Office Web Apps already provides a co-authoring capability, but Microsoft plans to improve it sometime in the relatively near future with real-time capabilities. In essence, users who are working on the same project will no longer have to refresh to get updated changes made by other co-authors, instead seeing them happen in real-time. You can see this feature in the video below.

Those who use the web apps can see this particular feature with the PowerPoint Web App, with Microsoft saying that support and speed for the feature will increase “in the next few months.” The online user experience is also in the pipeline for updates, which are reported to include changes improving the ease of working with the service online.

Find and Replace is one specific feature that gets mentioned, as well as simplified file management and improved launch times. This is one area in particular, says Microsoft, where users have been pushing for some changes. And, finally, as we mentioned, Microsoft will be bringing support for editing on Android tablets at an unspecified date.

[via Microsoft]

Michael Silver, an analyst at Gartner, stated that Microsoft saying 25% of its enterprise customers have adopted Office 365 is a “big claim”. Things became a bit more peculiar when Peter Klein, Microsoft’s Chief Financial Officer, stated that Office 365 was starting to gain strong momentum in the market, but declined to release any information regarding the actual number of users who have purchased the product.

Silver stated that Microsoft needs to release more details because “one out of four customers haven’t moved to Office 365 to a large extent.” Silver also speculates that the numbers may be a bit exaggerated and that many of the users who were counted were probably only testing out the Office 365 trial period. T.J Keitt, an analyst at Forrester Research, also stated that due to Office 365 coming in so many varieties, including an e-mail only option, a bundled option, or a full-packed option, its hard to tell which packages customers were using and which ones were driving the highest numbers of sales for the product.

Keitt also mentions that Microsoft’s definition of enterprise customers varies greatly from Forrester’s definition. For Microsoft, an enterprise customer is a company with at least 250 employees, whereas with Forrester, an enterprise customer is a company with at least 1,000 employees. Because of Microsoft’s definition, Keitt believes that Microsoft was able to fluff up its numbers.

The analysts do not doubt Microsoft’s Office 365′s potential, but are just asking for more details regarding its data, such as what types of companies played the biggest role in the adoption of Office 365. Keitt states that he sees many businesses considering using Microsoft’s Office 365 product for their cloud-based communications. He also states that its becoming popular not only among businesses, but government agencies and schools as well.

[via IT World]

The Outlook RT app was spotted by Windows SuperSite’s Paul Thurrott, who says that the app is in “shipping form”. Many sources have stated that Outlook RT was not initially released with Windows RT devices due to two issues. One issue was a firmware bug with the ARM chipset that would result in constant crashes and hangups with Outlook. The second issue was related to excessive battery drainage. Both issues are reportedly fixed.

A source has also told ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley that Outlook RT has become a “top enterprise request”, and has become a top priority for Microsoft’s Office team. When Outlook RT becomes available to the public, it won’t be released for free, or bundled with future Windows RT devices. You will most likely have to subscribe to Office 365 for the app. Outlook RT is also expected to be rolled out during Microsoft Office’s Gemini update, as well as the release of Windows 8.1 Blue.

It’s also speculated that once Outlook RT is finally rolled out to the public, the chances of Microsoft Office becoming available to iPad devices will drastically improve. The main reasoning for this is because many believed that it would be a terrible move for Microsoft to release Outlook for iPad devices before it released it for its own devices. Once Microsoft releases Office apps for iPads, it could possibly generate $2.5 billion in revenue. In related Windows RT news, be sure to check out our review for Microsoft’s Surface RT.

[via ZDNet]

The wave-one updates will transform the existing Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote apps by converting the apps to Window’s Metro UI. Gemini’s second wave is said to be the jump start to Microsoft’s planned, frequent updates for Office 365 users. It will bring updates to both the Microsoft Office apps, as well as Microsoft Office services, such as Exchange, or SharePoint.

