Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office is an office suite of desktop applications, servers and services for Microsoft windows and OSX operating systems. It was first announced by Bill Gates of Microsoft on 1 August 1988 at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of Office contained Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint. Over the years, Office applications have grown substantially closer with shared features such as a common spell checker, OLE data integration and Visual Basic for Applications scripting language. Microsoft also positions Office as a development platform for line-of-business software under the Office Business Applications brand.

On 10 July 2012, Softpedia reported that Office is used by over a billion people worldwide.

The current versions are Office 2013 for Windows, released on 11 October 2012;and Office 2011 for OS X, released 26 October 2010. On 24 October 2012, the RTM final code of Office 2013 Professional Plus was released to TechNet and MSDN subscribers for download.On 15 November 2012, the 60-day trial version of Office 2013 Professional Plus was released for download.

A touch optimised version of Microsoft Office is available pre-installed on Windows RT tablets. A mobile version of Office, Office Mobile, is available for free on Windows Phone, iOS (with separate versions for both iPhones and iPads), and Android. A web-based version of Office called Office Online, (formerly Office Web Apps) is also available.Microsoft has stated that it plans to create a version of Office for Android tablets ("and other popular platforms") as well.

On January 21, 2015, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Office 2016 will be released in the second half of 2015.

Components

Word

Main article: Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is a word processor and was previously considered the main program in Office. Its proprietary DOC format is considered a de facto standard, although Word 2007 can also use a new XML-based, Microsoft Office-optimized format called .DOCX, which has been standardized by Ecma International as Office Open XML, and its SP2 update supports PDF and a limited ODF. Word is also available in some editions of Microsoft Works. It is available for the Windows and OS X platforms. The first version of Word, released in the autumn of 1983, was for the MS-DOS operating system and had the distinction of introducing the mouse to a broad population. Word 1.0 could be purchased with a bundled mouse, though none was required. Following the precedents of LisaWrite and MacWrite, Word for Macintosh attempted to add closer WYSIWYG features into its package. Word for Mac was released in 1985. Word for Mac was the first graphical version of Microsoft Word.

Excel

Main article: Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program that originally competed with the dominant Lotus 1-2-3, and eventually outsold it. It is available for the Windows and OS X platforms. Microsoft released the first version of Excel for the Mac OS in 1985, and the first Windows version (numbered 2.05 to line up with the Mac and bundled with a standalone Windows run-time environment) in November 1987. It provided more functionality than the previous version.

PowerPoint

Main article: Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program for Windows and OS X. It is used to create slideshows, composed of text, graphics, and other objects, which can be displayed on-screen and shown by the presenter or printed out on transparencies or slides.

Access

Main article: Microsoft Access

Microsoft Access is a database management system for Windows that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools. Microsoft Access stores data in its own format based on the Access Jet Database Engine. It can also import or link directly to data stored in other applications and databases.

Outlook

Main articles: Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Entourage

Microsoft Outlook (not to be confused with Outlook Express) is a personal information manager. The replacement for Windows Messaging, Microsoft Mail, and Schedule+ starting in Office 97, it includes an e-mail client, calendar, task manager and address book.

On the Mac OS, Microsoft offered several versions of Outlook in the late 1990s, but only for use with Microsoft Exchange Server. In Office 2001, it introduced an alternative application with a slightly different feature set called Microsoft Entourage. It reintroduced Outlook in Office 2011, replacing Entourage.

OneNote

Main article: Microsoft OneNote

Microsoft OneNote is a   freeware notetaking program.  It gathers notes (handwritten or typed), drawings, screen clippings and audio commentaries. Notes can be shared with other OneNote users over the Internet or a network. OneNote was initially introduced as a standalone app that was not included in any of Microsoft Office 2003 editions. However, OneNote eventually became a core component of Microsoft Office; with the release of Microsoft Office 2013, OneNote was included in all Microsoft Office offerings before eventually becoming completely free of charge. OneNote is available as a web application on Office Online, a Windows desktop app, a mobile app for Windows Phone, iOS, Android, and Symbian, and a Metro-style app for Windows 8 or later.

