September 17th, 2009

Microsoft Office Web Apps go to testers: Ten things to know

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 9:57 am

Categories: Corporate strategy, Google, Office, Office 2007, Office 2010/Office 14, Office Live, Office for Mac, SharePoint Server, Windows Live, Windows Mobile

Tags: Web Application, Official, Microsoft Corp., Community Technology Preview, Tester, SkyDrive, Cloud Computing, Microsoft Office, Office Suites, Software

Microsoft is making available to thousands of pre-selected testers on September 17 the first Community Technology Preview (CTP) test build of its Web-ified version of Office.

(Check out some new screen shots of the Office Web Apps.)

Microsoft officials first announced plans for Office Web Apps — an offering that many industry watchers consider the Redmondians’ response to Google Docs — in November 2008. The Office Web Apps CTP originally was due to tester in August. Throughout the past few months, Microsoft officials have continued to stress that Office Web Apps aren’t meant to replace Office, but to complement it. (We’ll see whether that actually comes to pass, given tight IT budgets and the multiple-hundred-dollar price tag for client-based Office — two factors that seem to be doing Google Docs no harm among small- and mid-size business users, according to a new IDC study.)

Microsoft plans to make the CTP of the free, consumer version available to testers via Windows Live SkyDrive, around 1 pm ET. Testers will get access to Word Web App, Excel Web App and PowerPoint Web App. One Note Web App access will be added this fall. Contrary to some Web reports, Microsoft has no plans to add a Visio Web App to the line-up.

Microsoft’s game plan remains to deliver a public beta of Office Web Apps later this fall and the final version in the first half of calendar 2010 (I’ve heard May/June). Microsoft officials also confirmed today that the final name for Office Web Apps will be… drum roll…. Office Web Apps. (So much for all that research on other possible names.)

Here are ten things about the CTP of Office Web Apps that I found interesting:

1. Who’s getting access to today’s CTP? Just because you were part of Microsoft’s Office 2010 and/or SharePoint 2010 July CTPs doesn’t guarantee you also will be part of the Office Web Apps CTP. Microsoft officials told me thousands of testers will be granted access to the Web Apps, including many Office Live Workspace users, partners and other testers. Testing at this stage is being limited to U.S. English and Japanese users, Microsoft officials said.

2. How can I get the CTP? The way testers and, ultimately, consumers, will get Office Web Apps is by accessing documents stored in Windows Live SkyDrive, Microsoft’s free online storage service. Microsoft officials had said previously that the Web Apps would be made available via Windows Live/Office Live (which are now one thing known as Windows Live) but didn’t explain further. This means if you want Office Web Apps, you’ll need a Windows Live account (which is free). Under the “More” tab, users can find their pre-designated SkyDrives. SkyDrive has a limit of 25 GB and that applies to Office Web Apps, as well.

3. Why is feature “X” not working? This CTP is not feature-complete. It includes only the Web-based versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. (OneNote is coming with the beta later this fall.) And even those apps are pretty far from done. The Word Web App in the CTP doesn’t allow users to create or edit documents; those capabilities won’t go live until the beta release. And in the CTP, neither the Excel Web App nor the PowerPoint Web App will let you publish, or embed, a PowerPoint slide show or Excel Spreadsheet directly into into a blog or website.

4. What happens to Office Live Workspace? If you’re among the 10.5 million people Microsoft officials say are currently using Office Live Workspace, Microsoft’s collaboration service that was a pre-cursor to Office Web Apps, here’s what to expect: Office Live Workspace will be superseded by Office Web Apps. Workspace customers will be upgraded automatically to Office Web Apps and Microsoft is committing to provide migration information and assistance in migrating data once Web Apps are available.

Read the rest of this entry »

September 4th, 2009

More Microsoft layoffs, a resignation and other pre-Labor Day tidbits

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 5:39 am

Categories: .Net Framework, App Compatibility, Corporate strategy, Development tools, Google, Legal, Office, Office 2007, Office 2010/Office 14, Windows Mobile

Tags: Kai-Fu Lee, Layoff, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Microsoft Corp., Mobile Operating Systems, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Mobile Applications, Handhelds, Wireless And Mobility

Here’s a round-up of Microsoft labor-related (and other) news on the eve of the long Labor Day weekend here in the U.S.

