Jumping on the Office 2013 bandwagon yet? Well it’s time to get on and start drinking the cool aid.
As always Microsoft have pushed the boundaries of productivity even further with their latest offering – Office 2013. (Excuse the cloud guys, this is an on premise post :p) I’ve been using Office 2013 with Windows 8 for just over a month now. The experience is really been a pleasure. They give you the “inline editing” feel of Office Web Apps yet, it’s a thick client application on your desktop.
My passion is of course SharePoint and I have to admit, they have worked wonders with the Office & SharePoint integration. Remember
what a drag it is to save & share documents in Office 2010? Ever had the explorer just hang, have to login 20 different time, all of this just to save a doc?
Well, I’m happy to report that although the interface is largely similar, there have for sure been some work put in under the hood as the saving, opening and general interaction with documents in Office living in SharePoint just works. Yes, I said it, it just works.
*gulp, I just realised that is a pretty bold statement to put out in the blogosphere, but anyway, this has been my experience.
Other bits and pieces in the mail client specifically has been the inline replying, deleting and flagging (not new, but slicker) coupled with
smart bits and bobs like letting you know when you are on 3G just to save you some bucks. Yes, we’ve all been overseas and dumped our mail via tethering (it hurts).
The efficiencies in the collaboration space really excites me and specifically the “basics” that Microsoft seem to have focused on. I love features and functions, but during the years of implementing office productivity software it’s in most cases some of the most basic elements that have let customers down (e.g. document stays checked our forever).
It seems like they have really reached a point where the features are enough and they are simply bedding down the basics.
Considering other advances like SkyDrive Pro, the tablet ecosystem and better Windows phones, I think Office productivity is in for a big year!
Viva Microsoft!
Good gravy. Things keep moving so quickly.
My organization is just completing Office 2010 installs on clients. We’re also in the planning phase to upgrade SharePoint from MOSS 2007 to the latest flavour.
Office 2013 sounds dandy. I like the promise of more efficient document collaboration, editing capabilities for our users.
(Assuming you meant to type “thin client” instead of “a think client application on your desktop.”) Either that or it’s really, really smart ;o)
T
Thanks for “liking” the post. Yip, its a really great upgrade from 2010 and I the “thick” client wasn’t a typo. The thin client type experience is delivered via Office Web Apps which has now been decoupled from SharePoint and is available as a standalone product. If you want to play with it, register a live account and check it out online. Office 365 is also another source. Great stuff!
Not wanting to be a Picky Polly but you wrote “think client”, not “thick client”. See: “it’s a think client application on your desktop.” And yes, I will try that out soon. Thanks. T
whoops, i will have to fix that.