The next version of Microsoft Office...
This document contains information about the next version of Microsoft Office. It was originally called Office 11, but it will be named Office 2003. Information is added as it becomes known (or as it is speculated). Keep in mind that there are no guarantees that the information is accurate. Things change -- especially when Microsoft is involved.
Important Note
I am a beta tester for Office 2003, and I have signed a Nondisclosure Agreement (NDA). Consequently, I am not able to share my actual knowledge of this product. Therefore, this document contains only publicly-available information. I will post a complete Excel 2003 review as soon as I receive official notice that my NDA has ended. -John Walkenbach
I decided to stop updating this section.
Frankly, Excel 2003 is a major disappointment.
July 1, 2003
I have the updated beta.
June 18, 2003
Still waiting for the updated beta...
April 24, 2003
From ZDNet: Microsoft hits delay on Office 2003
Microsoft on Thursday confirmed that it is preparing the unexpected Office beta release for debut in June. A company representative said the release is intended to give customers a chance to try out changes made to the software as a result of testing. The release will not be a completely new test version. Instead, Microsoft said it will issue a "refresh" to the existing second beta test release.
Analysts interpret the new test release to mean that the product, developed under the code name Office 11, might not ship until October or November.
April 11, 2003
From CNET: Microsoft Limits XML in Office 2003
April 7, 2003
Office 2003: Which to Choose (by David Coursey)
March 18, 2003
The Yankee Group discusses Microsoft's new strategy for Office 2003. They list Microsoft's challenges as:
- Cost: Microsoft is holding the line on pricing for many of its products. But many companies still lack the necessary funds for a migration.
- Licensing: Customers are still wary of the confusing and costly terms and conditions of Microsoft Licensing 6.0. Many of them are unprepared to negotiate. Microsoft will have to work hard to overcome the bad publicity surrounding 6.0.
- Marketing: This was once Microsoft’s major strength—but too much hyperbole has created skepticism.
- Potential bugs: This is always a big question mark with a 1.0 release. Office 11 is no exception.
March 11, 2003
PC Magazine published a preview of Office 2003.
Anyone who uses only Word and Excel may not want to bother with the upgrade, due in the middle of the year. But Office 2003 looks to have enticements for a range of potential users.
March 5, 2003
WinInfo is reporting that the upcoming version of Microsoft Office will be known as "Microsoft Office System."
March 1, 2003
More screen shots of Office 2003, from ActiveWin.
February 21, 2003
Neowin.net posted screen shots of the Office 2003 Beta 2.
Computer World reports that Office 2003 will feature Information Rights Management features
February 20, 2003
According to this InfoWorld article, the next version of MS Office will be known as Microsoft Office 2003.
February 13, 2003
ZDNET: Microsoft gears up new Office 11 beta
Microsoft is expected to release next month a second test version of a crucial upgrade to its Office desktop application software. Office 11 Beta 2 will be geared more toward enterprise customers, said Microsoft executives.
The new Office 11 Beta 2 is expected to include two new Office products, OneNote, a new note-taking application, and InfoPath, a tool for building and sharing Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based forms.
Note: InfoPath was formerly known as XDocs
January 31, 2003
BetaNews reports that Office 11 Beta 2 will be available in February ("anytime after February 10").
Microsoft began accepting nominations for the second Office 11 beta last November. Beta 2 will be the last full beta phase before Microsoft releases Office 11 mid-year. As with Office XP in 2001, Microsoft will likely issue at least two release candidates before Office 11 goes gold.
January 15, 2003
According to Woody's Office Watch, the Office 11 Beta is available to anyone:
If you order Exchange Server 2003 Beta 2, per [this link], you'll get a free copy of Office 11 Beta 1. Far as I'm concerned, you can throw away Exchange Server and keep the Office 11 - until it crashes on you, anyway. I haven't seen the package yet, but I don't doubt for a second that MS has decided to hand out copies of Office 11 Beta 1 like popcorn. The beta is well worth seeing, if only for the new three-column Outlook layout.
