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Microsoft Office 2016 desktop suite scheduled for H2 2015

by Mark Tyson on 22 January 2015, 22:00

Tags: Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

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Microsoft gave us a brief rundown of Office for Windows 10 yesterday at its big Windows 10 bash in Redmond. Today the firm went into a few more details about that version of Office and snuck in the announcement that the Microsoft Office 2016 desktop suite would be made available in the second half of this year.

Differing from the "touch and mobile optimized versions" of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook for Windows 10, the Microsoft Office 2016 desktop suite "will remain the comprehensive Office experience you're long familiar with," and it will be "best suited for a PC with keyboard and mouse". An idea of the differences in the depth of application on offer might be indicated by comparing the currently available freely downloadable Windows 8 OneNote app to the OneNote application that is part of the Office 2013 suite.

The only other things we know about the next full Office suite for Windows is that it will offer "compelling new experiences," to differentiate it from the Windows 10 touch optimised apps. The Office blog says we should stay tuned for further details.

So let's reflect on the Office for Windows 10 apps and what they will provide to those who don't perhaps need to buy or subscribe to a comprehensive Office suite. Today Microsoft released a new video as part of its Office Mechanics series, to go through all the new mobile and touch orientated apps. Take a look at the video below.

According to Microsoft the standout new features in Office for Windows 10 include:

  • The Insights for Office feature in Word for Windows 10, which is powered by Bing, bringing in online resources to help improve your documents.
  • The easy, intuitive touch controls in Excel meaning "you won’t even miss your keyboard and mouse," for selecting, data manipulating and charting tasks.
  • Being able to create beautiful PowerPoint presentations and naturally ink the slides in real-time when presenting.
  • Benefit of easy touch optimised versions of OneNote, Outlook Mail and Outlook Calendar.

Word for Windows 10

Office for Windows 10 will be free to use for smartphones and certain smaller screened tablets/convertibles but will be purchased apps from the Windows app store otherwise. It will be available in preview form in the coming weeks. With the Microsoft Office 2016 desktop suite we expect more traditional suite pricing and it becoming part of the Office 365 subscription service bundles.

OneNote for Windows 10

HEXUS Forums :: 27 Comments

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Posted by MrRockliffe - Fri 23 Jan 2015 08:38
Amazing, multi billion dollar companies and they can't even count…
Posted by Tpyo - Fri 23 Jan 2015 10:09
Will Sway and other projects be bundled or are they staying independent?

For me I'm more concerned about pricing/pricing models. I don't mind paying more up front to own the software, but will generally avoid subscription services on principle.
More specifically here, I'm not that comfortable with 365's ‘don’t worry, we'll look after that for you in our cloud' approach. It may work for backups (if you aren't worried about the privcacy/security implications) but I most definitely prefer to work from a local copy so that work doesn't stop every time the interweb flutters.
Posted by crossy - Fri 23 Jan 2015 10:22
Tpyo
For me I'm more concerned about pricing/pricing models. I don't mind paying more up front to own the software, but will generally avoid subscription services on principle.
I'm more amenable to subscription services for apps, (subscriptions for OS's though are a non-starter), it'd have to depend on the pricing etc. For example, if it was £60-80/year for a four user license that included desktops, tablets (inc non-Windows ones) and mobiles (also including non-Windows ones) then I could be persuaded.
Tpyo
More specifically here, I'm not that comfortable with 365's ‘don’t worry, we'll look after that for you in our cloud' approach. It may work for backups (if you aren't worried about the privcacy/security implications) but I most definitely prefer to work from a local copy so that work doesn't stop every time the interweb flutters.
I thought Office365 was tied into OneDrive, in which case you can always use “Make available offline” to make sure it's sync'ing to the cloud rather than storing only in the cloud. Although why that isn't the default setting and they offer a “Make available online” option instead is another question. Don't use OneDrive a lot, prefer Dropbox because it's easier to get my head around.
Posted by TheAnimus - Fri 23 Jan 2015 10:32
There isn't any need to save a document in 365 to ‘the cloud’, unless you want collaborative editing features in a live manner. Even then you can always host your own sharepoint.
Posted by ChinesePate - Fri 23 Jan 2015 11:55
I wonder if they introduce any significant changes this time, as last 10 years they seem to have spent working on the ribbon.

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