According to ZDNet, there is a group inside the Microsoft Office team called the Modern Office Experience (MOX). Their prime goal is making Office more Metro for Windows 8 and future Windows Blue users. They accomplished their first goal when they created a Metro version of OneNote. The group originally wanted to create hybrid-Metro office apps, where they would act just like the Office 2013 apps now, but would also be able to work with Windows’s Metro environment. Unfortunately, it didn’t comply with the Windows RT/8 regulations, so the idea was killed.

Along with the Gemini release, Microsoft plans on developing a touch version of Office in the near future. The touch-based Office will be targeted more towards Windows RT devices, that will have consumers see Office as more than just a desktop-based application. To fully take advantage of the Gemini updates, as well as Microsoft’s other Office updates, the company is trying very hard to push consumers to subscribe to its Office 365 service. It is even temping college students to subscribe by offering them a free trial of the service.

[via ZDNet]

Office 365 University allows access on up to two computers per account, and it costs $79.99 for a four-year subscription. The bundle comes with all the necessary tools to get those assignments done, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote. To take advantage of the free trial and get your free SkyDrive storage, all you have to do is enter in your .edu email address.

Plus, if you share the offer on Facebook, you’ll get an additional three months of free access, totaling six months of Office 365 without paying a dime. Of course, that’s only $10 you’re saving, but a penny saved is a penny earned. Of course, if you’re not a student, you can still try out Office 365 Home Premium free for one month as well.

Microsoft released a comical advertisement to promote the offer, which features Parks and Recreation star Aubrey Plaza who plays deadpan character April Ludgate-Dwyer in the show. In the commercial, Plaza informs students about how easy it is to get your collaboration projects done using Office 365 University and SkyDrive in separate locations, officially negating the point of meeting up in the library.

When talking about the subscription service, he added, “You can even imagine new applications coming out for the subscriptions.” This follows Microsoft’s not-so-subtle push to get consumers to switch from licensed Office 2013 to Office 365, something that many embrace and others denounce. Reports Venture Beat, he reassured consumers that the standalone version isn’t going anywhere, however.

As we reported earlier today, Microsoft has relented to the backlash over Office 2013 licensing and the issue with transferability. The retail license for the software has been altered so that Office can now be transferred to a different computer, such as in the case of buying a new machine if the current one fails.

He also spoke about touch versions of Office, specifically pointing out the OneNote app while talking about Microsoft’s transition toward other similar versions of Office. The transition process, according to DelBene, will let Microsoft “rethink” the Office applications using the desktop versions as a foundation.

[via The Verge]

Before, Microsoft would offer some leeway for Office 2013 users. If your PC died on you, and if it’s still under warranty, you would be able to transfer your Office 2013 software onto a new computer. But now Microsoft is opening up the transfer gates entirely. You are now able to transfer your Office 2013 software to a new PC, but only every 90 days. If your computer experiences hardware failure, you will be exempt from the 90 day rule and can have Office transferred “sooner”.

In order to transfer Office to another computer, you have to uninstall the software from your old computer first. You are still limited to only one copy of the software. Microsoft is also allowing you to transfer Office 2013 to another user’s computer, but only if you’re the “first licensed user” of the product, and only if the other user agrees to Office’s terms of agreement (which no one probably reads).

This is definitely a step in the right direction for Microsoft. While it still sucks that you’re only able to install Office 2013 on one computer, being able to transfer Office 2013 makes things more flexible. For those of you who need more licenses for Office 2013, it’d probably be best to opt for Office 365. Though it is expensive, you get 5 licenses of Office 2013 plus its web apps, and you will receive updates every 3 months for the product.

[via Microsoft]

Office 365 Small Business Premium offers the user 5 ProPlus licenses that they can use to install Office on their PC or Mac. It also gives you access to the web-based versions of Office products. It includes business-grade email, shared calendars, website tools and HD video-conferencing capabilities. Office 365 Small Business Premium costs $150 per user, per year, which equals roughly $12.50 per user, per month. It’s user-friendly, so you will not need your IT department to help you set everything up.