Microsoft is confirming it is cutting 27 more employees in Redmond and Bellevue, Wash. offices, effective November 1. No word on which teams/products those 27 are part of. Microsoft officials said at the start of this year the company planned to lay off approximately 5,000 employees between then and mid-2010. When Microsoft cut its second big round of employees in May, CEO Steve Ballmer’s stated that “with this announcement, we are mostly but not all done with the planned 5,000 job eliminations by June 2010.” Microsoft officials won’t say how many of these 5,000 have been cut to date; I’d think the new 27 are part of the original 5,000 and not the start of an additional round.

Kai-Fu Lee is resigning from Google. Lee is the former head of Microsoft’s Interactive Services Division and most recently President of Google China. Lee is said to be planning to disclose what he’ll be doing next on Sunday. From a story on PE Hub, it sounds like it is somehow venture-related. Microsoft sued Google over its hiring of Lee in 2005.

A Federal Court of Appeals is allowing Microsoft to continue to sell Microsoft Word, in spite of a patent-infringement case against it. Microsoft is appealing a ruling, which found the company to have infringed on a patent involving Custom XML code owned by plaintiff i4i. The appeal is set for September 23. I’ve heard Microsoft has an patch that would remove Custom XML from Word waiting in the wings and ready to be pushed to customers immediately if it loses the appeal.

Windows Mobile 7 in beta? UXEvangelist (a k a Stephen Chapman) discovered a Motorola exec’s bio on LinkedIn that mentions the existence of a Windows Mobile 7 beta. Both Chapman and I had heard that Microsoft was quite far along in its Windows Mobile 7 development and was aiming to get final code to phone makers in November this year. But there may have been a recent change in plans, via which Microsoft may deliver yet another interim release of Windows Mobile (something after 6.5) before Windows Mobile 7 shows up on new phones. If the latest rumors are true, Windows Mobile 7 is unlikely to debut before the end of 2010. Microsoft won’t discuss ship targets or plans for Windows Mobile 7.

Novell’s Miguel de Icaza is at it again. His latest project is Mono Tools for Visual Studio, which is now in a closed Beta 1 release.  “There are some common stumbling blocks that keep .NET applications from being able to run on Mono. These can be due to using parts of the .NET framework that Mono does not implement or implements differently, or reliance on native platform code like user32,” according to the new site for the tools.  The tools allow developers to scan their apps for Mono compatibility, test them on Windows and Linux and package them up to run on Linux.

August 21st, 2009

Microsoft Word patent-infringement case: Playing chicken

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 8:23 am

Categories: Corporate strategy, Legal, Office, Office 2007, Office 2010/Office 14

Tags: Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Word, Word Processors, XML, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Office, Office Suites, Software, Software/Web Development, Web Development

September 23 is the date a federal appeals court has set for a hearing in the i4i vs. Microsoft patent infringement case over Microsoft Word.

I’m doubtful Microsoft will let things go that long. I’m betting we’ll see either a settlement between the Redmondians and the Toronto-based company that won its patent suit in Texas a week ago — or Microsoft will issue a patch for Word that will pull Custom XML from the product.

According to the ruling in the case, which Microsoft is appealing, Microsoft is prohibited from selling or importing to the United States “any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML.”

I’ve heard Microsoft already has developed a patch for Word 2007 which disables the Custom XML functionality and is ready to roll that patch out, via Windows Update, at a moment’s notice.

Microsoft legal spokesperson Kevin Kutz wouldn’t comment on that patch. Instead, he maintained the consistent company party line: “As we’ve maintained throughout this process, we believe the evidence clearly demonstrates that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid. We look forward to filing our appeal and to Court of Appeals review. ”

Microsoft requested an expedited review in the case — via which company officials claimed enforcement of i4i’s patent would result in “irreperable harm” to customers if the Softies were forced to pull Word from the market. – was denied.

Microsoft’s legal team is great at playing chicken with lawyers and their clients. The back and forth over Windows 7 E, the browserless version of Windows 7 that Microsoft is currently holding in its back pocket in case its settlement talks with the European Commission go awry, is evidence of that.

