Microsoft ‘Office 15’ reaches Technical Preview stage

Alongside Windows 8 development, the next version of Microsoft Office (codenamed Office 15) is also right on track with a Technical Preview having just been distributed to a select group of customers under non-disclosure agreements for testing.

PJ Hough whom is CVP of Development for Microsoft's Office Division said, “At this early point in our development cycle, I'm not able to share too much about Office 15, but I can tell you Office 15 is the most ambitious undertaking yet for the Office Division. With Office 15, for the first time ever, we will simultaneously update our cloud services, servers, and mobile and PC clients for Office, Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Project, and Visio. Quite simply, Office 15 will help people work, collaborate, and communicate smarter and faster than ever before“.

If you're keen to try it out at the earliest available opportunity, it's been said that public beta will be released in “late summer”.

At this early stage of development we're still yet to hear details on the features side of things or when the planned RTM (Release-To-Manufacturing) date is, but sources are so far indicating it will be out before the end of this year. The previously rumored ‘Office for iPad‘ variant of the next-gen productivity suite also remains unconfirmed at this point.

KitGuru says: No doubt with Windows 8 being first out the gate, MS are working on this being the first version of Office to ship with a touch-friendly user interface, likely getting some Metro-style UI treatment.

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