Microsoft Office

Developer(s)	Microsoft
Initial release	November 19, 1990; 21 years ago  (1990-11-19)
Stable release	2010 (14.0.6023.1000 SP1) / June 28, 2011; 11 months ago  (2011-06-28)
Development status	Active
Written in	C++[1]
Operating system	Microsoft Windows
Available in	Over 35 languages[2]
Type	Office suite
License	Retail software and volume licensing
Website	office.microsoft.com/en-us

Microsoft Office is a proprietary commercial office suite of desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft on August 1, 1989. 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 Microsoft 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.

The current versions are Office 2010 for Windows, released on June 15, 2010;^[3] and Office 2011 for Mac OS X, released October 26, 2010.^[4]

Components[link]

Desktop applications[link]

Word[link]

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 controversially standardized by Ecma International as Office Open XML and its SP2 update supports PDF and a limited ODF.^[5] Word is also available in some editions of Microsoft Works. It is available for the Windows and Mac 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. Despite its bugginess, it became one of the most popular Mac applications.

Excel[link]

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program that originally competed with the dominant Lotus 1-2-3, but eventually outsold it. It is available for the Windows and Mac platforms. Microsoft released the first version of Excel for the Mac 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.

Outlook/Entourage[link]

Microsoft Outlook (not to be confused with Outlook Express) is a personal information manager and e-mail communication software. 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, 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.^[6]

PowerPoint[link]

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

Other desktop applications (Windows version only)[link]

• Microsoft Access — database manager
• Microsoft InfoPath — an application to design rich XML-based forms
• Microsoft OneNote — note-taking software for use with both tablet and conventional PCs
• 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 Publisher — desktop publishing software mostly used for designing brochures, labels, calendars, greeting cards, business cards, newsletters, and postcards.
• Microsoft SharePoint Workspace (formerly known as Groove) — a proprietary peer-to-peer collaboration software leveled at businesses
• Microsoft Visio — diagram and flowcharting software (not bundled in any Office suite)
• Microsoft Office InterConnect — business-relationship database available only in Japan
• Microsoft Office Picture Manager — basic photo management software (similar to Google's Picasa or Adobe's Photoshop Elements), replaced Microsoft Photo Editor

The following applications are no longer branded as part of Microsoft Office:

• Microsoft SharePoint Designer — a WYSIWYG HTML editor and web design program for customizing SharePoint applications, it replaces Microsoft FrontPage (not bundled in any Office suite)
• 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^[7])

Server applications[link]

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

Web services[link]

• Office Web Apps — Web-based companions to Microsoft Office applications to view, create, and edit documents.
• 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 Web Apps and SkyDrive
• Live Meeting — Web conferencing service.
• Microsoft Office product web site — Provides support for all Microsoft Office products.
• Microsoft Update — Web site. Patch detection and installation service for Microsoft Office.
• Microsoft Office 365 - Cloud-based version of office, available for purchase since early 2011.

Common features[link]

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. The Ribbon, introduced in Office 2007, has been incorporated into several applications bundled with Windows 7.

Users of Microsoft Office may access external data via connection-specifications saved in "Office Data Connection" (.odc) files.^[8]

Both Windows and Office use Service Packs to update software, Office used to release non-cumulative Service Releases, which were discontinued after Office 2000 Service Release 1.

Programs in past versions of Office often contained substantial Easter eggs. For example, Excel 97 contained a reasonably functional flight-simulator. Versions starting with Office XP have not contained any easter eggs in the name of Trustworthy Computing.

File formats and metadata[link]

Microsoft Office prior to Office 2007 used proprietary file formats. This forced users who share data to adopt the same software platform.^[9] 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.^[10] 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^[11] and has made available free downloadable converters for previous versions of Microsoft Office including Office 2003, Office XP, Office 2000^[12] and Office 2004 for the Mac. Third-party implementations of Office Open XML exist on the Mac platform (iWork '08) and Linux (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.^[13] 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^[14] It was directly integrated into Office 2007 in a feature called the Document Inspector.