January 13, 2003
Andy McCue at vnunet.com: Users See Office 11 as Just a Bug Fix.
Most will not be interested in its advanced features, according to analysts, but will value the upgrade as it will correct existing problems, such as Outlook freezing when there is a network problem. That was the verdict following a preview and demonstration of Office 11 last week which trumpeted the product's improved collaboration features.
January 4, 2003
Tom Yager, of InfoWorld, discusses Office 11: Open For Business
December 19, 2002
Slashdot item: Is the New Microsoft Office Really Open?
December 17, 2002
At the xmlhack.com site, Eric van der Vlist writes Microsoft Office Embraces XML
December 16, 2002
CNET's Joe Wilson writes How open is the new Office? Excerpt:
Microsoft executives acknowledged that the company's XML support in Office is governed by a proprietary schema and that XML documents created by Office 11 applications may not be readable in a competing product. "That all depends on how (competitors) run their software," said Simon Marks, a lead product manager for Office. "If someone creates a schema that is important to their industry, we will support them," he said.
December 14, 2002
This article at CRN (Microsoft Drives DRM) discusses Digital Rights Management (DRM) as it relates to upcoming versions of Microsoft Office:
...it appears that the form DRM deliverables will take is in flux. One Microsoft insider said Office 11 was originally slated to field fairly full DRM capabilities but those plans were scaled back along with the .Net My Services game plan.
While Office 11 might offer some DRM capabilities, full-strength DRM won't surface until Office 12, slated to ship in the Longhorn time frame, sources said. Longhorn, now a client-only update for Windows XP, is expected to ship in 2004 or 2005. Office 11, with better XML support, is due next year.
A DRM-enabled version of Office would offer "more granular permissions ... you'll be able to pick a portion of a Word document and make it read-only so no one can screw with it," said a source close to Microsoft.
December 11, 2002
Paul Thurrott's Microsoft Office 11 Preview. He has this to say about Excel:
Microsoft Excel 11 appears to have been updated even less than Word. Again, we have the XML enhancements. Improved smart tags can now be associated with actions in specific worksheet cells. Microsoft's example involves a Stock Quote smart tag: Perhaps you associate this smart tag with a range of cells that include stock symbols. When you select those cells and click the smart tag, the cells are updated with the current stock prices. This basic functionality was actually available in Excel 2002; this difference with this release is that you can limit the smart tag links to specific cells.
December 9, 2002
Microsoft posted What's New for Office 11 Developers? at he MSDN site.
December 8, 2002
Microsoft announced a new set of tools that will allow programmers to use the company's Visual Studio .Net to build customized solutions around Office 11 Word and Excel documents (Microsoft press release).
With Visual Studio Tools for Office, developers can now create applications written in Visual Basic .Net and Visual C# .Net that will be able to run in the Office 11 versions of Word and Excel. The merger of the tools and programming model built into Office 11 is intended to make it easier to mix and match tools and provide a higher level of security.
December 5, 2002
From PC World: Microsoft's Next Office: More Than Meets the Eye
...people who use Office primarily on their own for correspondence and spreadsheets probably won't find the new version a must-have upgrade: Forrester's Gillett says that XML won't really matter to the masses until at least 2004, and the Outlook changes aren't vital. But the technology that lies beneath them may eventually make Office 11 worth the investment for everyone.
November 29, 2002
P.J. Connolly previews Office 11 for InfoWorld:
...one or two of the new features do justify an upgrade for a small number of users.