Other desktop applications

Other desktop applications included in Microsoft Office suite include:

• Microsoft Publisher: desktop publishing app mostly used for designing brochures, labels, calendars, greeting cards, business cards, newsletters, web site, and postcards
• Microsoft Lync: integrated communications client for conferences and meetings in real time (known as Microsoft Office Communicator in Office 2007, bundled with Professional Plus and Enterprise editions)
• Microsoft Project: project management software to keep track of events and to create network charts and Gantt charts, not bundled in any Office suite
• Microsoft Visio: diagram and flowcharting program not bundled in any Office suite
• Microsoft SharePoint Designer: a specialized HTML editor for Windows that develops SharePoint sites, now part of Microsoft SharePoint family and offered as an independent freeware download

Server applications

• Microsoft SharePoint: collaboration server
• Excel Services
• InfoPath Forms Services
• Microsoft Project Server: project management server
• Microsoft Search Server
• Microsoft Lync Server (formerly Office Communications Server and Live Communications Server) — real time communications server

Web services

• Office Online: A suite of web-based versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, OneNote and PowerPoint
• Sway: A presentation web app in preview status released in October 2014. Also has a native mobile app for iOS under limited release; support for more mobile platforms underway.
• Microsoft Office website: The official website of Microsoft Office
• Microsoft Update: Web site. Patch detection and installation service for Microsoft Office.
• Microsoft Office 365: Subscription-based software services that licenses Microsoft Office products for on-premise or cloud-based use.

Common features

Most versions of Microsoft Office (including Office 97 and later) use their own widget set and do not exactly match the native operating system. This is most apparent in Microsoft Office XP and 2003, where the standard menus were replaced with a colored flat looking, shadowed menu style. The user interface of a particular version of Microsoft Office often heavily influences a subsequent version of Microsoft Windows. For example, the toolbar, colored buttons and the gray-colored 3D look of Office 4.3 were added to Windows 95, and the ribbon, introduced in Office 2007, has been incorporated into several programs bundled with Windows 7 and later.

Users of Microsoft Office may access external data via connection-specifications saved in Office Data Connection (.odc) files.

Both Windows and Office use service packs to update software. Office had non-cumulative service releases, which were discontinued after Office 2000 Service Release 1.

Past versions of Office often contained Easter eggs. For example, Excel 97 contained a reasonably functional flight-simulator. Office XP and later do not have any Easter eggs, in compliance with Trustworthy  Computing  guidelines.

File formats and metadata

Microsoft Office prior to Office 2007 used proprietary file formats based on the OLE Compound File Binary Format.This forced users who share data to adopt the same software platform.In 2008, Microsoft made the entire documentation for the binary Office formats freely available for download and granted any possible patents rights for use or implementations of those binary format for free under the Open Specification Promise. Previously, Microsoft had supplied such documentation freely but only on request.

Starting with Office 2007, the default file format has been a version of Office Open XML, though different than the one standardized and published by Ecma International and by ISO/IEC. Microsoft has granted patent rights to the formats technology under the Open Specification Promise and has made available free downloadable converters for previous versions of Microsoft Office including Office 2003, Office XP, Office 2000 and Office 2004 for OS X. Third-party implementations of Office Open XML exist on the Windows platform (LibreOffice, all platforms), OS X platform (iWork '08, LibreOffice) and Linux (LibreOffice and OpenOffice.org 3.0). In addition, Office 2010 and Service Pack 2 for Office 2007 supports the OpenDocument Format (ODF) for opening and saving documents.

Microsoft provides the ability to remove metadata from Office documents. This was in response to highly publicized incidents where sensitive data about a document was leaked via its metadata. Metadata removal was first available in 2004, when Microsoft released a tool called Remove Hidden Data Add-in for Office 2003/XP for this purpose. It was directly integrated into Office 2007 in a feature called the Document Inspector.

Password protection

Main article: Microsoft Office password protection

Microsoft Office has security feature which allows users to encrypt Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) documents with user provided password. User password can contain up to 255 characters and uses AES 128-bit advanced encryption by default. Password could be used restrict modification of the entire document, worksheet or presentation. Due to lack of document encryption most passwords could be cracked using a third-party cracking software.

Versions available

Compatibility

Microsoft supports Office for the Windows and OS X platforms, as well as mobile versions for Windows Phone, Android and iOS platforms. Beginning with Mac Office 4.2, the OS X and Windows versions of Office share the same file format, and are interoperable. Visual Basic for Applications support was dropped in Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, then reintroduced in Office for Mac 2011.

