Office 12: It's Not Just UI

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There are a number of other Microsoft Office employee blogs you can check out if you're interested in learning more about Office 12.

Here are a few of them to get you started:

  • Steven Sinofsky's Microsoft TechTalk.  Steven is the Senior Vice President of Office and his blog is primarily focused on issues relating to helping college grads make an informed decision about what it's like to work at Microsoft and the kind of impact new hires and interns have around Office.  Yet, Steven also finds time to write about some of the current decisions we've made in Office 12, always flavored with historical information about what Office has learned from past successes and mistakes.  His September 12 entry talks in-depth about some of the history behind the Office Assistant ("Clippy") as well as the Office 12 new UI.
     
  • Brian Jones: Office XML Formats:  I guess Brian's blog is kind of the ying to this blog's yang.  One of the other big advances in Office 12 is the new XML-based file format, and Brian's blog is a great starting point to learn both the "why" and the "what" of the change.
     
  • Chris Pratley: A OneNote WebLog:  Chris is an accomplished and experienced product designer who runs the program management team that oversees Word and OneNote.  Chris has been posting since midway through the OneNote 2003 product cycle and has just started posting information about the next version, OneNote 12.
     
  • David Gainer: Microsoft Excel 12 Blog:  David leads the Excel program management team, and he has started a blog in which his team will let you know what's coming in Excel 12.  First announcement: more rows and columns!
     
  • Owen Braun: Another OneNote Blog:  Owen was instrumental in shaping the first two versions of OneNote; I'm sure his blog will be interesting!
     
  • PJ Hough: Windows SharePoint Services:  PJ's SharePoint blog is just getting started and includes some nice information about the upcoming WSS "v.3", especially its support of blogs, wikis, and RSS.
     
  • Rob Mauceri: FrontPage Blog:  Rob is the Group Program Manager of Microsoft FrontPage.  He started blogging about FrontPage 12 this week.
     
  • Dieter Zirkler: ProjBlog: This blog covers Microsoft Project and the Project Server.  Dieter manages the Project program management team.
     
  • Erik Rucker: Access Blog: This blog details the new features in Access 12 and discusses general Access issues.
     
  • Joe Friend: Word - Designing Software and Loving It: Joe has been one of the leaders behind Word 12 and one of the people on the Word team with whom we have worked the most.

As more Office blogs come online, I'll keep you updated.