First look: Office 12 shows a bright new face

With Office 12, Microsoft seems determined to show what a high-powered fat client can do. A first look at the freshly minted Beta 1 reveals dramatic changes in the Office UI and unprecedented support for end-user customization. Meanwhile, Microsoft has answered critics of its proprietary heritage by promising to submit the technical specs for all Office 12 file formats — under the rubric Microsoft Office Open XML — to the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) standards body, which will result in eventual standardization by the ISO.

At the UI level, all apps in the first beta version (except Outlook) display one glaringly new feature: a graphical menu bar that replaces the File, Edit, View menu. This tabbed menu “ribbon” is specific to each application. So although Word shares certain tabs with other apps, it also has tabs all its own, including Write, References, and Mailings. The idea is to reduce the number of clicks and put the most frequently used commands on top.

Perhaps the most welcome productivity features involve point-and-click document formatting. For example, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint now provide a wealth of chart and graph styles, as well as document style sheets that allow you to restyle graphics and reformat documents on the fly. You can even preview these changes before committing.

Clicking Save As in any Office 12 app allows users to choose the new Office XPS format. This function combines XML and ZIP technology and supports the creation of highly intelligent documents that include metadata usable by the developer as well as the capability to save multiple versions of the same document in one document file. Beta 12 also confirms that users will be able to save Office documents in PDF format.

Each app also lets you save to a Document Management Server, a new enterprise server based on IIS and SharePoint. Other capabilities include the Windows Workflow Foundation, which will allow enterprises to use Office as the lynchpin of self-designed workflow processes.

Outlook is the least changed among Office 12 apps. The main difference is the inclusion of a calendar and to-do task list in a right-hand pane. The best news: Outlook 12 directly supports RSS feeds, so subscribed feeds, at last, appear in the Inbox.

The new Office is a big shift from Version 2003. When the shrink-wrapped version arrives in 2006, expect power users to jump on it. All that customization may be something of a support headache, as will be installing and maintaining new back-end servers to deliver the full benefit of new capabilities; the productivity boost will be worth it, though.

End-users may have more control of Office, but who will control Microsoft Office Open XML? Releasing technical details is one thing; sharing control over their future evolution is another. Microsoft can always argue that what’s new in Office 12 would never have arrived if their development depended on industry consensus.