Microsoft Office

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Microsoft Office is a suite of productivity programs created or purchased by Microsoft and developed for Microsoft Windows, and Apple Computer's Mac OS and Mac OS X operating systems. As well as the office applications, it includes associated servers and Web-based services. Recent versions of Office are now called the "Office system" rather than the "Office suite" to reflect the fact that they include servers as well.

Office made its first appearance in the early-1990s, and was initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications that were previously marketed and sold separately. The main selling point was that buying the bundle was substantially cheaper than buying each of the individual applications on their own. The first version of Office contained Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Additionally, a "Pro" version of Office included Microsoft Access and Schedule Plus. Over the years the Office applications have grown substantially closer together from a technical standpoint, sharing features such as a common spell checker, OLE data integration, and the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications scripting language. Microsoft also positions Office as a development platform for line-of-business software.

The current versions are Office 2003 for Windows, released November 13, 2003, and Office 2004 for Macintosh, released May 11, 2004. Office 2007, the next version for Windows, was announced on February 16, 2006 and is planned for release by the end of the year. It features a radically different user interface and a new XML-based primary file format.

As of 2006, Office is the most popular office suite on the Windows and Macintosh operating systems and considered to be the de facto standard for word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation documents. It competes with other commercial software Office suites from IBM and Corel, as well as free open-source alternatives, such as OpenOffice.org.

Common Office programs

These programs are included in all editions of Microsoft Office 2003, except Microsoft Office Basic Edition 2003. Microsoft Office Basic Edition includes Word, Excel and Outlook only.

Word

Microsoft Word is a word processor and is considered to be the main program of Office. It possesses a dominant market share in the word processor market. Its proprietary DOC format is considered a de facto standard, although its most recent version, Word 11.0/2003, also supports an XML-based format. Word is also available in some editions of Microsoft Works. It is available for the Windows and Macintosh platforms.

Excel

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program. Like Microsoft Word, it possesses a dominant market share. It was originally a competitor to the dominant Lotus 1-2-3, but it eventually outsold it and became the de facto standard. It is available for the Windows and Macintosh platforms.

Outlook

Microsoft Outlook, not to be confused with Outlook Express, is a personal information manager and e-mail communication software. The replacement for Microsoft Mail starting in the 1997 version of Office, it includes an e-mail client, calendar, task manager and address book. The Macintosh equivalent is Microsoft Entourage.

PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint is a popular presentation program for Windows and Macintosh. It is used to create slideshows, composed of text, graphics, movies and other objects, which can be displayed on-screen and navigated through by the presenter or printed out on transparencies or slides. Windows Mobile 2005 (Magneto) will have a version of this program. It possesses a dominant market share.

Publisher

Microsoft Publisher is software that can create newsletters, business cards, flyers, greeting cards or even postcards. It has built in templates to help users professionally design and make publications. Also, Publisher 2003 has support for commercial printing and large quantity ink jobs. Unlike its more popular brethren (save, perhaps, Outlook), Publisher has a negligible market share in a field dominated by Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress.

Other programs included in the Windows versions

• Microsoft Access – Database manager. For the 2003 version, included in Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003, and Microsoft Office Professional Enterprise Edition 2003.
• Microsoft InfoPath – Application that enables users to design rich XML-based forms. Included in Microsoft Office Professional, and Microsoft Office Enterprise Edition 2003.
• Microsoft FrontPage – Web design software (also requires its own server program). Offered only as a stand-alone program for the 2003 version (not part of the office suite). Now known as Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer in the 2007 suite.
• Microsoft Visio – Diagram software with many functions included.
• Microsoft Office Picture Manager – Basic photo management software (similar to a basic version of Google's Picasa or Adobe's Photoshop Elements).
• Microsoft Photo Editor – Photo-editing/raster-graphics software in older Office versions, and again in XP. It was temporarily supplemented by Microsoft PhotoDraw in Office 2000 Premium edition.
• Microsoft Project – Project-management software that allows users to keep track of events and other PM related items. Microsoft Project allows users to create network charts and Gantt charts as well.
• Microsoft Office OneNote – Note-taking software for use with tablet PCs or regular PCs.
• Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 – [link]
• Microsoft Office InterConnect – Business-relationship database available only in Japan. [link]
• Developer Tools – (included only with developer editions)

Other programs included in the Mac versions

• Microsoft Entourage – Personal information manager and communication software for Macintosh only (similar to Outlook).
• Virtual PC – Emulates a standard PC and its hardware. Included with Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2004.

Web services associated with Microsoft Office

• Microsoft Update – Web site.
• Microsoft Office Live – Web hosting services and online collaboration tools for small businesses.
• Microsoft Office Online – Web site. Included in all versions of Microsoft Office 2003.
• Microsoft Office Update – Web site. Patch detection and installation service for Office 2000, XP, and 2003. [link]

Older programs no longer included

• Microsoft Binder – Incorporates several documents into one file.

*Binder was a originally designed as a container system for storing related documents in a single file. The complexity of use, combined with Binder being "yet another application to learn", meant it received little usage. It was removed from releases after Office 2000 to save the effort of ongoing maintenance.

