Microsoft Reveals New Office 12 UI

Microsoft unveiled Microsoft Office 12 publicly yesterday. The surprisingly innovative office productivity suite will feature a task-based interface that bubbles relevant functionality to the user as needed.

Paul Thurrott

September 13, 2005

6 Min Read
ITPro Today logo

WinInfo Daily UPDATE--Microsoft Reveals New Office 12 UI

Subscribe to Windows IT Pro:
https://store.pentontech.com/index.cfm?s=1&promocode=eu205xfL

===============

To ensure that future email messages you receive from WinInfo Daily UPDATE aren't mistakenly blocked by antispam software, be sure to add [email protected] to your list of allowed senders and contacts.

==========

This email newsletter comes to you free and is supported by the following advertiser, which offers products and services in which you might be interested. Please take a moment to visit this advertiser's Web site and show your support for WinInfo Daily UPDATE. New MVP Group Policy Management Technical Brief
http://wm.quest.com/WITPWinInfoMESGPTechBrief091205 ==== Sponsor: Quest Software ==== New MVP Group Policy Management Technical Brief
Active Directory-based Group Policy allows you to centrally manage security configuration, desktop lockdown and software deployment. Learn which Group Policy solutions let you take control of your infrastructure. Get this technical brief written by Darren Mar-Elia, a Microsoft MVP and Quest Software CTO, and find out how to manage, extend and simplify your Group Policy. Learn how to avoid the pitfalls of poor Group Policy management. Find out about solutions for Group Policy that allow you to take control of your infrastructure, provide change and version control of Group Policy Objects for improved security and desktop configuration, as well as extend Group Policy's power to UNIX and Linux. Get this tech brief today to find out which solutions the experts recommend.
http://wm.quest.com/WITPWinInfoMESGPTechBrief091205