Any predictions on what will happen in the i4i case? Will Microsoft settle, patch or choose some other route?

August 12th, 2009

'Custom XML' the key to patent suit over Microsoft Word

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 7:42 am

Categories: App Compatibility, Corporate strategy, Legal, Office, Office 2007, Office 2010/Office 14

Tags: Microsoft Word, Custom Inc., Microsoft Corp., XML, Software/Web Development, Web Development, Mary Jo Foley

The short version of the story so many are talking about today: A Texas judge is barring Microsoft from selling Microsoft Word due to alleged patent infringement and fining the Redmondians multiple millions as part of the case.

But most synopses of the case seem to be omitting a key part of the ruling: the concept of “Custom XML.”

According to the press release from the lawyers for plaintiff i4i:

“Today’s permanent injunction prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML.”

What is “Custom XML”? Is it a (supposedly) unremovable component of Office (like Internet Explorer is of Windows)?

The first link I found when searching was from the “OOXML is defective by design” site. The 2008 post was born from the politics that continue to swirl around the Office Open XML (OOXML) vs. Open Document Format (ODF) debate. But it still contains some useful information.

First, according to this post, Custom XML is a Word-only thing. It’s not part of Excel, PowerPoint or any other Office app.

Post author Stephane Rodriguez links to a couple of Microsoft-provided definitions of Custom XML.

The first, from Office Program Manager Brian Jones, dates back to 2005:

“Custom XML is the support for custom defined schemas. It’s that support that allows you truly integrate your documents with business processes and business data. You can define your data using XML Schema syntax, and then you can use that data in your Office documents. By opening up our formats with our reference schemas, and supporting your custom defined schemas, you get true interoperability of your documents.”

I did some more searching. I found a 2008 retort to Rodriguez’s post that also attempts to define Custom XML. From .Net evangelist Wouter van Vugt:

Custom XML markup “is about embedding custom XML defined outside of Open XML to support solution which aim to structure a document using business semantics, not only using formatting. A great advance since you want to get to the data, and not by saying that the customer name is the 3rd paragraph. The issue is that you cannot just allow any arbitrary XML to be stored in the WordprocessingML package. This would become application specific, and it would break validation since all XML is valid. Not a great idea.”

I’ve seen a couple of bloggers claiming that a prohibition against Custom XML would affect customers working with custom Office templates. From these definitions, it’s obvious we’re not talking about the simple cover-letter or newsletter formatter that many think of when they hear “template.”

Do you expect Microsoft to win its appeal of this case, to settle with i4i? (I’m betting on a settlement, myself.) Do you believe Microsoft could/would “remove” the allegedly infringing Custom XML technology in some way? I’m also still interested in getting more of a layperson’s definition of Custom XML — anyone?

Update: My ZDNet blogging colleague Zack Whittaker managed to get an interesting comment on the case. It sounds like there might be a Plan B, via which Microsoft could disable the Custom XML feature if the company’s legal appeal fails. It sounds like Microsoft is not anticipating the case to delay the release of Office 2010. But there is talk of a re-release of Word 2007 with a patch, which the company already has developed, that will disable the Custom XML functionality upon installation.

The “official” Microsoft Legal comment on all this is the much less-detailed one from Microsoft spokesperson Kevin Kutz: “We are disappointed by the court’s ruling. We believe the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid. We will appeal the verdict.”

August 5th, 2009

OpenOffice users: Just say no to a Microsoft-like Ribbon interface

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 3:09 pm

Categories: Corporate strategy, Office, Office 2007, Office 2010/Office 14, Open source

Tags: Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Corp., Ribbon, OpenOffice, Microsoft Office, Open Source, Office Suites, Software, Mary Jo Foley

From the “truth is stranger than fiction” desk (via Slashdot), the OpenOffice.org camp is showing off a prototype of its rival desktop productivity suite that has a very Microsoft-Office-like interface.

OpenOffice.org’s “Project Renaissance,” launched in 2008, is all about the redesign  of the user interace of OpenOffice, a free, open-source office suite that competes directly with Microsoft Office. On July 31, the Renaissance team showed off a prototype of that new interface via Sun GullFOSS OpenOffice Engineering blog.

