Office 2013 Preview Debut and 10 Things It Says About Microsoft`s Future

Microsoft on June 16 announced a new Office that the enterprise software giant has give a final, official name. The business productivity application suite, which the news media are calling either Office 2013 or Office 15 until Microsoft lays down the final branding, comes with a host of improvements designed to make the software more cloud- and mobile-friendly.

The changes is a tablet interface

Among the changes is a tablet interface and one that will let Office work quite so then on smartphones. Whether consumers and enterprise users will in fact take advantage of the feature, but, remains to be seen.

The mobile space is arguably the most important frontier for Microsoft. In Office 2013, the company said that the suite has been optimized for tablets and will work then on smartphones. Microsoft realizes that productivity-suite users want to go mobile today and it is decisively accommodating them.

So far, Microsoft hasn't said specifically when it will launch Office 2013. Nevertheless the latest word is that it will deliver the suite in October at about the same time it releases Windows 8, Windows RT and the Surface tablet. The move is a not-so-subtle attempt to try and take advantage of the crucial holiday-shopping season and get vendors to have their products ready for the end of the year. It's as well when many enterprise IT managers are making critical end-of-the year buying decision to use up their capital budget allocations. More than ever, Microsoft understands timing is everything.

When Microsoft decided to acquire Skype for $8.5 billion, the company said that it would bring the VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service to many of its products. It's making an important showing in Office 2013. Does that mean Skype will likely play a crucial role in the rest of the company's products? You can bet on it.