November 20, 2002
Bill Gates revealed a bit about Office 11 at his keynote speech at Comdex. I particular, he talked about Xdocs and OneNote:
We have a major release of Office coming out next summer. And in that release for the first time in a long time we'll have some new applications that we feel will be used by the majority of all office workers. We've talked over the last few months about one called Xdocs. This is the first application to connect knowledge workers with XML information in back end systems. So that the information retains all of its richness and structure, and yet you can take a portable machine and have very rich viewing, and editing, and organizing of those documents. You can connect that up to a work flow application using SharePoint, so people are notified about what things have been handled or not handled around the XML data. Basically, the flow of information between the desktop and the back end applications is revolutionized by using XML and this new software application.
Another new application in the Office family is being discussed tonight for the very first time, and this is called Microsoft OneNote. The idea is that it hasn't been that easy in a very free form way, with lots of rich navigation, outlining type capabilities, to really organize your thoughts. There's been no member of the Office family that's aimed in that direction. This is partly about note taking, because that's part of the concept, but the concept is very broad: it's ink, it's text, it's a rich set of tools that are very, very free form. This is one that I'm sure the easiest way to understand why we're so excited about it is to see it in action. So I'd like to ask Bobby Moore from the Office group who has worked on OneNote to come and show us what's the concept here, and why it's a big deal.
November 18, 2002
InfoWorld's Jon Udell interviews Microsoft's Jean Paoli, who talks about the XML features in Office 11.
November 11, 2002
Extreme Tech posted a preview by Jim Lynch. Here's what he had to say about Excel:
Excel has had changes made to its statistical analysis functions. Excel also has an XML Structure task pane built into it. You can also associate smart tag actions with cells and Excel comes with support for Tablet Pcs. As with Access, you can export data to lists in Microsoft's SharePoint Services.
November 6, 2002
An Office 11 preview by Edward Mendelson, Office 11 Beta 1—Major Advances for Developers, Minor Improvements for Users, appears in eWeek. A few quote:
- ...the newest Office will be an optional—not an obligatory—upgrade.
- Office 11's new non-XML features are useful enough but not worth a costly upgrade. New legibility features improve the appearance of text throughout the suite. A new Reading view in Word displays text in a print-like typeface that is more legible than the normal screen fonts.
- Excel adds improved statistical functions, reducing the need for third-party add-ins.
- As always, Microsoft claims increased stability and reliability for the new version—and inadvertently reminds users that the version they bought last time wasn't as stable and reliable as it should have been.
November 5, 2002
BetaNews.com reports that Office 11 Beta 2 is set to begin in Spring, 2003.
Office 11 Beta 2 will be larger than the first beta, and Redmond is currently accepting nominations from those interested testing the next-generation Office suite.
The article contains a link to a page to sign-up for Beta 2.
November 4, 2002
Writing for eWeek, Jason Brooks provides some new information about Office 11 in Next-Generation Office Shows Promise. A few quotes:
- Office 11 promises to be the most Internet-connected Office release to date, and the bulk of the new and freshened functionality depends on Microsoft's SharePoint Team Services
- Unless sites running Office XP expect to make use of Office 11's new XML and Internet collaboration features, they can probably wait for a future upgrade.
- ...the task pane, introduced in Office XP as a way to make program functions more "discoverable," accepts in Office 11 a fuller role; it appears throughout the suite to place tools, such as the thesaurus, closer at hand, whether one is working in Word, Excel or PowerPoint.
- We were disappointed, however, to find little new in Outlook for combatting spam, which stands out as one of the greatest productivity challenges for networked users today.
Peter Coffee, also writing for eWeek, shares his thoughts in Microsoft Office 11: Ready, Aim ... Fizzle?
October 29, 2002
eWeek reports that Office 11 will require Windows 2000 (with SP3) or Windows XP. Earlier versions of Windows will not be supported. According to the report:
This means that the more than 50 percent of the Redmond, Wash., software company's installed customer base, who still run Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows Millennium, will not be able to upgrade to Office 11 when it is released next year without first upgrading to at least Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3 installed
October 24, 2002
Tim Bray, a co-inventor of XML, offers a few words about Office 11 in an XML Journal article. He says:
The XML-enabling of Office was obviously a major investment and is a major achievement... Office 11 is going to be a huge step forward for management, independent software developers, and Microsoft.
