Microsoft Office 2013 Customer Preview Released

[Katanyavich]

It won't work on the DP or the CP, only the RP.

 

[alphanumeric]

It won't work on the DP or the CP, only the RP.

That's what I was thinking.

 

[Gornot]

Installed it on a fresh clean install of 7 this morning, looks good so far. The main feature being storing files through SkyDrive Pro is interesting enough for me to try it. It would certainly help keeping track of my docs already stored there.

 

[Waffl]

Someone want to try it? I don't because I don't need it, but someone give there first impressions? I like Word 07 the best GUI is easy I hate ribbon.

 

[lkgriffith]

Waffl: "I hate ribbon."

Ditto on that squared!

BTW: I did download and install Office 2013 on Windows 7. Same old same old ribbon. Only real "new" thing is access to a huge security hole known as "The Cloud". It is not even worth using for free for anything you want to keep from prying eyes such as valuable intellectual property and the like. I uninstalled it. I will not pay for a copy and likely wouldn't use it if it were given to me. Take away the ribbon and allow Office 2000-2003 type menus and tool bars and I would gladly pay for it.

 

[Gornot]

Despite being blindingly white, Office 2013 isn't half as bad as I thought it could be. Everything looks and feels smooth and sexy, and of course similarities with MetroUI are unavoidable, but IMHO? Office 2013 is even sexier than Metro itself in terms of smooth animations when typing and stuff. Can't really explain, one really should try it, since it IS free

 

[Hamnat]

Since I am getting my new computer this week I decided to try this on my old one. I agree with the comments about it having a bland stark look to it the blah whiteness to everything is off putting. But, that is something that Microsoft should be able to fix with comments I would think.

So far I have messed around with a few spreadsheets from work In Excel and a few docs in Word. Nothing is jumping out at me as ooh I must get this over 2007 which I have at home now.

 

[Phone Man]

Saw this podcast today and it was interesting on where Paul Thurrott thinks MS is going with Office 2013 and the Cloud.

Windows Weekly 270 | TWiT.TV

Jim

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
With cheap storage -- why on EARTH should any home user at all bother with the Cloud.

If it goes down for any reason --including things like amongst the 97 zillion files on the server there might be 10 seconds of "illegal music" --so the U.S FBI think they can shut the whole site down regardless of whether laws have actually been broken in the country / countries hosting the sites - then you are totally HOSED.

Just ask some of the Nat West Bank customers in the UK / N.I what they think of remote servers when after a recent glitich they couldn't get THEIR OWN MONEY out of their accounts for up to 3 Weeks !!!!.

A 3 TB drive can these days be had for relatively peanuts --and is getting cheaper by the month.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Gornot]

I think of it this way:
Just as the cloud can break down (though idk, SkyDrive and the most other powerful platforms never seem to from my experience), so can a hard drive break down and leave you without your information.

I think of the cloud as a backup for only the most necessary things I must have available anywhere, while still preferring to keep everything safe and sound offline... Until the hard drive dies.

 

[pparks1]

Hi there
With cheap storage -- why on EARTH should any home user at all bother with the Cloud.

For ease of sharing with other people. For accessing easily from multiple computers in their home when they don't know the basics of networking. For accessing remotely from devices such as smartphones and tablets. For having the data stored in locations that likely have backups and the end user doesn't have to worry about backing it up themselves. For easily buying a new computer and not really having to move data to the new computer. For having very easy revision history and having previous versions of the documents available to them in case they want to revert back to the way that a document was. For ease of accessing their documents from anywhere they might be.

From a security standpoint, sure, you need to take precautions. Nothing I store in the cloud is "valuable" in any way and if it is, it's stored either in my encrypted KeePass database, or within my boxcryptor encryped folder. And since I use dropbox, I have a copy locally as well as a copy in the cloud. So, no fear that I will lose any of this data for any reason.

My biggest hurdle to using the cloud is my lack of upload speed from home. It's simply not practical yet to store a majority of my stuff in the cloud.

A 3 TB drive can these days be had for relatively peanuts --and is getting cheaper by the month.

The size of the storage and the price is not the issue. It's having the data available to you, from any device, no matter where you might be.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there

All this "data sharing" with other people or having data available all the time is also grossly overdone -- I think in many many years of computing how many times have I EVER even THOUGHT of sharing data with anyone much less even actually doing it.

