April 9th, 2009
Office 14 to become Microsoft Office 2010
An email from an anonymous source within Microsoft’s corporation network tipped me off to the new name of their Microsoft Office suite. With my previous articles on Office “14″
The codename, “Office 14″, which my colleague Mary-Jo Foley has covered extensively, skipped the “13″ because Microsoft were supposedly suspicious and equally superstitious around the connotations associated with the number.
Although it’s not much to go on, and no build numbers were included with the email, the following splash screen was attached of a “recent build”, according to the Microsoft source.
Microsoft have often preempted their product dates with the following year to make the software seem more up to date. Windows 95, granted, was released in 1995 and so was Windows 98. Many of the Windows Server products followed with the aforementioned time plan, and it seems Microsoft may well be sticking with a late-2009 or early 2010 release.
A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment on the news.
Any news about the future of the Office system is big news for students, as we will be one of the major markets using the software. With Office web applications being added to the new version of Office, this will increase productivity and enable better things to come out of working on the web.
As mentioned in an earlier post, Semblio will be “available as part of the Office 14 suite”, but sources tell me it may or may not be branded as an Office application.
Could this spell the end of Google Docs?
Zack Whittaker, the youngest in the ZDNet network, is a British student at the University of Kent, Canterbury, where he studies BA (Hons) Criminology and Social Policy. His insight into the next-generation is unique and first-hand, sharing his knowledge of the here and now but more so what's next and how to get there.
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