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Microsoft Office Uncovered
By Dale Walls
With Microsoft Office remaining the world’s most widely used productivity suite, it’s surprising how many businesses remain focused on the core applications of the product (Word, Excel, and Outlook) while others confuse the various editions of the Office suite and sometimes find themselves over (or under) spending for what their employees may really need.
Since its first edition in 1989 (Office 1.0) made only for Mac computers, Microsoft has provided us with the beloved Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook (then called Microsoft Mail). Wooing us all with such features as spell check, tables, graphical charts, and mail the Office suite became a quickly adopted information worker platform.
Today known as the 2007 Microsoft Office System, the original 1.0 version has evolved into 15 Desktop Programs, 8 various suite bundles, and 8 server products. Additionally with the widespread adoption of Software as a Service (known also by Microsoft as Software-Plus-Services), we have available over the Internet solutions such as Office Live and Office Live Meeting.
Business owners today sometimes are informed little about the new and improved products and often find themselves with whatever version the PC Manufacturer talks them into loading. My goal of this article is to inform you of some resources to see for yourself just what’s out there and identify what you really need.
Probably the most improved resource to date on the topic is Microsoft’s very own web site dedicated to the Office System (office.microsoft.com). This online repository of information pertaining to the product is a gateway to various information, tips, downloads, add-in software, trial software, training, and more. Around the release of Office 2007, Microsoft revamped this part of their web site to be easily used by visitors to the site.
Next let’s peel off the big shroud of confusion around the Office System; the various suites (or editions). As mentioned, there are 8 Microsoft Office suites. These suites are different combinations of the 15 desktop programs (i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc) bundled into targeted packages for the end user. The suites are first established with what is known as the Basic edition. This suite includes the core Office core programs (Word, Excel, and Outlook). From there the suites expand to include combinations of the other Office programs. For example, the Office Standard edition builds from the Basic edition to include PowerPoint. Another popular choice by business owners is the Office Small Business edition. This suite provides the most commonly needed and used applications by today’s small business including Word, Excel, Outlook w/ Business Contact Manager, Publisher, and PowerPoint. For those non-Quickbooks or PeachTree users out there, the Small Business edition also includes a new application called Accounting Express 2007. Find out more about the inclusions of the various Office Suites by visiting Office.Microsoft.com, click the Products Tab, and finally click the Office Suites Home in the left menu.
Now that we’re clear on what the various editions of the Microsoft Office system, let’s look at the term Versions. While we know that depending on what edition of Office you have dictates the Office application bundle that you have, the version of Office that your computer is running identifies if you’re on the latest and greatest, or not. Examples of versions are Microsoft Office 97 (1997), Microsoft Office 2000, Microsoft Office XP, Office 2003, or the newest release, Office 2007. Basically contrast to the edition of Office on your computer system, your Office version is one of any of the releases to date of the Microsoft product.
Many businesses today find themselves running a combination of assorted editions and versions within their office with some users on Office 2007 Basic edition, while others are running Office 2007 Professional. In other more difficult cases, the business finds itself at the mercy of what came with the computer and their users are running a combination of editions from Office XP, to 2003, and the newer computers have Office 2007. This mixture deployment is usually a result of using OEM software (the version/edition that comes with the computer) every time a computer is replaced leaving the business to sometimes struggle against compatibility or application issues.
To alleviate some of this head ache, Microsoft has developed what is known as Microsoft Volume Licensing models for businesses with a need of 5 or more licenses to improve the deployment of a standard Office Platform. Unlike OEM software, Volume Licensing entitles a business to run a purchased number of Office licenses, while OEM licenses die with the computer it came on. Ask your Microsoft Certified Partner if a Volume Licensing program is right for you.
To close I encourage you to visit and add office.microsoft.com to your favorites. I’m sure you’ll find some tidbit of information that will improve your everyday use of the world’s most popular productivity suite.
Dale Walls is President of Corsica Technologies, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner & Small Business providing complete IT Solutions for businesses, government, and home computing in Maryland, DC, and Virginia. Feel free to contact Dale at 443.262.9290, or by email at dale@corsicatech.com.