If you want this type of activity then you've got things like You tube or Facebook or even Forums like this one.

As far as Work stuff is concerned --when I'm away from Work the LAST think I want to do is bother with work related stuff etc.

Bandwidth speeds for HOME users to do significant amounts of UPLOADS are just too slow anyway and increasing use of ISP Capping limits will in any case inhibit the value of this type of service for whatever its worth . (Downloads are usually OK).

Data that I really NEED to access all the time can easily be stored on a smart phone's micro sdHC card -- these are available at 32 GB with a 64 GB version available shortly -- and possibly even higher capacities later. Then if someone wants it I can just email the data to the recipient. Totally NO NEED for The Cloud.

The Cloud is only being "pushed" as it pays the insidious way for "Licensing by Seat" and / or licensing by usage. When Office 365 finally hits and is "Cloud only" you will pay via a subscription model -- monthly or annual fees. Windows itself may then follow this model.

This is what this whole mess is about -- how to increase revenue significantly -- in a Mature market with relatively static sales of PC's you can see why the Honchos at Ms are desperate to get this sort of stuff working -- it's 100% REVENUE driven -- nothing to do with "Customer Service", "Customer Value" or any other benefit to the end consumer.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[python134r]

Using it now, seems ok so far.........a bit of time will see.......

 

[pparks1]

This is what this whole mess is about -- how to increase revenue significantly

Time will tell I guess. Of all of the cloud storage that I have played with and use, I don't pay for any of it today. it's all free. Dropbox, SugarSync, SkyDrive, Google Drive, Amazon cloud, etc. I buy my music now from Amazon MP3 and I store it all in my cloud account, which provides unlimited storage for everything I buy. I've used Gmail for years, which is in the cloud, and I haven't paid a cent for that.

 

[lkgriffith]

pparks1: "I've used Gmail for years, which is in the cloud, and I haven't paid a cent for that."

There is a fundamental law of the universe: there is no such thing as a free lunch. In the long run, all free lunches will be paid for in full and with interest.


Meaning: somewhere there is a hook, that hook is connected to a line, and the person on the other end of the line is planning on YOU for HIS lunch. The bait on that hook is something for nothing. Are you certain that the bait is worth its ultimate price?

 

[Hamnat]

pparks1: "I've used Gmail for years, which is in the cloud, and I haven't paid a cent for that."

There is a fundamental law of the universe: there is no such thing as a free lunch. In the long run, all free lunches will be paid for in full and with interest.


Meaning: somewhere there is a hook, that hook is connected to a line, and the person on the other end of the line is planning on YOU for HIS lunch. The bait on that hook is something for nothing. Are you certain that the bait is worth its ultimate price?

What price? Its e-mail. If they decide they want to charge people can move accounts. I am in the same boat as he is I have skydrive with 25gigs free, dropbox connected to my phone, my home computer my tablet I am not paying for any of it. Amazon as well to my kindle and home computer which i do pay for as far as the files but not the actual storage.

I find the cloud based storage infinitely convienient. Being able to access my work stuff anywhere in the world I travel basically without having to keep track of thumbdrives or hauling around a portable harddrive.

 

[lkgriffith]

Hamnat,

Ahh yes. The bait tastes so sweet. For now.

 

[FuturDreamz]

I installed Office 2013 (though it calls itself Office 365?) into Windows 8 in VirtualBox. Aside from the somewhat hard to use color scheme, it's virtually identical to Office 2010. I do like the Skydrive integration, but for my needs it's easier to just use Live Mesh on my documents folder.

 

[Gornot]

The new SkyDrive for Windows app does the same thing, creates a folder (which you can move wherever you want) to store files and they actomatically sync with SkyDrive, leaving you with the current versions of a file both in the cloud and on your PC.

I use that in combination with SkyDrive sharing from Office 2013 and I never have to worry about losing documents again. in SkyDrive all these are private, too, so they're only for me

I can't actually remember the last time I used my USB drive for anything other than the recent install of Win8 from USB. It has been gathering dust before that for a long time.

 

[Phone Man]

I installed Office 2013 (though it calls itself Office 365?) into Windows 8 in VirtualBox.

Office 365 is a subscription service and Office 2013 is offered through that service. Office 2013 will also be offered as a standalone product.

Jim