Microsoft unveils Office 2007

Redmond preps next office release

Microsoft's forthcoming Office suite has shed its Office 12 codename and officially received its '2007 Microsoft Office' moniker.

The productivity suite is currently in beta and is scheduled for release by the end of this year. A second beta has been promised before June.

The most visible enhancement to the suite is the new user interface first demonstrated at the Professional Developer Conference last year in Los Angeles.

Menu buttons are set to change according to the task that the user is performing, eliminating the need to access drop down menus when searching for appropriate items.

The launch will also see the first major release of the Groove Virtual Office collaboration suite since it was acquired by Microsoft last April.

Since the acquisition, Groove founder Ray Ozzie has been appointed chief technical officer and the architect of Microsoft's Live Software initiative.

Microsoft plans to make seven editions of the suite available. Consumers and small business will see few if any changes, but the software maker has created a new version catering for enterprises called Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007.

The suite previously known as Microsoft Office Professional Enterprise Edition 2003 is to be rebranded as Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007.

The two suites are available through volume pricing only. In addition to the applications that are available in the Pro Plus package, the Enterprise version also offers the OneNote application and the Groove collaboration suite.

Consumers will be steered towards the $149 Home and Student edition that bundles Excel, Word and OneNote. The $399 Standard edition replaces OneNote with PowerPoint.

There is also a stripped down Basic version with only Word, Excel and Outlook that computer manufacturers can bundle with systems but which will not be available directly to consumers.

Small business suites are set to be priced at $449, and the professional edition will cost $499.

The new prices are identical to the fees charged for equivalent current versions of Office.

Each of the applications in the bundled offerings will also be available as stand-alone products. Microsoft is offering discounts for users upgrading from older versions.