Microsoft tried in the mid-1990s to port Office to RISC processors such as NEC/MIPS and IBM/PowerPC, but they met problems such as memory access being hampered by data structure alignment requirements. Microsoft Word 97 and Excel 97 however did ship for the DEC Alpha platform. Difficulties in porting Office may have been a factor in discontinuing Windows NT on non-Intel platforms.

Stuart Cohen, CEO of Open Source Development Labs, conjectured in 2006 that Microsoft would eventually release a Linux port of Office, but no release was ever published. Other operating systems were only supported by Microsoft Office Mobile, which supports the more popular features of Microsoft Office, and is available for Windows Mobile, iOS and Android.

Support

On 15 October 2002, Microsoft announced their Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy. Versions earlier than Office 2003 are no longer supported. For current and future versions of Office mainstream support will end five years after release, or two years after the next release, whichever time is later, and extended support will end five years after that.

Discontinued server applications

• Microsoft Office Forms Server – Lets users use any browser to access and fill InfoPath forms. Office Forms Server is a standalone server installation of InfoPath Forms Services.
• Microsoft Office Groove Server – Centrally managing all deployments of Microsoft Office Groove in the enterprise
• Microsoft Office Project Portfolio Server – Allows creation of a project portfolio, including workflows, hosted centrally
• Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server – Allows customers to monitor, analyze, and plan their business

Discontinued web services

• Office Live
• Office Live Small Business – Web hosting services and online collaboration tools for small businesses
• Office Live Workspace – Online storage and collaboration service for documents, superseded by Office Online
• Office Live Meeting – Web conferencing service

Version history

Main article: History of Microsoft Office

Windows versions

Microsoft Office 4.0, inside Windows 3.1

Microsoft Office for Windows

Microsoft Office for Windows started in October 1990 as a bundle of three applications designed for Microsoft Windows 3.0: Microsoft Word for Windows 1.1, Microsoft Excel for Windows 2.0, and Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows 2.0. Microsoft Office for Windows 1.5 updated the suite with Microsoft Excel 3.0.

Version 1.6 added Microsoft Mail for PC Networks 2.1 to the bundle.

Microsoft Office 3.0

Microsoft Office 3.0, also called Microsoft Office 92, was released on 30 August 1992 and contained Word 2.0, Excel 4.0, PowerPoint 3.0 and Mail 3.0. It was the first version of Office also released on CD-ROM. In 1993, The Microsoft Office Professional was released, which added Microsoft Access 1.1.

Microsoft Office 4.x

Microsoft Office 4.0 was released containing Word 6.0, Excel 4.0a, PowerPoint 3.0 and Mail in 1993. Word's version number jumped from 2.0 to 6.0 so that it would have the same version number as the MS-DOS and Macintosh versions (Excel and PowerPoint were already numbered the same as the Macintosh versions).

Microsoft Office 4.2 for Windows NT was released in 1994 for i386, Alpha, MIPS and PowerPC  architectures, containing Word 6.0 and Excel 5.0 (both 32-bit, PowerPoint 4.0 (16-bit), and Microsoft Office Manager 4.2 (the precursor to the Office Shortcut Bar)).

Microsoft Office 4.2 (Standard Edition) and 4.3 (Professional Edition) were released as the last 16-bit version and so the last to support Windows 3.x, containing Word 6.0, Excel 5.0, PowerPoint 4.0. Office 4.2 is the Standard Edition, 4.3 the Professional Edition, which also includes Access 2.0.

Microsoft Office 95

Microsoft Office logo, introduced in Office 95 and used in Office 97, 2000 and XP

Microsoft Office 95 was released on 24 August 1995. Again, the version numbers were altered to create parity across the suite—every program was called version 7.0 meaning all but Word missed out versions. It was designed as a fully 32-bit version to match Windows 95. Office 95 was available in two versions, Office 95 Standard and Office 95 Professional. The standard version consisted of Word 7.0, Excel 7.0, PowerPoint 7.0, and Schedule+ 7.0. The professional edition contained all of the items in the standard version plus Microsoft Access 7.0. If the professional version was purchased in CD-ROM form, it also included Bookshelf.