==========

In the News
- Microsoft Reveals New Office 12 UI
- Judge Clears Ex-Microsoft Researcher to Work for Google in Limited Capacity
- PDC 2005 Blog ==== In the News ====
by Paul Thurrott, [email protected] Microsoft Reveals New Office 12 UI
Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates unveiled Microsoft Office 12 publicly for the first time yesterday. The surprisingly innovative office productivity suite will move away from the command-based interface that all Office products have used and will feature a task-based interface that bubbles relevant functionality to the user as needed. Microsoft officials I spoke with at Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2005 in Los Angeles say this new Office UI will make users more productive and help them accomplish complicated tasks. "This new user interface is designed around the ways people actually think and work," Group Product Manager Dan Leach told me in a post-PDC 2005 keynote briefing. In the Office 12 products, which will ship alongside Windows Vista in late 2006, the familiar menu and toolbars will be replaced with tabs and UI elements called galleries, which bundle related functionality. For example, in Microsoft Office Word 12, tabs such as Write, Insert, Page Layout, References, Mailings, and Review will be arrayed along the top of the window. When you perform certain tasks, such as inserting an image, new tabs will appear as needed. And each tab will expose a range of galleries. In his keynote address, Gates noted that the change was needed because Office has become so feature-packed. A menu-and-toolbar UI worked fine when Office products such as Word used only 100 commands, as the first version did 20 years ago. But Word 2003 features more than 1500 commands and includes a whopping 35 toolbars as a result. Clearly, the old way of doing things is outdated. Office 12 will run on both Vista and Windows XP, Microsoft says, and won't use any of the newer Vista-era technologies such as Windows Presentation Foundation (code-named Avalon) or the WinFX programming libraries. A first beta version of Office 12 is due before the end of the year. Judge Clears Ex-Microsoft Researcher to Work for Google in Limited Capacity
King County, Washington, Superior Court Judge Steven Gonzalez has found that ex-Microsoft researcher Kai-Fu Lee had misled the software giant and exploited confidential Microsoft information when he first began working at Google. However, Gonzalez ruled that Lee can continue working for Google with certain restrictions. Specifically, Lee can help Google create a research lab in China and recruit potential employees. But he can't use confidential Microsoft information in the course of his job or work with natural language processing or speech recognition in his new capacity at Google. Microsoft said it was pleased with the ruling. "Dr. Lee is going to be the highest-paid [human resources] manager ever," Microsoft Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Tom Burt said. "He can't tell [Google recruits] what to do, he can't direct them, [and] he can't manage them." For his part, Lee, who had expressed frustration with Microsoft's slow pace in China, says he's happy to begin his new job. "Before today, I have not really been able to work, talk to people, or email anybody [at Google]," he said. "The importance of this is that it allows me to do my job." Google will eventually build two research labs in China--one in Beijing and one in Shanghai. The company hasn't yet decided which one to build first. PDC 2005 Blog
Want to know what's going on at Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2005? Follow along as I recount my first "official" day at the conference--a day of keynotes, announcements, surprises, and my very own copy of Windows Vista build 5219.
http://www.windowsitpro.com/articles/index.cfm?articleid=47693 ==== Events and Resources ====
(A complete Web and live events directory brought to you by Windows IT Pro: http://www.windowsitpro.com/events ) Get Ready for SQL Server 2005 Roadshow in Europe--Back By Popular Demand
Get the facts about migrating to SQL Server 2005! SQL Server experts will present real-world information about administration, development, and business intelligence to help you implement a best-practices migration to SQL Server 2005 and improve your database-computing environment. Receive a one-year membership to PASS and a one-year subscription to SQL Server Magazine. Register now! http://www.windowsitpro.com/roadshows/sqlservereurope/index.cfm?code=0914emailannc ==== Featured White Paper ==== How to Solve the Antispam Dilemma
In this free white paper, learn why older spam prevention technologies using traditional content filtering don't work against the latest spammer tactics--and why more corporate email administrators are turning to a managed email security service. Discover how to achieve email security with multiple layer protection, minimize false positives, cut email administration costs and keep user communities happy and productive. Download your copy today! http://www.windowsitpro.com/whitepapers/postini/managedservice/index.cfm?code=0914emailannc ==== Announcements ==== SQL Server Magazine Has What IT Professionals Need
Get SQL Server Magazine and get answers! Subscribe today, and get an entire year for just $39.95--that's 44 percent off the cover price. You'll also gain exclusive access to the entire SQL Server Magazine article database (more than 2300 articles) and get the Top SQL Tips handbook (more than 60 helpful tips) FREE. This is a limited-time, risk-free offer, so click here now:
https://store.pentontech.com/index.cfm?s=9&promocode=eu2159u2 ==== Sponsored Links ==== Argent Versus MOM 2005
Download Argent Versus Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 http://a.windowsitpro.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/www.windowsitpro.com/TextLink/1112745096/x14/Penton/WN_Argent_Sept05_NLSplink116195/1x1.gif/1 Is Your Office Truly Fax Integrated?
Download this free whitepaper from Faxback and find out! http://www.windowsitpro.com/whitepapers/faxback/officefax/index.cfm?code=NLsplink ==== Contact Us ==== About the newsletter -- [email protected] About technical questions -- http://www.windowsitpro.com/forums About product news -- [email protected] About your subscription -- [email protected] About sponsoring UPDATE -- [email protected]

===============


This email newsletter is brought to you by Windows IT Pro, the leading publication for IT professionals deploying Windows and related technologies. Subscribe today!
https://store.pentontech.com/index.cfm?s=1&promocode=eu205xfb

Manage Your Account
You are subscribed as %%$email%%

You are receiving this email message because you subscribed to this newsletter on our Web site. To unsubscribe, click the unsubscribe link: %%UNSUB_HREF%%

View the Windows IT Pro privacy policy at
http://www.windowsitpro.com/aboutus/index.cfm?action=privacy

Windows IT Pro is a division of Penton Media Inc. 221 East 29th Street, Loveland, CO 80538 Attention: Customer Service Department

Copyright 2005, Penton Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Read more about:

Microsoft

About the Author(s)

Paul Thurrott

Paul Thurrott is senior technical analyst for Windows IT Pro. He writes the SuperSite for Windows, a weekly editorial for Windows IT Pro UPDATE, and a daily Windows news and information newsletter called WinInfo Daily UPDATE.

Sign up for the ITPro Today newsletter
Stay on top of the IT universe with commentary, news analysis, how-to's, and tips delivered to your inbox daily.

You May Also Like