta! Kinda looking forward to the new look!
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Can anyone tell me if Groove 4.0 beta is part of the Office 12 beta download?
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Groove is separate, Frontpage is Separate, as is Project, and Visio.
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I got the email, but I cant seem to go to beta.microsoft.com.
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You're not alone.
Must be suffering from bandwidth constraints...
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But Microsoft.com appears to still be working, mabey they have it setup so only a certain amount of people can vist the site at a time since they don't want all 10, 000 people downloading it at once.
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At the moment the load is too high for the site to handle. Even if you can get on, downloads will be slow. You may want to wait until morning.
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I got into the site and got Office downloaded, the speed was ok, about 100 KB/s, so I would say go ahead and try it now.
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Ya I got to the site, 100kbs.
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Any chance you can send me the install :-D?
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No...
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Microsoft.com is on different servers than beta.microsoft.com
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Be nice, come on...
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If you aren't approved for it, buzz off. If you're so desperate for it, find a leaked build and pray your system isn't compromised from any hacked versions.
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Which includes you
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