Microsoft Schedule Plus – Released with Office 95. It featured a Planner, to do list, and contact information. Its functions were incorporated into Microsoft Outlook.

Microsoft Mail – Mail client (in old versions of Office, later replaced by Microsoft Outlook).

Microsoft Outlook Express – Mail client (in Office 98 Macintosh Edition, later replaced by Microsoft Entourage).

Microsoft Vizact 2000 – A program that "activated" documents using HTML, adding effects such as animation. The main reason for its unpopularity was because many people had no idea what it did by looking at its box alone, and therefore did not buy it.

Microsoft PhotoDraw – A graphics program that was first released in 1998 and later repackaged as PhotoDraw 2000 v2 as part of the Office 2000 Premium Edition. The program was discontinued in 2001, reasons given by Microsoft were that their consumer graphics program Microsoft Picture It! offered richer capabilities.

Since 1997, Office has included Office Assistant, a system that uses animated characters to offer unrequested context-sensitive suggestions to users and access to relevant parts of the help system. Intended to make the software less intimidating to new users, it is typically disabled by experienced users. The Assistant is often dubbed "Clippy" or "Clippit," due to its default to a paperclip character, coded as CLIPPIT.ACS. The Assistant is the main use of Microsoft Agent technology. The Office Agent is now hidden by default in Windows versions since Office XP, following mixed public response, and will be removed entirely in Office 2007.

Also, beginning with Macintosh Office 4.2, the Macintosh and Windows versions of Office share the same file format. Consequently, any Macintosh with Office 4.2 or later can read documents created with Windows Office 4.2 or later, and vice-versa.

Office 11.0/2003 introduced a new, optional file format for the entire suite, built on XML technology. Office X for Mac is also built to handle this file format.

Other related companion servers

• Microsoft Office Live Communications Server - real time communications server
• Microsoft Office Project Server - project management server
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server collaboration server

Editions

The Windows version of Microsoft Office 11.0/2003 is available in six editions: (Please note that for the most part, pricing reflects installation on only a single computer.)

• Microsoft Office Student and Teacher Edition 11.0/2003 (MSRP New User Price $149 US)
• Microsoft Office Basic Edition 11.0/2003 (bundled with new computers only)
• Microsoft Office Standard Edition 11.0/2003 (MSRP New User Price $399 US; Upgrade Price $239 US)
• Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 11.0/2003 (MSRP New User Price $449 US; Upgrade Price $279 US)
• Microsoft Office Professional Edition 11.0/2003 (MSRP New User Price $499 US; Upgrade Price $329 US)
• Microsoft Office Professional Enterprise Edition 11.0/2003 (volume licensing only)

The Macintosh version, Microsoft Office for Mac 2004, is available in three editions. All include Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage. They are identical except for pricing and the inclusion of Virtual PC in the Professional Edition. Microsoft notes that Virtual PC is incompatible with Intel Macs and recommends that [Intel Mac users purchase the standard edition].

• Office for Mac 2004 Student and Teacher Edition (MSRP New User Price $149 US)
• Office for Mac 2004 Standard Edition (MSRP New User Price $399 US; Upgrade Price $239 US)
• Office for Mac 2004 Professional Edition (MSRP New User Price $499 US; Upgrade Price $329 US)

Pricing as of April 9, 2005 [link] [link]

Cross-platform use

Microsoft develops Office primarily for Windows and secondarily for Macintosh. However, most versions of the suite can also be run on Unix-like operating systems through the use of a compatibility layer such as CrossOver Office or WINE.

There were efforts in the mid 1990s to port Office to RISC processors such as NEC / MIPS and IBM / PowerPC, however one of the problems was that memory access was hampered by data structure alignment requirements. One programmer recalls that there was a bit to enable the O/S to automatically handle a non-aligned access, but since this bit was masked in with many other bits, it was difficult to keep other subsystems from resetting this bit. Difficulties in porting Office may have been a factor in discontinuing Windows NT on non-Intel platforms.

The older, simpler versions tend to run considerably better on WINE than newer ones. However, all versions are known to work to some extent.

Versions

Versions for Microsoft Windows OS

• Office 3.0 (CD-ROM version: Word 2.0c, Excel 4.0a, PowerPoint 3.0, Mail) - Released August 30, 1992 (repackaged as Office 92).
• Office 4.0 (Word 6.0, Excel 4.0, PowerPoint 3.0) - Released January 17, 1994.
• Office for NT 4.2 (Word 6.0 [32-bit, i386 and Alpha], Excel 5.0 [32-bit, i386 and Alpha], PowerPoint 4.0 [16-bit], "Microsoft Office Manager") - Released July 3, 1994.
• Office 4.3 (the last 16-bit version; Word 6.0, Excel 5.0, PowerPoint 4.0 and in the pro version, Access 2.0 - Released June 2, 1994.
• Office 7.0/'95 (Word '95, etc.) - Released August 30, 1995.
• Office 8.0/'97 (Word '97, etc.) - Released December 30, 1996 (was published on CD-ROM as well as on a set of 45 3½-inch floppy disks).
• Office 9.0/2000 (Word 2000, etc.) - Released January 27, 1999.
• Office 10.0/2002/XP (Word 2002, etc.) - Released May 31, 2001.
• Office 11.0/2003 (Word 2003, etc.) - Released November 17, 2003.
• Office 12.0/2007 - Due to be released simultaneously or nearly simultaneously with Windows Vista, Microsoft's next major consumer operating system.

