Monday, April 8, 2013

Microsoft Office 2013 + Office 365



Microsoft Office 2013 (formerly Office 15) is a version of Microsoft Office, a productivity suite for Microsoft Windows. It is the successor of Microsoft Office 2010 and includes extended file format support, user interface updates and support for touch among its new features. Office 2013 is suitable for IA-32 and x64 systems and requires Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 or later version of either. A version of Office 2013 comes included on Windows RT devices.

Development on this version of Microsoft Office was started in 2010 and ended on October 11, 2012 when Microsoft Office 2013 was released to manufacturing. Microsoft released Office 2013 to general availability on 29 January 2013. This version includes new features such as integration support for online services (including SkyDrive, Outlook.com, Hotmail, Skype, Yammer and Flickr), improved format support for Office Open XML (OOXML), OpenDocument (ODF) and Portable Document Format (PDF) and support for multi-touch interfaces.

Microsoft Office 2013 comes in twelve different editions, including three editions for retail outlets, two editions for volume licensing channel, five subscription-based editions available through Microsoft Office 365 program, the web application edition known as Office Web Apps and the Office RT edition made for tablets and mobile devices. Office Web Apps are available free of charge on the web although enterprises may obtain for on-premises installation for a price. Microsoft Office applications may be obtained individually; this includes Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Project and Microsoft SharePoint Designer which are not included in any of the twelve editions.


Development
Development started in 2010 while Microsoft was finishing work on Office 14, released as Microsoft Office 2010. On January 30, 2012, Microsoft released a technical preview of Office 15, build 3612.1010, to a selected group of testers bound by non-disclosure agreements.

On July 16, 2012, Microsoft held a press conference to show off Office 2013 and to release the Consumer Preview. The Office 2013 Consumer Preview is a free, fully functional version but will expire 60 days after the final product's relesase. An update was issued for the Office 2013 Customer Preview suite on October 5.

Office 2013 was released to manufacturing on October 11, 2012. It was made available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers on October 24. On November 15, 2012, 60-days trial versions of Microsoft Office 2013 Professional Plus, Project Professional 2013 and Visio Professional 2013 were made available to the public over the Internet. Microsoft has released Office 2013 for general availability on 29 January 2013.



New features
Office 2013 is more cloud-based than previous versions; a domain login, Office 365 account, or Microsoft account can now be used to sync Office application settings (including recent documents) between devices, and users can also save documents directly to their SkyDrive account.

Microsoft Office 2013 includes updated support for ISO/IEC 29500, the International Standard version of Office Open XML (OOXML) file format: in particular it supports saving in the "Strict" profile of ISO/IEC 29500 (Office Open XML Strict). It also supports OASIS version 1.2 of ISO/IEC 26300:2006, Open Document Format, which Office 2013 can read and write. Additionally, Office 2013 provides full read, write, and edit support for ISO 32000 (PDF).

New features include a new read mode in Microsoft Word, a presentation mode in Microsoft PowerPoint and improved touch and inking in all of the Office programs. Microsoft Word can also insert video and audio from online sources as well as the capability to broadcast documents on the Web. Word and PowerPoint also have bookmark-like features which sync the position of the document between different computers.

The Office Web Apps suite was also updated for Office 2013, introducing additional editing features and interface changes.
Other features of Office 2013 include:
  • Flatter look of the Ribbon interface and subtle animations when typing or selecting (Word and Excel)
  • A new visualization for scheduled tasks in Microsoft Outlook
  • Remodeled start screen
  • New graphical options in Word
  • Objects such as images can be freely moved; they snap to boundaries such as paragraph edges, document margin and or column boundaries
  • Online picture support with content from Office.com, Bing.com and Flickr (by default, only images in public domain)
  • Ability to return to the last viewed or edited location in Word and PowerPoint
  • New slide designs, animations and transitions in PowerPoint 2013
  • Support for Outlook.com and Hotmail.com in Outlook
  • Support for Skype and Yammer
  • Excel 2013 supports new limit models.
Object
Upper limit
Characters in a table or column name
100 characters
Number of tables in a model
2,147,483,647 bytes (2 GiB minus 1 byte)
Number of columns and calculated columns in a table
2,147,483,647 bytes (2 GiB minus 1 byte)
Memory limit, checked when saving a workbook
4,294,967,296 bytes (4 GiB)
Concurrent requests per workbook
6
Number of connections
5
Number of distinct values in a column
1,999,999,997
Number of rows in a table
1,999,999,997
String length
536,870,912 bytes (512 MiB)