Extensibility[link]

A major feature of the Office suite is the ability for users and third party companies to write add-ins (plug-ins) that extend the capabilities of an application by adding custom commands and specialized features. The type of add-ins supported differ by Office versions:

• Office 97 onwards (standard Windows DLLs i.e. Word WLLs and Excel XLLs)
• Office 2000 onwards (COM add-ins)^[15]
• Office XP onwards (COM/OLE Automation add-ins)^[16]
• Office 2003 onwards (Managed code add-ins - VSTO solutions)^[17]

Supported operating systems[link]

Microsoft supports Office for the Windows and Mac platforms. Beginning with Mac Office 4.2, the Mac and Windows versions of Office share the same file format. Consequently, any Mac with Office 4.2 or later can read documents created with Office 4.2 for Windows or later, and vice-versa. Visual Basic for Applications support was dropped in Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac^[18] but was restored in Microsoft Office for Mac 2011.^[4]

There were efforts^{[by whom?]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

Although Microsoft announced to create a Linux port in 2006,^[19] no release was published. Other operating systems were only supported by Microsoft Office Mobile, which supports the more popular features of Microsoft Office, is available for Windows Mobile and is planned to soon be available for Symbian OS.^[20]

CrossOver, a Windows compatibility layer by CodeWeavers, makes it possible to run Microsoft Office on the Linux platform. Doing so, however, requires a license for Microsoft Office for Windows, as well as a license for CrossOver. A free alternative is the WINE application.

Licensing[link]

In addition to supporting retail sales and site-wide installations, Microsoft offers a "Home Use Program" (HUP) permitting employees of a participating organization access to home-use Microsoft Office products.^[21]

Support lifecycle[link]

Version compatibility[link]

On October 15, 2002, Microsoft announced their Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy.^[22] 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.

Versions available for Windows[link]

Versions available for Macintosh[link]

Discontinued applications and features[link]

• Microsoft Binder — Incorporates several documents into one file and was originally designed as a container system for storing related documents in a single file. The complexity of use and learning curve led to little usage, and it was discontinued after Office 2002.
• Microsoft FrontPage — This web design software requires its own server program for some functions. It was offered only as a stand-alone program for the 2003 version. In 2006, Microsoft announced they would discontinue it, and replace it with two software packages: Microsoft SharePoint Designer and Microsoft Expression Web.
• Microsoft Mail — Mail client (in old versions of Office, later replaced by Microsoft Schedule Plus and subsequently Microsoft Outlook).
• Microsoft Office Document Image Writer — a virtual printer that takes documents from Microsoft Office or any other application and prints them, or stores them in an image file as TIFF or Microsoft Document Imaging Format format. It was discontinued with Office 2010.^[31]
• Microsoft Office Document Imaging — an application that supports editing scanned documents. Discontinued with Office 2010.^[31]
• Microsoft Office Document Scanning — a scanning and OCR application. Discontinued with Office 2010.^[31]
• Microsoft PhotoDraw 2000 — A graphics program that was first released as part of the Office 2000 Premium Edition. A later version for Windows XP compatibility was released, known as PhotoDraw 2000 Version 2. Microsoft discontinued the program in 2001.
• Microsoft Photo Editor — Photo-editing/raster-graphics software in older Office versions up to Office XP. It was supplemented by Microsoft PhotoDraw in Office 2000 Premium edition.
• Microsoft Schedule Plus — Released with Office 95. It featured a planner, to-do list, and contact information. Its functions were incorporated into Microsoft Outlook.
• Microsoft Virtual PC — Included with Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2004 for Mac. Microsoft discontinued support for Virtual PC on the Mac in 2006 owing to new Macs possessing the same Intel architecture as Windows PCs.^[32] It emulated a standard PC and its hardware.
• Microsoft Vizact 2000 — A program that "activated" documents using HTML, adding effects such as animation. It allows users to create dynamic documents for the Web. Development has ended due to unpopularity.
• Microsoft Data Analyzer 2002 — A business intelligence program for graphical visualization of data and its analysis.
• Office Assistant, included since Office 97 (Windows) and Office 98 (Mac) as a part of Microsoft Agent technology, is a system that uses animated characters to offer context-sensitive suggestions to users and access to the help system. The Assistant is often dubbed "Clippy" or "Clippit", due to its default to a paper clip character, coded as CLIPPIT.ACS. The latest versions that include the Office Assistant were Office 2003 (Windows) and Office 2004 (Mac).