Office 365 Midsize Business offers the same benefits of Small Business Premium, however it also offers enterprise-quality communication services and collaborates with Exchange Online, Lync Online, and Sharepoint Online. It is user-friendly, and it includes Active Directory integration alongside a web-based administartion console and “business-hours” phone support. It makes managing your huge office a much easier task. The cost is $180 per user, per year, which is about $15 per user, per month.

Office 365 ProPlus, offers 5 licenses to install the Office software on PCs or Macs, and it also allows you to access the Microsoft Office 2013 via the web. You can access your Office 365 from any device, with all of your documents and settings stored in the cloud. It, however, lacks the business-specific capabilities the other packages offer. It’s user-friendly, giving you the tools necessary to update your apps and control various features. Office 365 ProPlus is offered at $144 per user and is meant for businesses who don’t find the other two packages appealing.

Alongside these three new offerings, Microsoft is also keeping its original business offerings for businesses that don’t need the whole package. So for businesses that are satisfied by just using the Office web-based apps, or businesses that only need access to enterprise-grade email, those cheaper options will still be available for you. Businesses can also test-run the new Office 365 business offerings without paying a cent. They can get a feel for the products before they commit to it.

[via Microsoft]

As you can see in the graph above, Office 2013 features the same rights as the Product Key Card (PKC) version of Office 2010, but not the Full Package Product (FPP). Office 2013 suites are not transferable, and can only be installed a single time, meaning those who upgrade their computer or otherwise gravitate to a new machine will need to buy a new license. This applies to the Home and Student, Home and Business, and Professional versions.

In comparison, the FPP version of Office 2010 is transferable across all versions, with each allowing at least 2 installations. Home and Student allows three installations, while Home and Business and Professional allow for two each. Microsoft stresses that Office 2013′s transferability is consistent with the PKC Office 2010, which is says most consumers chose over the FPP.

Meanwhile, Office 365 Home Premium is transferable and allows for five installations, while University is also transferable and allows for two installations. This makes the subscription version of Office the only option for those looking to use the suite across multiple devices, whereas Office 2013 can only be licensed to a single computer and cannot be transferred regardless of which version you have. Says Microsoft, if Office 2013 is licensed to a computer that fails under warranty, it can be replaced by contacting the company.

[via Office]

The increase in prices brings the Office for Mac OS software up to the same price-point as Office 2013 for Windows. Also with the price increase for Office for the Mac OS, it looks like Microsoft has also gotten rid of its multi-license products, which is probably a move that’s meant to drive consumers towards Microsoft’s Office 365 subscription service. For $99 a year, or for $9.99 a month, you can subscribe to Office 365 for families, and install Office on up to 5 devices. With the subscription, the user will be given the installation software for Office for Mac Home and Business. For Windows users, you get the installation files for Office 2013.

According to Computer World, the price change for the Mac OS software was most likely increased around January 29th, the same day Microsoft Office 2013 and Office 365 was launched. For Mac owners, if you still want to purchase Microsoft Office for the older price-point, many retailers, like Apple itself, are still selling Office for Mac 2011 at its original price.

Microsoft hiking up the prices of its Mac software, and also its elimination of multi-license software does bring the spotlight to open source projects, like Open Office or Libre Office, who offer programs with the same functions for free. So unless you specifically need the Microsoft Office software for your job or business, there are plenty of alternative, free software that can meet your needs.

The new EULA for Office 2013 reads: “Our software license is permanently assigned to the licensed computer.” Meaning that it is permanently attached to the first computer upon which it is applied, forcing those who update to a new computer to buy a new license, something that was never necessary in the past.

To confirm the language in the EULA, the folks at Computerworld sent Microsoft a message clarifying that once Office 2013 is activated on a computer, the license cannot be reused on a different computer, to which the response was “Correct.” In an attempt to further clarify, Microsoft was then asked whether the EULA prevented users who replaced their computer from reusing their license again on the new PC, to which the company responded that it had no comment.