This article is also discussed at Slashdot.
October 22, 2002
InfoWorld reports that beta testing begins today:
MICROSOFT WILL DELIVER to selected beta testers on Tuesday an early version of its long-awaited Office 11 desktop suite that will feature versions of Word, Excel, and Access that fully support XML.
A similar story appears in eWeek, and many other publications. They are all based on Microsoft's official press release.
October 17, 2002
From SlipStick Systems. More information about Outlook 11, including a screen shot.
October 14, 2002
PC World published: Microsoft Gives Peek at Outlook 11
October 9, 2002
Microsoft posted the XDocs Home Page. A quote:
"XDocs," a code name for the newest member of the Microsoft Office family, streamlines the process of gathering information by enabling teams and organizations to easily create and work with rich, dynamic forms.
Microsoft also issued a press release.
Although XDocs is a member of the Office family, it is not clear whether it will be included with Office 11.
CNET reports that XDocs may have a significant impact on Adobe's efforts in the electronic forms business.
October 8, 2002
Woody Leonard's Office Watch newsletter discusses Office 11, in particular the XDocs connection. He points out that XDocs appears to be related to a product called NetDocs, which was never released. According to Woody:
Here's what I do know about XDocs, for sure. It has a long and tortured history. It started out as a product called NetDocs, which Microsoft canned in the spring of 2001. The Office people absorbed the still-twitching remnants of NetDocs, killed most of the product, scattered a few pieces to various corners of Microsoft for further development, and kept the XML editor. As time went by, more and more features that originated in NetDocs have been cut.
September 30, 2002
An editorial by eWeek's Mary Jo Foley, "Office 11 for the Masses?" A quote:
Microsoft wants Office to become the casual XML developer's work space; the launch pad for .Net services, such as the forthcoming Microsoft research notification service; and the best place for reading online information. As if that weren't enough, Microsoft also has designs on more tightly tying Office to the company's myriad back-end enterprise servers.
September 18, 2002
SmallBusinessComputing.com publishes First Look: Microsoft's Office 11 Beta. They use the term "first look" very loosely.
September 5, 2002
BetaNews reports that Office 11 beta testers have been notified. According to the article, "Microsoft expects to have Office 11 on store shelves by mid-2003, previously forecasting a possible late-May release."
June 27, 2002
One of the earliest reports regarding Office 11 appears at PC World's web site. This article lists four areas in which Office will be upgraded:
- Outlook windows will be split vertically instead of horizontally
- Office will have better XML connectors
- Tighter integration with Sharepoint
- Ability to to place unstructured data, such as that from a drawing table, directly into a structured document, such as a Microsoft Word or text file.
May 21-23, 2002
Microsoft published transcript of online TechNet Chats called The Future of Productivity and The Future of Office. Both provide some hints regarding Office 11. A few quotes:
- For the next major release of Office technology, we will have a significant focus on XML and the support of XML Web Services.
- Regarding the project code-named NetDocs, we incubated some very
important ideas, centered around XML technology, that will play an
important role in our Office tools story in the future.
Q: Which Microsoft workflow technology should developers understand today to get ready for the next Office platform?
A: STS, SPS, Office extensibility and specifically XML
- We will continue to advance how Office tools connect to data. But one of the big breakthroughs is foreshadowed by MS Data Analyzer.
- As you might predict, XLM will be one of the areas that we continue focusing on when moving forward with Office.
- ...there is no product that some folks refer to as 'Office.NET'. The entire Office team is, however, fully focused on designing and implementing the next version.
- Q: Will Excel ever (catch up with the DOS-based
spreadsheets of the 80's and) offer more than 256 columns?
A: Not in the next version. I hear you on this. There are some technical and implementation challenges here but it is something that we are working on.