The final version of Office 12 is slated for release in mid 2006. Although Microsoft is yet to confirm what the final version of Office 12 will include, the broad areas that have been the focus of change are productivity, handling of business information, managing of documents, and enhanced user friendliness.

1. All programs like Word, Excel, and Power Point have a new look. The new user interface has a ribbon of frequently used commands and operations which will enhance usability instead of drop down menus.

2. The server based capabilities include document rights and work flow management.

3. In the case of the revamped Excel, it will support SQL Server 2005, and have much awaited features like greater spreadsheet capacity, tools for sorting and filtering, as well as extensive data visualization capabilities. The user will be able to access, analyze, and share information securely and easily not just within the system but between databases and enterprise applications.

4. The new system will support sharing of workspaces and exchange of information across corporate boundaries. Incorporating P2P capabilities, the system it all set to take a giant leap forward.

5. One aspect under consideration is “out-of –the-box secure enterprise instant messaging.”

6. Deeper incorporation of XML will make the system a development platform. Developers will be able to create software that interoperates with the system without hitches.

7. Specially designed Contextual Command Tabs. These will only appear when a user is all set to modify a document or Excel sheet. Just clicking on the page will call up the Command Tab with relevant tools for making changes.

8. Galleries is an innovation that is promoted as the ‘heart’ of the redesigned applications. In this the user will be able to see how his document will shape up. This will simplify the process of creating professionally layed out documents.

9. A system known as Live Preview is a brand new technology that will enable the user to view in a gallery the editing or changed formatting executed on a document.

10. Faster document authoring will be possible with incorporation of custom built layouts and slide libraries. Through SharePoint the user will also be able to store their personal slides and layouts in this function. The system is designed so that it can be accessed offline.

11. Rapid email and document searching will become feasible through the Fast Search technology in Vista (Longhorn).

12. Using new innovations in integrated technologies the system will support multiparty audio, video, as well as data collaboration.

The system is designed to run on Windows XP Service Pack 2, or Longhorn client, or updated versions of windows with at least an SQL server 2000. Office 12 will support x64 platforms but it is not certain whether the support will be shipped with Office 12 or separately.

The very purpose of Office 12 according to Microsoft is to make life easy for users with better presentation, organization, and capabilities.

Paul Wilson is a freelance writer for http://www.1888SoftwareDownloads.com, the premier website to find Free Software Downloads including free anti-virus software, free spyware detection software, free toolbars, free chat software and more. He also freelances for http://www.1888FreeOnlineGames.com

The objective for Zandi Digital is to make available clever programs to end-users that want and need something more diverse. Bluebird is the current application being developed by Zandi Digital. Bluebird will have the ability to compress multimedia(image, audio, or video) and text into one single file and later opened for reading or editing with Bluebird on Microsoft Windows® operating systems. A illustration is at http://www.videonotepad.net

The ongoing design of the Bluebird file format has given insight and future perspective on what can be achieved with xml. Different approaches to features not purposed during the pre-stage of development have welcomed the magic of true interactive documentation. For example. Oil rig workers need to learn about a new seal design for a pump that needs upgrading. A flat 2D drawing and engineer scribble is enough to cause panic on where to start. With Bluebird, any animated or 3D static rendered model saved in any of the supported movie formats can be compressed with any rich or plain type document. Then this training document can be edited to provide an interactive experience. Interactive experience pertaining to underlying script text control, script media control, speak text, network integration, link focusing, doc switching, and other editing capabilities not seen yet for interactive docs.

For the documentation beginners and experts out there this will be a change of angle on how they go about illustrating their presentations and tutorials. What started as simple program has now become complex, demands detail, and focus on the beauty of electronic education it can simplify. The release of this application is still not known and the design revolves around existing file format support that are common to windows® users. The main focus is to point out specific design related issues that are open and gladly welcomed to any other company or current reader wishing to support and push the next generation of integrated file formats.

Regards,
Cecil T.
http://www.videonotepad.net
bluebird@videonotepad.net

Self-Taught Thinker