What is Microsoft’s end goal in changing its Office retail license? To get more users to gravitate to Office 365, it would seem. According to a Microsoft spokesperson, “We’ve been very clear in all of our communications that customers seeking transferability should get Office 365 and that Office 2013 is licensed to one device.”

[via Computerworld]

The five new apps are comprised of Bing Finance, Maps and Dictionary for Excel, as well as Image Search, News Search, and Dictionary for Word. Going through them one-by-one, Bing Maps pictured above allows Excel users to map data on a visual map, providing such data as location names and tools for navigating within the map, such as zoom and panning. Road view, birds eye view, and map view are all available.

Then there’s the Bing Finance app for Excel, which is currently in beta mode. The Finance app aids in generating financial portfolios within Excel, providing real-time financial data, such as stock prices, within the program. There’s the Dictionary app for both Word and Excel, which is about what you’d expect in a dictionary. Spellings and definitions are provided.

Finally, there’s News search and Image search for Word. News search, like the name suggests, allows one to search for news and videos within a Word document, particularly handy if you’re writing a report or research paper. Then there’s Image search, which allows for users to find images from within a Word document, then easily embed them in the document via an “insert” button.

[via Bing]

Speaking about Dropbox, Ballmer mentioned that the service’s 100 million users “sounds like a pretty small number,” and he noted that Office users outnumber Dropbox’s user base by quite a few. While he wasn’t necessarily trying to downplay Dropbox’s significance, Ballmer said that it’s merely just a “fine little startup.”

Microsoft currently boasts around one billion Office users, and while many think that number will stay stagnant, Ballmer disagrees and says that the service will continue to grow and bring in new users, thanks to the “more and more people” entering the classroom or office and taking on more information-heavy jobs.

Towards the end of the interview, Ballmer was asked about Office coming to the iPad, and declined to directly comment on it. However, he did say that the company is “very glad” and “very happy” with the product, and “it makes sense on the devices like the Mac and the PC.” As far as future plans for an iPad version of Office, though? “We’ll see what we see in the future.”

[via Bloomberg Businessweek]

This version of Microsoft’s Office takes the aesthetics into the modern world, complete with flat graphics and texture-less interfaces all around. You’ve got some slightly more touch-friendly bits and pieces here and there as well, but overall you’ll find this experience just as or more user-friendly for all machines than its ever been before. Office 2013 is made for any kind of computer, but a keyboard and a mouse will still allow you to do your work fastest.

If you do plan on working with Office 365 for a full set of cloud functionalities, you’ll be tossing down $100 USD per year. If it’s worth that amount to have all of your documents in the cloud ready for editing anywhere, collaborating with colleagues anywhere, and getting software updates without thinking about them, then have at it! This amount of cash also essentially makes your Office experience a remote one, allowing you to work with documents in what’s essentially a full standard user experience in a browser whenever you like.

But there’s the point at which you’ll be deciding whether you want a full official Office work environment or if you’re all about Google Docs. We’re expecting that businesses across the board will be switching over to Office 365 sooner than later to make their end-user experience as smooth as possible. Office documents edited in the cloud are completely compatible with Office 2013 applications offline, this making the start-to-finish experience easy for all users.

Beyond Office 365′s online experience, your Office 2013 setup is extremely similar to past iterations of Office, with the biggest changes coming in the way you’re able to interact with the individual apps. There are new standard layouts in PowerPoint, OneNote is now working virtually with SkyDrive, and again, all of the interfaces are made with slightly larger buttons than past iterations so you’re able to easily work with your touchscreen computer. Office 2013 may not be limited to Windows 8, but it’s certainly been designed with Windows 8 touch machines in mind first and foremost.

Outlook 2013 has taken the better points of the re-boot of Outlook.com from 2012 and make it into an email program worth using on the desktop. You’ll find that in-line replies to contacts, quick previews of emails with mouse hovers, and instant connections to all of your Microsoft account contacts make for an extremely enticing alternative to whatever other desktop email solution you’re using now.

