The Icons of Office 2007
After awhile you most likely just look through your list of applications for an icon vs. the name. So get ready to learn some new sights. Here are new application icons of Office 2007.
– Troy @ TLC
Download Office 2007 today (or pay)
In an interesting move, Microsoft will begin charging a $1.50 to download Beta 2 of Office 2007.
“We are thrilled with the incredible excitement around the upcoming 2007 Microsoft Office system as evident by more than 3 million people using the beta 2 since its release two months ago. Having exceeded our beta 2 participation goals by 500%, we have had to make the business decision to implement a cost recovery measure for future downloads of beta 2 beginning 2 August, 2006.” (source: The Register.com)
New Ribbon UI Movie
Microsoft’s Jensen Harris recently posted this movie showing how the new Ribbon can be minimized and still used. While not a big fan when I first viewed the ribbon in the pre-beta, there has been A LOT of good work going on at Microsoft and my expectations are looking better! Check this 38 second movie here (or high-bandwidth version here).
-Troy @ TLC
Online Demo of PowerPoint 2007
If you have not installed the Office 2007 Beta and want to see what is really new about the next version of PowerPoint, check out this online movie from Microsoft that does a good job a showing many of the new interface’s features. Click here to view.
-Troy @ TLC
The PowerPoint & OfficeArt Team Blog
I just received an email from one of the developers at Microsoft about their Office 2007 blog. Because Office 2007 is now in public beta they are able to talk about more of the nifty stuff it has. They are planning 3+ posts per week specific to PowerPoint 2007 and the new Office Art capabilities, which should prove to be good stuff to read. Visit them at https://blogs.msdn.com/powerpoint.
– Troy @ TLC
OneSheet on Office 2007 UI
If you are looking forward to Office 2007, or at least curious, here is a quick read that describes what the developers at Microsoft view as the essentials to the new UI.
Click here to download the 1 page PDF.
-Troy @ TLC
5,000 Patents and going strong!
So how big is Microsoft? Well on Tuesday Microsoft was issued their 5,000th patent! Sounds like a lot, but I did a quick search for IBM’s patents to put things in perspective. “In 2005, IBM received 2,974 U.S. patents… this is the thirteenth consecutive year that IBM has received more US patents than any other company in the world.”
But it does make Microsoft “among the top five technology companies in terms of patent filings.” That’s a lot of paper work – and I bet it is not doing much for the ‘paperless office…’ Here is a good write-up on the Microsoft milestone.
Troy @ TLC
MS Tutorial on Header/Footer’s
Microsoft has some great content on their website. Here is a good example that was recently added, a tutorial on using header and footers. https://office.microsoft.com/training/training.aspx?AssetID=RC011217001033
Troy @ TLC
It’s official – “Office 2007”
What has been referred to as “Office 12,” the next version of Office has been officially named. And the new name is: “Office 2007“.
ZDNet has a good article providing the details on what bundles will be, some of the new options and of course the official name. Check it all out here.
Troy @ TLC
Jensen Harris on Office 12 User Interface (Ribbon)
I have been fortunate to have behind-the-scenes interaction with Microsoft’s PowerPoint development team. And I am admitting that the new “Ribbon” toolbar has some incredible ideas, innovation and research. But I also have a few reservations, so I am anxious to see what the final version ends up with customization capabilities (the developers at MS are revising it nearly daily).
If you are curious about the new ribbon and want some behind-the-scenes info and sneak peaks, visit Microsoft’s Jensen Harris’ Blog. I have been checking it for the past several weeks and some of the items I personally had concerns about have been covered (and resolved!). Check it out here.
Troy @ TLC