There are variants of more recent versions such as Small Business Edition, Student and Teacher Edition, Professional Edition and Developer Edition with different collections of applications and pricing points.

Versions for Apple Macintosh OS

• Office 1 (Word 3, etc.) - Released 1990.
• Office 2 (Word 4, etc.) - Released 1992.
• Office 3 (Word 5, Excel 4, PowerPoint 3, etc.) - Released 1993.
• Office 4.2 (The last 68K version; Word 6.0, Excel 5, PowerPoint 4, etc.) - Released 1994.
• Office 4.2.1 (The first Power Mac-aware version; Word 6.0.1, Excel 5, etc.) - Released June 2, 1994.
• Office 98 (Word/Excel/PowerPoint 98(v8.0), etc.) - Released March 15, 1998.
• Office 2001 (Word 2001, etc.) - Released October 11, 2000.
• Office v.X (The first Mac OS X/Aqua edition; Word X, etc.) - Released November 19, 2001.
• Office 2004 (Word 2004, etc.) - Released May 11, 2004.

• Both Office v.X and 2004 Standard Edition run non-natively on Intel Macs through the Rosetta Emulation layer. Microsoft does not intend to update Office 2004 for Intel Macs, and has announced that the next version of Office for Mac will have universal binaries, capable of running natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs.

Add-ins

A major feature of applications in the Office suite is the ability for users and third party companies to write Office COM add-ins. Component Object Model (COM) add-ins are supplemental programs that extend the capabilities of an application by adding custom commands and specialized features that can accommodate specific tasks.

Trivia

For some reason, most versions of Microsoft Office (including 97 and later, and possibly 4.3) use their own widget set, and as a result do not exactly match the native operating system. This is more apparent in the 2002 or XP release of Microsoft Office where standard menus were replaced with a coloured flat looking, shadowed menu style. Similarly, Microsoft Office 2007 introduces a whole new widget system, dubbed "Ribbon."

The same widget used in Microsoft Office is also used in the Visual Studio product line, though the "Ribbon" system was not announced to be included in future versions of Visual Studio.

Whereas Windows uses "Service Packs", Office used to release "Service Releases". However, after Office 2000 Service Release 1, Office releases only Service Packs. Service Releases are not cumulative (i.e. it is necessary to install each release in turn) whereas Service Packs are. This means that any copy of the original Office 2000 ("RTM" or "Gold" in Microsoft documentation) requires Service Release 1 to be installed before a Service Pack can be installed.

Alternatives

There are also several alternative office suites available, including:

• OpenOffice.org, a free and open-source office suite for Windows, Linux, and Macintosh users. It fully supports the industry standard OpenDocument format, and includes partial compatibility with Microsoft Office's proprietary formats. However, it lacks some of Office's more advanced features, especially in the areas of scripting (VBA) and workplace collaboration (SharePoint).
• *NeoOffice, an open-source OpenOffice.org port for Mac OS X that integrates into its Aqua interface.
• *StarOffice, based on the OpenOffice code.
• Corel's WordPerfect Office.
• iWork, Apple's Mac-only office suite. Includes Pages, for word-processing, and Keynote, for presentations.
• KOffice, an open-source office suite which is part of the KDE Desktop Environment.
• GNOME Office, a loosely coupled group of open-source applications including Abiword and Gnumeric, which is targeted for the GNOME desktop environment.
• Lotus SmartSuite, provided by IBM contains a word-processing program called Word Pro, a spreadsheet program called Lotus 1-2-3, a presentation program called Lotus Freelance Graphics and a database program called Lotus Approach. Lotus Notes provides the email/PIM portion of the Lotus offering.
• SoftMaker Office, an office suite from Germany including a word processor, a spreadsheet, a database manager, and a programming tool.
• ThinkFree Office, a free, web-based office suite. Compatibility with Microsoft Office is debatable.
• Ability Office, is an office suite for Microsoft Windows published by Ability Plus Software. Compatibility with Microsoft Office is debatable.

See also

• List of office suites
• Comparison of office suites
• Open format
• Microsoft Dynamics

External links

• [Microsoft Office (for Windows) Official Website]
• [Microsoft Office 2004 (for Mac OS X) Official Website]
• [Microsoft Office X (for Mac OS X) Official Website]
• [Microsoft Office 2001 (for Mac OS 8-9) Home Page]
• [Microsoft Office Converters and Viewers] - Free programs for Windows by Microsoft which mainly enables one to view previously saved Microsoft Office documents.
• [Office Blog (in French)]
• [Microsoft Office 2003 Editions] - Quick Reference Matrix
• [Trace] - Freeware privacy utility that looks for server names, macros, email addresses, track changes and comments. It works on Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

 

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