Access 2013 is an app that most users will likely never touch – but if you’re all about desktop asset tracking, creating custom web apps and home databases, and project management in general, you’ll be good to go. This is the new premiere tool for making your asset tracking a reality. Excel, Word, and PowerPoint continue to be the name-brand heroes of their own fields of course, only seeing improvements in this newest iteration of the Office suite.

The bottom line is that this upgrade is necessary for everyone who is at the top of their field in Office-centric workplaces and you’ll certainly want to consider adding the extra $100 a year to be fully cloud connected if you’re an on-the-go editor. If you’re an average everyday Office user, you’ll also want to consider the $140 USD for the standard version of Office 2013 for a full upgrade – it’s just a whole lot prettier.

You can purchase Office 2013 from Microsoft right this minute and download the whole suite in no time at all – it took us around 10 minutes from start to finish – real deal! Have a peek at the timeline below to see additional insight on the Office 2013 suite and Office 365 as well, and be sure to ask any questions you may have about the software below as this is a Live Review!

Home Premium users get 20GB of SkyDrive space, as well as 60 free world calling minutes in Skype each month; they can also access Office on Demand via the PC browser. Students, meanwhile, can have Office 365 University, which comes at $79.99 for a four year individual subscription.

You’ll need to be a college or university student, or a member of faculty or staff, in order to qualify, however; it’ll be available in 52 markets. On February 27, meanwhile, Microsoft will release Office 365 for businesses. It’s not clear how much subscriptions for that will cost yet.

Whichever version is used, the Office.com hub will serve as a central access points for all cloud-based documents, as well as the point of entry for Office on Demand. Earlier today, Microsoft added the full Office 2013 downloads to its online store.

According to the tweet, it looks like Microsoft will be launching Office 2013 and Office 365 tomorrow in Bryant Park in New York City. Microsoft released Office 2013 to manufacturing on October 11 last year, and they made it available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers later on. The company has been pointing to Q1 2013 release date for awhile, and now its finally official.

Office 2013 has been available for the Surface tablet for some time, as well OEM Windows 8 machines, but tomorrow will mark the point where desktop users who don’t have the new Office suite will finally be able to grab a version for themselves, as well as take advantage of the new Office 365 subscription service.

Back in November, we were teased with a few leaked screenshots of Office for iOS and Android. While we haven’t heard anything on that front for awhile, we’re curious if Microsoft will make the apps available tomorrow, but we also won’t be surprised if they wait a little while to make the software available on mobile devices. Also, just recently, Microsoft and the City of Chicago signed a deal that would see some 30,000 city employees move to Office 365 for their communication needs, a deal that will see the new subscription service jump to a great start right off the bat.

[via ZDNet]

Above you see the listing for Office 365 University, which allows a user to install the program on up to two PCs or Macs and gives that one user a four-year subscription to the suite of programs. The price of admission for University comes in at $79.99 CAD, which is in line with what Microsoft has previously announced for the US. On the other side of the coin, below you see the packaging for the Home Premium version, which will allow you to install the Office suite on up to five PCs or Macs. Though the packaging doesn’t come with a price, Microsoft previously announced a yearly subscription of $99.99 (that’s US dollars) for Home Premium.

Here’s the kicker, though: in the time since Neowin first reported about these images, the listings have been removed from Future Shop’s website. So, this was clearly a mix up that involved someone at Future Shop posting this information too early. One reason why Microsoft might have gotten after Future Shop for putting this information up is because the listings showed the release date for Office 365: January 29.

That’s coming up in less than two weeks, so if that’s the release date Microsoft is truly targeting, then we can probably expect confirmation soon. One thing is sure: if Future Shop has enough information to post a listing for Office 365 on its website, then the suite’s release should be coming up soon. Stay tuned for more.

The City will consolidate its three disparate email systems into one Microsoft Office 365 environment in an effort to improve collaboration, enhance security, and provide both mobile and desktop access. This new strategy will save the city more than $1.3 million in costs over the next four years, which is an 80% decrease in cost per employee.