Version history[link]

Microsoft Windows versions[link]

The Microsoft Office for Windows[link]

The Microsoft Office for Windows^[33] 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.^[34]

The Microsoft Office for Windows 1.5[link]

The Microsoft Office for Windows 1.5 updated the suite with Microsoft Excel 3.0.^[35]

The Microsoft Office for Windows 1.6[link]

The Microsoft Office for Windows 1.6^[36] added Microsoft Mail for PC Networks 2.1 to the bundle.^[37]

The Microsoft Office for Windows 3.0[link]

The Microsoft Office for Windows 3.0,^[38] also called Microsoft Office 92, released in August 1992,^[39] 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.^[40] In 1993, The Microsoft Office Professional^[41] was released, which added Microsoft Access 1.1.^[42]

Microsoft Office 4.0[link]

Microsoft Office 4.0 was released containing Word 6.0, Excel 4.0, PowerPoint 3.0 and Mail in 1994. 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[link]

Microsoft Office 4.2 for Windows NT was released in 1994 for i386, Alpha,^[43] MIPS and PowerPC ^[44] architectures, containing Word 6.0 and Excel 5.0 (both 32-bit,^[45] PowerPoint 4.0 (16-bit), and Microsoft Office Manager 4.2 (the precursor to the Office Shortcut Bar).

Microsoft Office 4.3[link]

Microsoft Office 4.3 was released as the last 16-bit version, containing Word 6.0, Excel 5.0, PowerPoint 4.0. Office 4.3 (plus Access 2.0 in the Pro version) is the last version to support Windows 3.x, Windows NT 3.1 and Windows NT 3.5. Windows NT 3.51 was supported up to and including Office 97.

Microsoft Office 95[link]

Microsoft Office 95 was released in 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 Access 7.0. If the professional version was purchased in CD-ROM form, it also included Bookshelf.

Microsoft Office 97[link]

Microsoft Office 97 (Office 8.0), was a major milestone release. It included hundreds of new features and improvements, 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[link]

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[link]

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.^[46]

Microsoft Office 2003[link]

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[link]

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,^[47] 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.^[48]

Microsoft Office 2010[link]

Microsoft Office 2010 (Office 14.0) was finalized on April 15, 2010, and was made available to consumers on June 15, 2010.^[49][50] The main features of Office 2010 include the backstage file menu, new collaboration tools, a customizable ribbon, protected view and a navigation pane. This is the first version to ship in 32- and 64-bits. Microsoft Office 2010 also features a new logo, which is similar to the 2007 logo, except in gold, and with a slightly modified shape.^[51] Service Pack 1 for Office 2010 was released on June 28, 2011.^[52]

Microsoft Office 15[link]

Microsoft Office 15 is reportedly in Build 15.0.2703.1000 (version 15), and has reached Milestone 2. 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 will include more templates and transition effects, and OneNote will include a new splash screen.^[53] On May 16, 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.^[54] 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.^[55] This version can read and write ODF 1.2.^[56]

As of January 30, 2012, Microsoft has released a technical preview of Office 15 Build 15.0.3612.1010 . It has been announced from Microsoft that a public beta of Office 15 will be available in the summer.^[57]

Macintosh versions[link]

Prior to packaging its various office-type Macintosh software applications into Office, Microsoft released Mac versions of Word 1.0 in 1984, the first year of the Macintosh computer; Excel 1.0 in 1985; and PowerPoint 1.0 in 1987.^[58] Microsoft does not include its Access database application in Office for Mac.

