Customers who want first dibs on the latest version of Microsoft Office can now download and use a preview version of Microsoft's comprehensive productivity software suite.
The Redmond, Washington-based software maker is now making available the preview version of Microsoft Office 2016, which includes Microsoft's most popular Word, Excel, and PowerPoint as well as Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, Access, and Lync.
Subscribers to Microsoft Office 365 can download the Office 2016 preview via their Office 365 account page, where they can go to Additional Install options under Language and Install options and choose the 32-bit or 64-bit version of the suite depending on their individual computers.
All Office 365 subscribers with a ProPlus subscription can download the preview and use it until the full-version release of the software suite. ProPlus subscribers include consumer subscribers to Office 365 Personal, Home, University, and Solo in Japan, commercial subscribers to Office 365 Developer, Midsize, Enterprise E3 and E4, and Proplus, and nonprofit, education, and government subscribers.
For business subscribers, Microsoft is not making the preview available to Office 365 Business customers at the moment, but it promises to open the preview to them at a later, unspecified date.
Those who are not Office 365 subscribers but still want an early taste of Microsoft Office 2016 can download a trial version of the preview in 32-bit and 64-bit versions and activate their trial with the product key NKGG6-WBPCC-HXWMY-6DQGJ-CP QVG. Once the trial expires, they will have to revert to earlier versions of Microsoft Office they already have and will be prompted to subscribe to Office 365.
As can be expected from a preview version, Microsoft Office 2016 is still in the works and early adopters are likely to encounter problems that they are expected to inform Microsoft about. Only users who know their way about installing, uninstalling, and reinstalling software from a certain point in time and troubleshooting PC problems are encouraged to download the preview.
"We're looking for Office enthusiasts like you to share your feedback on the new features and experiences we're developing," said Microsoft. "If you get excited about trying new software and don't mind a bump in the road here and there, download the Office 2016 Preview today."
Office 2016's defining features appear to revolve around collaboration and co-creation, in an obvious move to counter Google Apps. In a blog post written by Microsoft general manager for the Office Marketing team Julia White, she said Office has changed with the move from static hierarchies in the workplace to more dynamic networks where an open flow of communication is valued.
"With the Office 2016 Public Preview release today, you will see how Office has shifted from 'me-centric' to 'we-centric' work," White said. "All Office content is default saved to and shared from OneDrive, content is created and edited with real-time co-authoring coming to Word 2016 desktop, and email attachments are a thing of the past with Outlook's new attachments that are simply shared from the cloud."
Users can also expect new smart applications that work better as they get used more, such as the Tell Me search tool that serves up commands if the user simply types what he wants to do and Clutter, which analyzes the user's email patterns and puts the less important emails in a folder for clutter.
Photo: BagoGames | Flickr