Much criticism ensued, primarily because the new UI looks an awful lot like the Ribbon UI that Microsoft introduced with Office 2007. While Microsoft officials have cited much telemetry data as proof that users love the Ribbon — a feature that MIcrosoft but almost no one else calls “Fluent” — I still hear (fairly often) from Office customers who find it far from intuitive. In some cases, Microsoft users have said the Ribbon has kept them from upgrading from older versions of Office.

Microsoft’s Ribbon is designed to expose more features of Office and to make them more accessible. But the Ribbon takes a bit (or a lot) of getting used to. I remember the first time I encountered a PC running Office 2007 at a Microsoft trade show. I could not find the print button, for the life of me. (A security guard standing nearby showed me where it was. She said she had watched people struggle with it all day and had learned where it was so she could help.)

Some love the Ribbon. Some detest it. The very first comment on the OpenOffice blog post about the new UI from “James” veers toward the latter opinion:

“Just out of curiosity, why is OOo aping Office 2007’s ‘Ribbon’ design? In addition to being unfamiliar to most users, it looks terribly out of place on anything except Windows Vista/7… Will there at least be an option to use an interface that is, er, usable?”

The comments largely go downhill from there. While there were a few Ribbon defenders, more folks were like poster “talkimposter,” who said:

“The ribbon is for absolute morons. In fact I use OpenOffice at work because they moved to Office 2007 and I just can’t stand that STUPID interface for idiots.

“OpenOffice needs to stop trying to be Office and just grow it’s own set of balls and be itself.”

Another example, from poster “thtanner”:

“must say moving towards an Office 2007 style ribbon.. thing.. is a horrific idea.

“Such a waste of space, unintuitive, and intrusive.”

More than one commentator mentions the large amount of screen real estate that the proposed OpenOffice ribbon would consume as a drawback.

Microsoft, for its part, is continuing to march ahead with the Ribbon and is adding it to all of its desktop Office 2010 apps. It will be interesting to see whether the Project Renaissance folks change course, based on user feedback, or march to the Microsoft drum on this one….

June 30th, 2009

Microsoft seeks a name for its new Office Web Apps suite

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 9:23 am

Categories: Code names, Corporate strategy, Google, Office, Office 2007, Office 2010/Office 14, Office Live, Office Live Workspace, SharePoint Server, Web 2.0, Worldwide Partner Conference (WWPC)

Tags: Web Application, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Office, Cloud Computing, Office Suites, Software, Mary Jo Foley

Microsoft is surveying potential customers as to what it should name its forthcoming Office Web Applications suite.

As LiveSide.Net is reporting, among the handful of Office Web Apps brand names under consideration are Microsoft Ensemble, Microsoft Optro, Microsoft ArcLight, Microsoft Offsite and Microsoft Equipt. (Yes, they are in the midst of killing off the current Equipt subscription service. But why let an already trademarked name go to waste?)

Microsoft also is sharing a bit more positioning information about the forthcoming suite of Web-hosted Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote apps that it is expected to release to a wider group of testers in mid-July, as part of the Office 2010 Community Technology Preview.

According to a Web survey which seems to be aimed more at IT pros and developers than consumers, Microsoft is clearly positioning Office Web Apps as complements to client-based Office, not as a replacement to it. The survey asks which of the above-mentioned names does the best job of describing an offering that would compete with Google Apps, Google’s hosted app suite aimed at business users.

Microsoft is expected to make Office Web Apps a free, ad-supported suite for individuals, but a paid, subscription-based service for enterprise customers.

The survey also highlights some of the forthcoming integration between Microsoft Office and Office Web Apps that Microsoft is incorporating into the Web-based product. The Office Web Apps release will provide users with synchronization of e-mail, calendar and contact items between Web browsers (not just Internet Explorer, but also Safari and Firefox), desktop applications (via Outlook) and mobile devies (Windows Mobile phones, Blackberries and iPhones).

Office Web Apps also will allow users to get their voicemails delivered to their e-mail inboxes, allowing them to listen or read a transcription of their messages; store and share documents over the Web; and communicate via “business-grade” instant messaging tools that are connected to Outlook address books, the survey says.

