office 2013

Apple crushes its previous first weekend for iPad sales, proving that people will still buy the latest shiny Apple toy. Having two different iPad models probably helped as well. One thing we do know is that stores didn't sell out. If you're holding out for that Retina Display, and you believe the rumor mills, they're already working on it for you.

The future of the iMac is going to look a lot different after reports that Apple is looking to eventually stop using Intel processors in favor of its own mobile processors. Those next-gen iMacs are going … Read more

Microsoft's Office 2013 Web Apps suite is now a final and official part of SkyDrive.

The online Office suite has been available for SkyDrive users since July. But it's been in a customer preview mode still being tweaked by Microsoft. A tweet yesterday from Omar Shahine, a SkyDrive group product manager, confirmed that the final edition is now live.

SkyDrive users who create or open a Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or OneNote file will see it pop up in the completed 2013 edition of Office Web Apps. Opening a file created under the previous version triggers a message that … Read more

Buy Office 2010 or 2011 now, and you'll get a free copy of Office 2013 later.

Unveiled on Friday, Microsoft's Office Pre-Launch Offer is good for anyone who buys the current version of Office between October 19, 2012, and April 30, 2013. That includes Windows users who purchase Office 2010 and Mac users who pick up Office 2011.

The steps are relatively simple. After you install and activate Office, just pop an e-mail to Microsoft to receive a reminder. Microsoft will alert you once Office 2013 is available, giving you the ability to download and install it for … Read more

Microsoft officials are finally going public with the planned timeline for Office Next/Office 2013.

First up is release to manufacturing (RTM). Believe it or not, the next version of Office has RTM'd today, October 11 -- a month earlier than my sources and many Microsoft customers, partners, and pundits were predicting.

(A quick aside: The naming of the clients, servers, and services known by codename Office 15 is fairly confusing. Products with "2013" in the name -- like Office 2013 or Exchange Server 2013 -- seem to be the on-premises/locally installed versions. "Office Next&… Read more

Microsoft let slip back in June that the version of Microsoft Office 2013 that would be available to Windows RT tablets and PC customers would be a "preview" test-build. In blog post yesterday, Microsoft confirmed that information and added a few more particulars about the Office Home & Student 2013 RT bundle that will be available to those with ARM-based Windows devices.

Office 2013 RT won't be available for purchase as a separate product. It will be "included" with ARM-based Windows RT tablets and PCs and will function as a desktop app, meaning it won'… Read more

Just as it does with Windows, Microsoft typically offers its Office customers an upgrade guarantee program, allowing them to buy the current version of a product with a free or discounted upgrade to the next one being part of the package.

One of my contacts said the Office 2013 upgrade guarantee will begin in about a month's time -- specifically on October 19. If this is correct, users purchasing Office 2010 between that date and the end of the covered period (which my same contact said is April 30, 2013) will get some kind of guaranteed upgrade to Office … Read more

In the new Office 2013 and SharePoint 2013 worlds, add-ins are passe. Apps are in.

This is the crux of what Microsoft officials mean when they talk about the new "cloud app model" that the Office team has adopted with its coming products.

This new model -- complete with new Office and SharePoint Stores for marketing/selling/deploying apps from Microsoft and third-party developers -- is "the most significant thing we've done with the (Office) platform in 15 years" since the introduction of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), said Brian Jones, group program manager on … Read more

Citing "sources familiar with the company's plans," Tom Warren at the Verge reports that Microsoft will ship the first batch of Windows RT-powered Surface tablets with a paired-down version of Office 2013 RT.

Among the stripped-out features are "macros, third-party add-ins, and VBA support," and a "'small number of other features," says the Verge's source, who also says you will be able to upgrade to a fully featured version of Office 2013 RT in early 2013. Microsoft has already announced that Office 2013 will be included with all Windows RT-powered devices.

We … Read more