Microsoft announces Office 2013

Microsoft wants to be more like Apple, plans to launch more own-brand devices

Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer on Monday unveiled the company’s next generation Office Suite software during a press conference in San Fransisco, California. Office 2013, which includes Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, is available for testing today in a public Consumer Preview for users of Windows 7 and Windows 8. The software giant’s latest Office Suite works with both tablet PCs and traditional computers, and supports touch, stylus, mouse or keyboard input. Microsoft is pushing the social aspect of Office 2013, which will allow for documents to be delivered to users through an up-to-date cloud service. “We are taking bold steps at Microsoft,” Ballmer said at the press conference. “The new, modern Office will deliver unparalleled productivity and flexibility for both consumers and business customers. It is a cloud service and will fully light-up when paired with Windows 8.” Microsoft’s press release follows below.

Microsoft unveils the new Office

Delivers Office as a cloud service while harnessing innovations enabled by Windows 8

SAN FRANCISCO — July 16, 2012 — Today, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the customer preview of the new Microsoft Office, available at office.com/preview. The next release features an intuitive design that works beautifully with touch, stylus, mouse or keyboard across new Windows devices, including tablets. The new Office is social and unlocks modern scenarios in reading, note-taking, meetings and communications and will be delivered to subscribers through a cloud service that is always up to date.

“We are taking bold steps at Microsoft,” Ballmer said at the press conference in San Francisco. “The new, modern Office will deliver unparalleled productivity and flexibility for both consumers and business customers. It is a cloud service and will fully light-up when paired with Windows 8.”

Office at Its Best on Windows 8

Office Is in the Cloud

Office Is Social

Office Unlocks New Scenarios

While the full lineup of offerings and pricing plans will be announced in the fall, Ballmer discussed three new Office 365 subscription services. When available, each new subscription offer will include the new 2013 editions of the Office applications — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Access. In addition, subscribers will receive future rights to version upgrades as well as per-use rights across up to five PCs or Macs and mobile devices. The three new editions will be the following:

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