I think a number of testers — and ultimately, users — are going to be a bit let down by Office Web Apps. Microsoft officials have been touting them as Web-based versions of existing Office apps. But from what I’m hearing from my sources, these Web apps are definitely more like service complements to Office than alternatives to it. It sounds like SharePoint is the unheralded middleman in the Office Web Apps scenario, and processes like saving and printing documents may not be possible without going through SharePoint first.

Microsoft officials aren’t discussing particulars regarding Office Web Apps, although they are expected to share more details (and code) at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans in mid-July.

Which of the potential new names for Office Web Apps do you think Microsoft should choose? What kinds of capabilities do you think the Office Web Apps suite must have to be a real competitor to Google Apps?

June 24th, 2009

Microsoft: Outlook's not broken and we aren't 'fixing' it

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 1:37 pm

Categories: App Compatibility, Corporate strategy, Exchange Server, Office, Office 2007, Office 2010/Office 14

Tags: HTML, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Outlook, E-mail, Microsoft Office, Groupware, Microsoft Word, Word Processors, Office Suites, Software

Microsoft’s decision to change the rendering engine in its Outlook mail client from HTML to the Word rendering engine back in 2007 wasn’t one of its most popular moves. In fact, there are still more than a few Outlook users who are hoping against hope that an online campaign might result in Microsoft backtracking with Outlook 2010 and going back to HTML rendering.

Microsoft’s response: Outlook isn’t broken and Outlook 2010 will include the Word rendering engine, just like Outlook 2007 does.

The Outlook team posted its response to the Twitter-based campaign designed to convince the company to go back to the HTML rendering default on the Outlook Team blog on June 24. From that post:

“First, while we don’t yet have a broadly-available beta version of Microsoft Office 2010, we can confirm that Outlook 2010 does use Word 2010 for composing and displaying e-mail, just as it did in Office 2007. We’ve made the decision to continue to use Word for creating e-mail messages because we believe it’s the best e-mail authoring experience around, with rich tools that our Word customers have enjoyed for over 25 years. Our customers enjoy using a familiar and powerful tool for creating e-mail, just as they do for creating documents. Word enables Outlook customers to write professional-looking and visually stunning e-mail messages.”

The post, authored by William Kennedy. Corporate Vice President of the Office Communications and Forms Team, goes on to say that there is no consensus in the industry around which subset of HTML would be appropriate for e-mail. He blogged:

“There is no widely-recognized consensus in the industry about what subset of HTML is appropriate for use in e-mail for interoperability. The ‘Email Standards Project’ does not represent a sanctioned standard or an industry consensus in this area. Should such a consensus arise, we will of course work with other e-mail vendors to provide rich support in our products.”

Microsoft reiterated the reasons it moved from HTML to Word for e-mail rendering in athis white paper.

What do you say, Outlook users? Do you think Microsoft is right in sticking with Word as the default e-mail rendering engine for Outlook 2010?

April 28th, 2009

Office 2007 Service Pack 2 available for download

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 9:05 am

Categories: Office, Office 2007, Service Pack, SharePoint Server, Vista, Windows client

Tags: Microsoft Office 2007, Service Pack 2, Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, Microsoft Office, Office Suites, Software, Mary Jo Foley

Microsoft recently committed to making Office 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2) available for download on April 28. And, as promised, it is out there.

Existing Office 2007 users can grab SP2 from the Microsoft Download Center.

SP2 provides the usual security, performance and reliability fixes that SPs deliver. SP2 is especially tuned to update Outlook and SharePoint Server, according to the company. SP2 also includes support for more file formats, such as PDF and ODF, Microsoft oficials said. Here’s more from Microsoft’s release on Office 2007 SP2:

“(SP2) Users should notice the improved performance and stability of Outlook, better charting functionality in Excel, and more control over the appearance of SmartArt graphics.

“On the server side, IT professionals will notice several enhancements to the security and performance of SharePoint Server 2007, including support for read-only content databases, improvements to forms-based authentication, and an STSADM command-line utility that enables administrators to scan sites that use the variations feature for errors. SharePoint Server will also feature better support for newer versions of the Firefox browser.”