Mayor Emanuel says that the city is “leveraging new technologies to streamline and modernize the way we do business in order to provide the residents of Chicago with the best service at the best price.” Microsoft is currently preparing an update to Office 365 that will include support for its new Office 2013 desktop applications, including the ability for Windows 7 and Windows 8 users to stream apps to PCs using Microsoft’s cloud offerings.

Chicago isn’t the first city to take advantage of Microsoft’s services. The city joins a rapidly growing list of state and local governments that are using the services, including San Francisco, the State of California, and Minnesota. Chief Information Officer Brett Goldstein says that the move to cloud services is a “major step” towards modernizing the city.

According to her, Google “has not yet shown they are truly serious,” in the business space, as most of its money still comes from advertising. That much is true: The New York Times spoke to an unnamed former Google executive who said that Google Apps accounted for $1 billion of the whopping $37.9 billion Google brought in during 2011. Microsoft’s business division pulled in $24 billion in fiscal 2012, making it the company’s most successful division.

So, Google has a lot of catching up to do, but it’s starting to make some serious progress. Google charges less for Apps than Microsoft does for its premium suite of Office programs, so Google is seeing more people who want to save a bit of cash give its business solutions a spin. Though White told The New York Times that Office 365 is primed to become Microsoft’s “fastest-growing business,” she didn’t get into raw numbers.

There are perks to going for Google over Microsoft, but the Office name has long been one considered essential for business. It’s going to be hard for Google to break through that, but you can bet it’s going to try and it’s more than willing to invest heavily to pull customers away from Office. 2013 should be an interesting year in the battle for business domination, so stay tuned.

The low price is for a four-year subscription, making the total monthly cost $1.67. Students who elect to continue their education or who stay in school longer than four years can renew their subscription for another four years at the same cost. Also included in the price is 27GB of SkyDrive storage, to which files created with Office 365 are saved.

Office 365 University provides access to six applications: Word, OneNote, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, and Access. Like the regular variety of Office, college students can get Office 365 access for free by purchasing Office University 2010 (Windows), and Office 2011 (Mac). Both products are priced at $100.

Microsoft has upped its game recently by making Office 365 HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliant, something med schools require. This gives it an edge over Google’s education office apps, which are free. So far, Duke, Emory, Thomas Jefferson University, and the University of Washington have all jumped on the Office 365 wagon.

[via Information Week]

Office 2013 will include all of Microsoft’s Office applications, cloud services, and servers. It has a new design that – much like Windows 8 – has been optimized for touch devices. Says the official Office blog, “[Office 2013] unlocks modern scenarios in social, reading, note-taking, meetings and communications.”

What’s next? Office 365 Enterprise customers will receive new features with the next service update beginning in November. Those with an MSDN or TechNet subscription will be able to download the final version by the middle of November. Finally, individuals with Software Assurance will be able to download Office 2013 via the Volume Licensing Service Center by the middle of November.

As of right now, the plan is to have Office 2013 on retailer shelves in Q1 of next year. Beginning October 19th, anyone who buys Office 2010 from a local retailer or reseller will be able to get Office 2013 free of charge. After the Windows 8 launch later this month, those with Windows RT devices will be able to preview the new Office.

We ended up seeing Office for iPad in the wild back in February, but Microsoft was pretty quick to deny the leaked images. Later in May, we got word that Office for iPad actually existed and that it was going to be released in November 10 as “Office Mobile”. It looks like it’s finally been confirmed, though, by the company itself.

UPDATE: This news has been squashed – sort of – by Frank X Shaw, lead corporate communications for Microsoft, who simply said: “The information shared by our Czech Republic subsidiary is not accurate. We have nothing further to share.” This doesn’t necessarily mean that Office wont hit iOS or Android, but that the release information shared today isn’t perfect.

