By Ina Fried, 26 February 2009 12:51
NEWS
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has said users should not expect the next version of Office this year.
"From a strategy perspective, the next big innovation milestone is Office 14, our next Office release, which will not be this year," Ballmer told financial analysts on Tuesday. "There's a version of SharePoint. There's a version of Exchange. There's a new version of Office Live."
As it has been with Windows 7, Microsoft has been cagey about when to expect Office 14, though some thought it might come out this year. Windows 7 is still expected to come out later this year, in time to be on PCs sold for Christmas.
With the last update to Office, Office 2007, Microsoft made a lot of changes to the way Office looked, completely changing the user interface and adding the "ribbon" metaphor.
One of the big changes with Office 14 will be the fact that, in addition to the desktop versions, Microsoft will also be coming out with a set of "Office Web Applications" essentially slimmed-down versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote that can run via a web browser. And not just Internet Explorer. Firefox and Safari support will mean that Office, for the first time, will also run on Linux machines as well as Apple's iPhone.
Microsoft has started early testing of both Office 14 and its web-based parts but public testing is not expected until later this year.
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