Restrictions in an object
Symbols
Reserved characters that cannot be used in a Name
. , ; ' ` : / \ * | ? " & % $ ! + = () [] {} < >

Removed features
The following features are removed from Microsoft Office 2013.
Removed from the entire suite.
Features removed from Microsoft Word
  • Custom XML markup has been removed for legal reasons
  • Older WordArt objects are now converted to new WordArt objects
Features removed from Microsoft Access
  • Access Data Projects (ADP)
  • Support for Jet 3.x IISAM
  • Access OWC control
  • dBASE support suite
Features removed from Microsoft Outlook
  • Download Headers Only mode for IMAP
  • Outlook Exchange Classic offline
  • Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 support
  • /Cleanfreebusy command line start up switch
  • Ability to import from or export to any formats other than Personal Storage Table (PST) or comma-separated values (CSV)
  • Notes and Journal customization
  • Outlook Activities tab
  • Outlook Mobile Service (OMS)
  • Outlook Search through Windows Shell
Features removed from Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Support for Visio Drawing

Editions

Distribution changes
Unlike past versions of Office, retail copies of Office 2013 are not made available on a DVD; retail copies of Office 2013 and Office 365 subscriptions only contain a product key, and direct users to the Office website to obtain the software. Installation uses a "Click-to-Run" system, where the software is "streamed" to the computer in the background as it is used, instead of requiring a full installation before use; this system allows users to begin using Office 2013's applications almost instantaneously. In some emerging markets, the DVD version is still offered.

Licensing changes
The original license agreement for retail editions of Microsoft Office 2013 was different from the license agreements of retail editions of previous versions of Microsoft Office in two significant ways. The first of these was that the software could no longer be transferred to another computer. In previous versions of Office, this restriction applied only to OEM editions; retail Office license agreements allowed uninstalling from one computer to install on another computer.

Digitally downloaded copies of Office were also said to be permanently locked to that PC's hardware, preventing it from being transferred to any other computing device. Should the buyer have wished to use Office 2013 on a different computer, or if they later became unable to use the computing device that the original license was downloaded to (e.g. hardware became inoperable due to malfunction) then a completely new, full-priced copy of Office 2013 would have to have been purchased to replace the prior one. Microsoft stated that this change was related to the pirating of Office that has been rampant for years, worldwide (often committed by everyday people who claimed that Office's relatively high retail price justified their illegally copying it for friends/relatives' free use). However, many commentators saw this change as an effort to forcibly move its entire customer base from a one-time-purchase business model, to Office 365 and its new subscription-based business model (in which users must keep paying Microsoft, on a monthly or other periodic basis, for Office to remain functional on their PC). The legality of this move, particularly in Europe, has been questioned.

However, on March 6, 2013, Microsoft announced that equivalent transfer rights to those in the Office 2010 retail license agreements are applicable to retail Office 2013 copies effective immediately. Transfer of license from one computer to another owned by the same user is now allowed every 90 days, except in the case of hardware failure, in which the license may be moved sooner. The first user of the product is now also allowed to transfer it to another user. This change is to be rolled out to the activation servers over a period of about three months, during which phone activation can be used instead.