Microsoft is planning to start pushing Office 2007 SP2 via Automatic Update “no sooner than three months from now,” (so, on or around July 28),” according to the company, and with no fewer than 30 days notice.

On a related note, it looks like Vista SP2 might not be availble in April, after all, as many had been expecting. The new possible release date is early May, some Microsoft enthusiasts are now speculating. But others are claiming that Vista SP2 has RTM’d, and thus could possibly be released sooner.

April 14th, 2009

Office 2007 SP2 coming April 28

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 6:17 pm

Categories: Corporate strategy, Office, Office 2007, Service Pack, SharePoint Server, Vista, Windows client

Tags: Microsoft Office 2007, Service Pack 2, Server, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, Microsoft Office, Office Suites, Software, Mary Jo Foley

Microsoft is confirming that Service Pack 2 for Office 2007 will be released in April, as many company watchers had been expecting — specifically, on April 28.

A list of some of the changes that will be part of the client and server updates delivered via SP2 were posted to the Microsoft Update Product Team Blog on April 14.

As Microsoft officials noted last fall, Office 2007 SP2 will include changes to both the desktop and server components of Office 2007.

On the desktop, Microsoft plans to deliver via SP2 previously announced file-format changes — specifically support for Open Document Format (ODF), Microsoft’s own XML Paper Specfication (XPS) and PDF. SP2 also will add improvements to Outlook calendaring reliability and improved Outlook performance overall; improvements to Excel’s charting mechanism; the ability for Visio to export UML models to an XML file compliant with the XMI standard; and an uninstall tool for Office client service packs.

The Server version of SP2 is expected to add improvements to enterprise content-management; improvements to the processing status approvals in Project; and improvements to read-only content databases and index.

Now all we need is the download delivery date for Vista SP2 (which also is expected in April)….

October 22nd, 2008

Office 2007 SP2 due in early 2009

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 12:03 pm

Categories: Corporate strategy, Office, Office 2007, Service Pack, SharePoint Server, Vista, Windows Server 2008/ Windows Server Longhorn, Windows client, Windows server

Tags: Microsoft Office 2007, Service Pack 2, Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, Microsoft Office, Office Suites, Software, Mary Jo Foley, Team, Service Pack, Windows Team

Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Office 2007 will ship some time between February and April 2009.

That’s not a guess (educated or otherwise); that’s the word straight from the Office team, via the Office Sustained Engineering blog.

According to an October 22 posting to the blog, Microsoft is gearing up to invite a group of select testers to the beta for both the client and server versions of Office 2007 SP2.

Among the new features coming in the desktop SP are previously announced file-format changes — specifically support for Open Document Format (ODF), Microsoft’s own XML Paper Specfication (XPS) and PDF. SP2 also will add improvements to Outlook calendaring reliability and improved Outlook performance overall; improvements to Excel’s charting mechanism; the ability for Visio to export UML models to an XML file compliant with the XMI standard; and an uninstall tool for Office client service packs.

The Server version of SP2 adds improvements to enterprise content-management; improvements to the processing status approvals in Project; and improvements to read-only content databases and index, the blog posting added.

Microsoft released SP1 for Office 2007 in December 2007, a number of months earlier than many had been ledby Microsoft to expect.

I found this part of today’s posting on SP2 to be quite interesting:

“Historically, we [the Office team] have waited to communicate details about service packs until their release (or very shortly before).  As we communicated with SP3 for Office 2003 and SP1 for the 2007 Office System, we will be taking steps to increase transparency and visibility into the Office servicing model at the request of our customers. To that end, we would like to start sharing some details into what will be included in SP2 for the 2007 Office system. This is by no means an exhaustive list of everything included in this service pack and we will share more details prior to the final release, but we want to start communicating to customers what they should be aware of at a high level.”

I wonder if the Office unit’s willingness to start talking publicly about SP2 will end up influencing the Windows team at all. The Windows team is believed to be ready to start testing SP2 for Vista and SP2 for Windows Server 2008 within the next few weeks, even though the team refuses to comment on its schedule or the expected features. All  customers — not just a small, select few beta testers — want and need to know what kinds of features and fixes are on the Microsoft product roadmaps.

(Thanks to WinBeta for the pointer to Microsoft’s Office 2007 SP2 posting.)