The press release states that Office 2013 will be made available to businesses starting in December, and consumers will be able to grab it towards the end of February. Microsoft says that “Office 365 services and other Office products for mobile (phones and tablets) will be released from March 2013.”

A Microsoft spokesperson from the US has neither confirmed or denied the availability of Office 2013 on mobile devices starting next year, only stating that the company hasn’t announced it yet. The spokesperson continues by stating, “We have said previously Office Mobile will work across Windows Phones, Android phones and iOS.”

[via The Verge]

The word “freemium” is important here, because not all of Yammer’s services are free. Yammer offers a basic service for free, but then also sells tools to companies which give IT departments more control over what Yammer does. It’s been a model that has worked out well for Yammer so far – the company has attracted 5 million users since it started four years ago – and Sacks says it isn’t going anywhere.

“Everybody has shifted to this model because its so compelling to let the end users try the software before [businesses] buy it,” he said. “We’re going to look to see if Yammer can keep fueling its own growth — but fuel the growth of Office 365.”

Indeed, work on Office 365 is the next big project for Yammer, as Microsoft says that it will integrate Yammer into bundles featuring the business suite, SharePoint, Skype, and Microsoft Dynamics in order to try to accelerate Yammer’s growth. That, hopefully, will have the same effect on Office 365, which is getting some stiff competition from Google Apps. We’ll be seeing if this Yammer acquisition helps Microsoft out in the coming months, so stay tuned.

This update also makes it clear that Microsoft intends on releasing several different packages for Mac users as well, with a note of theirs stating the following. “The final version of Office 365 Home Premium, when available, will include Office for Mac as an option of the 5 devices – Macs could be all five of the devices if the subscriber chooses, and at no additional cost.”

Microsoft recently previewed many features of the newest release of Office 365 as well as Office 2013 for release alongside Windows 8. Windows 8 will be shipping October 26th, 2012, while Office will likely be launched in each of its new iterations soon after that date. Office 365 for Mac will be including access to Office for Mac (2011) as part of its five per user device limit.

Unlike the Office for 2013 for Windows 8 edition of the software, it appears more likely that the Mac version of the software will be coming out early next year.

[via ComputerWorld]

Users will still be able to purchase the one-machine set of applications that is Office 2013 if they wish, that being a one-time cost with per-machine licenses for the software suite. Office 365 is the set of (many of the same) apps that will have a subscription fee that covers your usage of SkyDrive in everything you do on any computer. You can find out more about the subscription plans available soon from our post New Microsoft Office 365 announced with a bang.

This new set of software also includes a whole new look thats reflective of the Metro styling present in Windows 8. This software may very well be available for Apple computers running OS X, but no Office 2013 or 365 integration has yet been announced by Microsoft. The main idea here appears to be making Microsoft’s Windows system a wholly next-level environment, with your Office suite being part of your everyday life as Google has been successful in implementing with services such as Gmail and Docs for several years.

It’s not your computer anymore, it’s whatever computer you happen to be at, connected to your account.

You’ll find yourself able to download pre-release versions of all of the software (or most of it, anyway) mentioned above via Microsoft as they ramp up towards final release versions later this year. The site which you can sign up with for downloads is [Microsoft Office Download and Preview] – let us know if you like it!

The reaction to Office 2013 – perhaps best described as “a necessary evil” – has been muted if only because it’s tough to get especially excited over word processing, spreadsheet, email and (take a deep breath) presentation software. Microsoft’s Metro UI is a nice touch, and in fact it’s been responsible (along with Office 365 and its cloud ambitions) for most of the positive chatter around the suite. Still, it’s tough to be too enthused when even Microsoft’s attention is elsewhere.

Microsoft is obviously more excited about tablets running Windows 8 than it is about regular desktops or notebooks. Slates may be expected to contribute to a minority of sales overall, but they’re attention-grabbing and – many assume – the future of computing, and so they get over-emphasized in Microsoft’s strategy. That’s already prompted the company to challenge its own OEMs with Surface, no less.