The second difference, which remains in the updated licensing agreement, is that the software can be installed on only one computer. In previous versions of Office, this restriction also applied only to OEM editions; retail Office license agreements allowed installing the product on two or three computers, depending on the edition.

Traditional editions
As with previous versions, Office 2013 is made available in several distinct editions aimed towards different markets. All traditional editions of Microsoft Office 2013 contain Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote and are licensed for use on one computer.

Five traditional editions of Office 2013 were released:
    Home & Student: This suite includes the core applications Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. It is available at retail outlets and may not be used for commercial purposes.
    Home & Business: This retail suite adds Outlook to the core lineup.
    Standard: This suite adds Outlook and Publisher to the core lineup and is only available through volume licensing channels.
    Professional: A retail suite, it includes Outlook, Publisher and Access as well as the core apps.
    Professional Plus: Available through volume licensing only, this suite includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, Access, InfoPath and Lync.

Office 365

Microsoft Office 365



The Office 365 online services (previously aimed towards business and enterprise users) were expanded for Office 2013 to include new plans aimed at home use. The subscriptions allow use of the Office 2013 applications (along with other services) by multiple users using a software as a service model. Different plans are available for Office 365, some of which also include value-added services, such as 20 GB of SkyDrive storage and 60 Skype minutes per month on the new Home Premium plan. These new subscription offerings were positioned as a new option for consumers wanting a cost-effective way to purchase and use Office on multiple computers in their household.

Office RT

A special version of Office 2013 known as Office 2013 Home & Student RT is shipped with all Windows RT devices, consisting of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. This edition, whilst visually indistinguishable from normal versions of Office 2013, contains special optimizations for ARM-based devices, such as changes to reduce battery usage (including, for example, freezing the animation of the blinking cursor for text editing during periods of inactivity), enabling touch mode by default to improve usability on tablets, and using the graphics portion of a device's SoC for hardware acceleration.
Office RT modifies or excludes other various features for compatibility reasons or resource reduction. To save disk space; templates, clip art, and language packs are downloaded online rather than stored locally. Other excluded features include the removal of support for third-party code such as macros/VBA/ActiveX controls, the removal of support for older media formats and narration in PowerPoint, editing of equations generated with the legacy Equation Editor, data models in Excel (PivotCharts, PivotTables, and QueryTables are unaffected), and searching embedded media files in OneNote.



Windows RT devices on launch were shipped with a "preview" version of Office Home & Student 2013 RT. When the final version is released in the user’s language, Windows Update on Windows RT will update Office RT automatically. The exact release date varies depending on the user’s language. As the version of Office RT included on Windows RT devices is based off the Home & Student version, it cannot be used for "commercial, nonprofit, or revenue-generating activities" unless the organization has a volume license for Office 2013 already, or the user has an Office 365 subscription with commercial use rights.

Office apps for Windows 8 and RT

Alongside Office RT, free versions of OneNote and the Lync client were made available as Windows Store apps upon the release of Windows 8 and RT. The OneNote app contains a limited feature set in comparison to its desktop version, but is also optimized for use on tablets. and a Microsoft Lync client.

Office on Windows Phone 8

Windows Phone 8 ships with an updated version of the Office Mobile suite, consisting of mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. In comparison to their Windows Phone 7 versions, the new versions add an improved Office Hub interface that can sync recently opened and modified documents (including changes to documents stored via Office 365 and SkyDrive), a separated OneNote app with additional features (such as voice notes and integration with the new "Rooms" functionality of the OS), and improved document editing and viewing functionality.


System requirements
Each Microsoft Office 2013 application has the following requirements, although there may be app-specific requirements.
Item
Requirement
CPU
1 GHz clock speed, IA-32 or x64 architecture with SSE2 support
RAM
IA-32 edition: 1 GB (IA-32)
x64 edition: 2 GB RAM
Hard disk drive
3.0 GB free disk space
Operating system
Software
.NET Framework 3.5, 4.0 or 4.5

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