Microsoft has noted that some features are added to Office for Mac before they appear in Windows versions, such as Office for Mac 2001's Office Project Gallery and PowerPoint Movie feature, which allows users to save presentations as QuickTime movies.^[59][60] However, Microsoft Office for Mac has been long criticized for its lack of support of Unicode and right-to-left languages, notably Arabic and Hebrew.^[61][62]

The Microsoft Office[link]

The Microsoft Office was introduced for Macintosh in 1989, before Office was released for Windows.^[63] It included Word 4.0, Excel 2.2, PowerPoint 2.01, and Mail 1.37.^[58][64] It was originally a limited-time promotion but later became a regular product. With the release of Office on CD-ROM later that year, Microsoft became the first major Mac publisher to put its applications on CD-ROM.^[65]

Microsoft Office 1.5 for Mac[link]

Microsoft Office 1.5 for Mac was released in 1991 and included the updated Excel 3.0, the first application to support Apple’s System 7 operating system.^[58]

Microsoft Office 3.0 for Mac[link]

Microsoft Office 3.0 for Mac was released in 1992. It included Word 5.0, Excel 4.0, and PowerPoint 3.0. Excel 4.0 was the first application to support the new AppleScript.^[58]

Microsoft Office 4.2 for Mac[link]

Microsoft Office 4.2 for Mac was released in 1994. (Version 4.0 was skipped to synchronize version numbers with Office for Windows.) Version 4.2 included Word 6.0, Excel 5.0, PowerPoint 4.0, and Mail 3.2.^[66] It was the first Office suite for the Power Macintosh.^[58] Its user interface was identical to Office 4.2 for Windows,^[67] leading many customers to comment that it wasn't Mac-like enough.^[59] The final release for Mac 68K was Office 4.2.1, which updated Word to version 6.0.1, somewhat improving its performance.

Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition[link]

Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition was unveiled at MacWorld Expo/San Francisco in 1998. It introduced the Internet Explorer 4.0 web browser and Outlook Express, an Internet e-mail client and usenet newsgroup reader.^[68] Office 98 was re-engineered by Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit to satisfy customers' desire for software they felt was more Mac-like.^[59] It included drag–and-drop installation, self-repairing applications and Quick Thesaurus, before such features were available in Office for Windows. It also was the first version to support QuickTime movies.^[59]

Microsoft Office 2001[link]

Microsoft Office 2001 launched in 2000, was the last Office suite for the classic Mac OS; it required Mac OS 8, although version 8.5 or later was recommended. Office 2001 introduced Entourage, an e-mail client that included information management tools such as a calendar, an address book, task lists and notes.^[60]

Microsoft Office v. X[link]

Microsoft Office v. X was released in 2001 for the new Mac OS X platform.^[69]

Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac[link]

Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac was released in 2004.^[70]

Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac[link]

Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac was released in 2008. It was the first Office for Mac suite that was a universal binary, running natively on both Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs, and it supported Office Open XML file formats first introduced in Office 2007 for Windows.^[58] Five months after it was released, Microsoft said that Office 2008 was "selling faster than any previous version of Office for Mac in the past 19 years" and affirmed "its commitment to future products for the Mac."^[71]

Microsoft Office for Mac 2011[link]

Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 was released on October 26, 2010,^[4] and features a Mac version of Outlook to replace the Entourage email client. This Mac version of Outlook is intended to make the Mac version of Office work better with Microsoft's Exchange server and with those using Office for Windows.^[72] Office 2011 includes a Mac-based Ribbon similar to Office for Windows.

References[link]

Microsoft portal

External links[link]

Wikibooks has more on the topic of Microsoft Office

• Microsoft Office | Official website