Microsoft Office Word 2003 SDK

Developers that target Microsoft Word are a different breed in some ways. I think they are especially patient, and they are traditionally under appreciated. I have seen so many amazing things done with Word development, and the powerful XML support in the 2003 release has ushered in a new era of developing with this product. In keeping with this important shift I am so very pleased to announce the publishing of the Word 2003 SDK. Yes, you read it correctly. It's an SDK.

What's in a name? Well, we published the WordProcessingML CDK for the beta of Word 2003. When I was hired here people were talking about the CDK, and I never had heard of developers using CDK's before. All I ever used was an SDK. I figured Word deserved a real SDK. The content of the RTM version of the Word SDK is not completely different from the earlier "CDK", but there are some key changes. We have documented new tools, improved the documentation around the samples, and made some things clearer. Working with the RTM version of the product makes all of this much easier to do, as I am sure you can imagine.

Big thanks go to Mark Iverson, the Word programmer/writer here at Microsoft for building on the fine work of his predecessor to get this done. It is a sign of where things will go with respect to Word developer documentation. It will improve and expand.

Rock Thought for the day: I was listening to the Black Crowes this weekend. I wonder if the Aussie band, Jet , regularly acknowledges their debt to this band. BC put out some truly great straight-forward rock and roll from the south. Raspy vocals with the same kind of character as Robert Plant, roadhouse guitar licks, and loads of soul. An unforgettable band.

Rock on