2005-09-20 MS Office 12 announced

Microsoft: new user-interface for Office 12

On the Professional Developers Conference (PDC), one of Microsoft developer trade-fairs, Microsoft chief-developer Bill Gates presented a new user-interface for the next office-suite with code “Office 12”, as well as further details to the next operating system Vista.

Less buttons and toolbars, a new design – these are the most important innovations in Microsofts office-software.

In the new version the number of buttons is strongly reduced. In Office 12 the menus and toolbars are replaced through graphically command-tabs. Which of them are displayed, depends on the respective tasks. The command-tabs contain functions for certains tasks, which are displayed, if they are needed and are disappeared, if this is no more the case. Furthermore the formatting of documents is to become more simple with the help of an integrated semiautomatic system, which submits design-proposals and which changes independently the layout.

In the new Office-design is the toolbar in the centre located, which adapts transparency to Windows Vista. The new toolbar summarize the 35 toolbars from Office 2003 to one toolbar. The new user-interface is revolutionized and is according Bill Gates the important Office-Release since Office 95. User of Office 12 are due to the new user guidance to be able to concentrate themselves on their targets. The user-interface is the result of an extensive usability-research. Furthermore Microsoft will introduce an uniform file format on the basis of the XML-standards. The programs Excel, Word and later Power Point shall save files as XML, which makes the exchange of contents with other applications more easier. Beyond that is planned a integration of the ZIP-compression, whereby the data can be made smaller. Further advantages of the new office-package are:

• Easement in the handling with data inside the company
• Central administration of expiration dates and archiving options for doucments
• Common treatment of data and documents in the company
• Improved data exchange

Office 12 is to come in the second half-year 2006 on the market and runs under Windows XP as well as Vista. In the autumn 2005 already appears the first beta version.

source: www.golem.de

We (ERP4all Business Software GmbH) as developer of the ERP software MiCLAS. will also work with our version MiCLAS. 6.00 further with Microsoft Office as standard in the office-software. In the course of the further developments our ERP solution as company software the smooth connection at Microsoft Office 12 will be a target, which is also in the interest of our clients. In version 5.00 the current Office-package, MS Office 2003 will supported.