Microsoft releases preview version Office 2013

Microsoft has released a preview version of Office 2013 on the Internet. The software, which has a Metro-like appearance, emphasizes Microsoft’s own cloud services: documents are stored in SkyDrive by default.

During a press event in San Francisco, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer emphasized that ‘the cloud’ plays a major role in the new release of Office. In practice, this means that documents are saved to Microsoft’s SkyDrive storage service by default and that Microsoft places a lot of emphasis on the web versions of its Office products.

At the same time, the company has also released a free preview version of its popular desktop office software. The desktop version of Office 2013 has a look that is reminiscent of the Metro interface that Microsoft has introduced in Windows 8 and Windows Phone, and bears a similarity to the look of the new Visual Studio version.

One of the new features is that PDF documents can be opened and edited in Word. Also, a user’s position in a document is remembered and synced across different Windows devices.

In addition, the desktop version of Office can also be taken out as a subscription, where users will receive extra SkyDrive storage space. There are three subscription types; the amount of included applications differs per subscription type. For users of the RT version of Windows, which runs on ARM equipment, the software is included for free.

Also, two companies recently acquired by Microsoft, the business social network Yammer and Skype, will be integrated into Office. For example, Office subscribers can make free calls to telephone numbers for one hour a month with Skype.