What it needs is the perfect software foil to go with that; something which not only demonstrates how ambitiously segment-stealing Surface is, but how Microsoft is pushing tableteering into segments iOS (and, to a lesser extent, Android) has only partially catered for.

OneNote MX could well be that “killer app”. Microsoft’s digital notetaking tool has been bubbling away since the Windows XP days, but it’s with tablets broaching the mainstream that it’s finally ready for primetime. The preview that arrived in the Windows Store today is a good example of why. The sliding panes of Metro make perfect sense for leaves in a digital notebook, as does the Snap View split-screen layout that will allow, Courier-style, two apps to share Windows tablet screen-space simultaneously. (In fact, OneNote MX is crying out for a forward-thinking OEM to slap a couple of 7-inch screens together and do what Microsoft proved too gutless to attempt: give all those Courier enthusiasts the dual-display folding slate they were begging for.)

The radial pop-up menu is a perfect example of a UI that’s been percolating away in some third-party iOS apps, but which could tip over into the mainstream if Microsoft plays OneNote right. Sized to suit both fingertip and stylus control, it’s a simple and convenient hub for common controls and takes a welcome step away from the long, narrow strips of traditional Microsoft toolbars. Less sweeping sideways movement in favor of smaller, more contained button options.

If reaction to Office 2013 has proved anything, it’s that people don’t really care if their content creation tools are in the cloud, or local, or some hybrid of the two. What prompts enthusiasm is when the tools on offer are usable and intuitive: when they suit the device and the way it’s used. Microsoft has woefully underutilized OneNote in the past, but the time is ripe for the app to take its place as the hub of Windows content creation.

This new software has opened up stylus support for tablets, this feature called “inking” in several applications. PCs will be able to work in the cloud with subscription fee paid dues for SkyDrive while person-to-person interaction will play a big part in the overall scheme as well. Web-based Office apps will remain free through this release and beyond, while desktop-based applications will all be part of a subscription model.

Check out our feature on several elements that will go live with Lync for video chat as well as the first announcement that reveals the different kinds of Office 365 subscription plans you can take part in. You can also download a consumer preview of this software from Microsoft if you wish to take a look before it’s released widely later this year.

Note also that you’ll need to have Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows RT (for tablets) working before you will be able to work with any part of Office 2013.

Inside Lync, users will soon be able to work live with a PowerPoint presentation which, dropped onto a shared space between each user in the chat, can be seen edited or presented in real time. Touch-screen integration appears to be live here in the demonstration stages of the software, and PowerPoint is only one of many applications that will work with Lync in Office 365 in the near future.

Another application set to work with Lync for live chatting is OneNote. With OneNote via Lync, users will be able to show their digital notebooks to one another and edit them in real time much as they’re able to do this with PowerPoint. This very much appears to be Microsoft’s answer to the Google+ integration of Google Docs into Google+ Hangouts, that being a web-based collaborative working environment as well.

Check out our Microsoft Office 365 portal for more information on the software as it gets closer to reality later this year! Also note that you can download this software in preview form right now!

The first version of this software is set to work in the home – Office 365 Home Premium will be available for installation on up to 5PCs per license and includes 20GB of SkyDrive storage. This version includes Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Access and Publisher for apps, and includes 60 minutes of Skype credit per month.

Next is Office 365 Small Business Premium – this version made for up to 10 employees, with 5 installations per user. This version includes Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Access, Publisher, InfoPath and Lync. Office 365 ProPlus includes 25 user accounts, each account able to install on 5 computers. ProPlus also includes the same applications as the Small Business Premium package: Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Access, Publisher, InfoPath and Lync.

Office 365 Enterprise brings on everything that ProPlus includes, same software, same users, but includes the ability to archive and hold your company’s email in the cloud with Exchange Online. If you’re a user that does not use anything other than Office Web Apps at the moment, you’re also in luck – they’ll remain free through this release and beyond.

You can download the customer preview for everything from Office 365 from their download and preview site now. Check it out and let us know how you like it!