Random roundup of Office news 18th Jan 2008

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Office Quiz

I'm liking Ian Moulster's quiz on Office 2007.  How many can you get - even I struggled with some of them.  He's going to publish the answers next week..

Progress of Office Open XML

We are busy preparing for the Ballot Resolution Meeting on the ISO Office Open XML ratification progress.  A few people have been asking me what's been happening on that front and I've not really been blogging about it because it is well covered on other Microsoft blogs.  If you are interested in how things are going, have a look at Gray's blog and of course the ever font-of-all-knowledgey Brian Jones' blog.

Mac Office 2008

Has shipped and you can get lots of information about it at the newly moved macmojo blog that now resides at www.officeformac.com/blog

People are surprised to find out that our team has no responsibility for Mac Office, it is a completely different business unit, the Mac BU.  This has some big advantages because it means that we learn from each other - before Office 2007, the latest release was Mac Office 2004 and inspired some of what you see in 2007.  In Mac Office 2008 you see some things from the Windows version - like galleries for example and SmartArt but other things are different - like no ribbon.  This helps to ensure that the Mac product is really designed for the Mac by Mac developers.

Customer story: Alzheimer's Society deploy Unified Communications

You can read this interesting story here.  They are using Office Communication Server and Office Live Meeting to revamp their communications software.

The use of OLM will enable the Society to run live broadcasts of training sessions and meetings so people can attend remotely. OLM will then archive the session to enable users to access the information at a later date. Phil Shoesmith, head of IT at The Alzheimer's Society said: "At present we are spending a great deal of time and money on travelling for meetings and training sessions and cutting out unnecessary business travel will not only save time and reduce spend but also generate environmental benefits."

Competitive Success Depends on Enablement

Interesting article from the Economist Intelligence Unit (sponsored by Microsoft) about what it takes to enable employees.  Top of the survey was tools:

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Achieving true enablement cannot be done overnight. Although there is no one path to follow, the study points out general steps that successful companies have taken. Among the tools that the surveyed companies most frequently cited as improving employee enablement are:

  • Data warehousing
  • Knowledge management
  • Project management
  • Content management

Also high on the list are portals, collaborative software, instant messaging, and employee and customer contact databases.

And finally

Lastly, (this really is random) look what someone (no idea who) left on my desk today - talk about eating your own dogfood..

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