2007 Microsoft Office System RTM and Visual Studio Tools for Office Second Edition RTW!

In case you haven't heard the news, Microsoft announced today the 2007 Microsoft Office system release to manufacture. In terms of scope, this is the most significant release for Office since Office 95 and everyone who made this possible celebrated last Friday at our RTM party.  There's a lot of people who made this possible (including beta testers and TAP customers) and we are quite satisfied with the outcome. To me it has been amazing to be part of this change and learn from all MVPs and early adopters that are already building applications with Office 2007.

In case you:

  1. Are wondering... If you have been running a beta build of Office 2007, you will have an opportunity to upgrade to the final release when Windows Vista reaches RTM. You can find product information here and pricing details here. Also, according to the press release, starting Dec. 1 in the U.S and Canada (and later to an additional 13 international markets), the RTM version will be available via free downloadable product trials.
  2. Want to see the boxes... 

Office evolved from a set of programs to a complete family of products and technologies. Today you can extend Office and add functionality and make it be a front-end for your business applications. If you want to extend Office 2007, you must consider exploring the new Visual Studio Tools for Office Second Edition release to the web announced today!

Read more here:

Just to be a little philosophical and to make this blog entry a little more emotional than informative.  I just think sometimes human beings lose their capacity to be surprised with things. We take for granted stuff that makes our life easier and sometimes we don't stop to think of how amazing things are and the work it takes to build them. I think Office has changed the World in terms of software and it continues to change the World and the way we all work. I just want to say congratulations and thank you to all the people who made this possible. Office 2007 is brilliant.