Microsoft Office gets the .Net treatment

Microsoft has announced plans to release an all-new version of its flagship Office applications suite next year, code-named Office 11.

At the TechXNY conference in New York this week, the Seattle giant also outlined its vision for tablet PCs - the new lightweight computers that Microsoft has been evangelising for the last 18 months.

Jeff Raikes, Microsoft group VP, told the assembled delegates that the new version of Office would be aimed directly at improving the lot of the "information worker", the new phrase Microsoft has adopted since it tired of saying "knowledge worker".

The new version of Office will feature better support for XML, making it more compatible with Microsoft's .Net vision for web services.

Over the last year Microsoft has been gradually updating its full range of software products to add support for .Net. The firm has been criticised for talking constantly about technology it cannot currently deliver.

Microsoft said deeper XML technology in its Office suite will make it easier for users to connect documents into business intelligence or customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

New functionality in products like Outlook will make it easier to find information - especially aimed for those people who use the product as a primitive database.

In his speech to the TechXNY conference Raikes also confirmed 7 November as the shipment date for the first tablet PCs. Prices for the tablets will depends on the deals Microsoft strikes with the equipment makers, but they are likely to be more expensive than notebooks or laptops.

The tablet PCs will include the full functionality of a notebook as well as including hand-writing recognition technology. Office 11 will also have extra code to deal with handwriting on the tablet PC.

Raikes also said a mobile operating system tailored specifically for devices combining handheld functionality with mobile phones - Pocket PC 20002 Phone Edition - will be launched later in the summer.

He said all of his energies with these new technologies were aimed at getting better return on IT investment by tangibly improving employee productivity.

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