Microsoft Office 97

(Office 8.0), included hundreds of new features and improvements, and introduced command bars, a paradigm in which menus and toolbars were made more similar in capability and visual design. Office 97 also featured Natural Language Systems and grammar checking. Office 97 was the first version of Office to include the Office Assistant.

Microsoft Office 2000

Microsoft Office 2000 (Office 9.0) introduced adaptive menus, where little-used options were hidden from the user. It also introduced a new security feature, built around digital signatures, to diminish the threat of macro viruses. Office 2000 automatically trusts macros (written in VBA 6) that were digitally signed from authors who have been previously designated as trusted. Office 2000 is the last version to support Windows 95.

Microsoft Office XP

Microsoft Office XP logo

Microsoft Office XP (Office 10.0 or Office 2002) was released in conjunction with Windows XP, and was a major upgrade with numerous enhancements and changes over Office 2000. Office XP introduced the Safe Mode feature, which allows applications such as Outlook to boot when it might otherwise fail. Safe Mode enables Office to detect and either repair or bypass the source of the problem, such as a corrupted registry or a faulty add-in. Smart tag is a technology introduced with Office XP. Some smart tags operate based on user activity, such as helping with typing errors. These smart tags are supplied with the products, and are not programmable. For developers, though, there is the ability to create custom smart tags. In Office XP, custom smart tags could work only in Word and Excel. Microsoft Office XP includes integrated voice command and text dictation capabilities, as well as handwriting recognition. Office XP is the last version to support Windows 98, ME and NT 4.0. It was the first version to require Product Activation as an anti-piracy measure, which attracted widespread controversy.

Microsoft Office 2003

Microsoft Office 2003 (Office 11.0) was released in 2003. It featured a new logo. Two new applications made their debut in Office 2003: Microsoft InfoPath and OneNote. It is the first version to use Windows XP-style icons. Outlook 2003 provides improved functionality in many areas, including Kerberos authentication, RPC over HTTP, Cached Exchange Mode, and an improved junk mail filter. 2003 is the last Office version to support Windows 2000.

Microsoft Office 2007

Microsoft Office 2007 (Office 12.0) was released in 2007. Office 2007's new features include a new graphical user interface called the Fluent User Interface, replacing the menus and toolbars that have been the cornerstone of Office since its inception with a tabbed toolbar, known as the Ribbon; new XML-based file formats called Office Open XML; and the inclusion of Groove, a collaborative software application. It is the last version to support Windows XP and Server 2003 x64 versions due to a lack of Windows Imaging Component for those OSs, which is needed by Office 2010.

Microsoft Office 2010

Microsoft Office 2010 logo

Microsoft Office 2010 (Office 14.0, because 13.0 was skipped) was finalized on 15 April 2010, and was made available to consumers on 15 June 2010. The main features of Office 2010 include the backstage file menu, new collaboration tools, a customizable ribbon, protected view and a navigation panel. This is the first version to ship in 32-bit and 64-bit variants. Microsoft Office 2010 also features a new logo, which is similar to the 2007 logo, except in gold, and with a modification in shape. Service Pack 1 for Office 2010 was released on 28 June 2011.

Microsoft Office 2013

Microsoft Office 2013 logo

A technical preview of Office 2013 (Build 15.0.3612.1010) was released on 30 January 2012, and a Customer Preview version was made available to consumers on 16 July 2012. It sports a revamped application interface; the interface is based on Metro, the interface of Windows Phone and Windows 8. Microsoft Outlook has received the most pronounced changes so far; for example, the Metro interface provides a new visualization for scheduled tasks. PowerPoint includes more templates and transition effects, and OneNote includes a new splash screen. On 16 May 2011, new images of Office 15 were revealed, showing Excel with a tool for filtering data in a timeline, the ability to convert Roman numerals to Arabic numerals, and the integration of advanced trigonometric functions. In Word, the capability of inserting video and audio online as well as the broadcasting of documents on the Web were implemented. Microsoft has promised support for Office Open XML Strict starting with version 15, a format Microsoft has submitted to the ISO for interoperability with other office suites, and to aid adoption in the public sector.This version can read and write ODF 1.2.

On 24 October 2012, Office 2013 Professional Plus was released to manufacturing and was made available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers for download. On 15 November 2012, the 60-day trial version was released for public download.