Microsoft publisher portable 20132/21/2024 ![]() If the suite exceeded most users’ expectations, how was Microsoft going to get them to buy the next version?ĭropping support for older Office versions wasn’t going to work to its credit, Microsoft’s official Support lifecycle ( more info) is 10 years for most software versions.Ĭontinuing to pile on ever more features invoked the law of diminishing returns. Office 2003’s success was a boon for Microsoft - but also a problem. Office 2003 (Word shown) became an instant classic - a complete suite whose familiar toolbar interface gave easy access to its many features. Figure 1 shows Word’s now-classic interface.įigure 1. It had just about everything most users could possibly want in an office suite. Office 2003 (the 12th major iteration) offered literally tens of thousands of functions across its core components. 2003 - a watershed moment in Office’s evolution But the constant changes also made Office a cash cow, as the new features gave users a compelling reason to abandon their still-working older versions of the suite and buy the next new thing. In part, market trends - new technologies and new ways of working - drove the flood of good and bad Office features and functions. Who remembers Vizact and the Microsoft Binder - or the hugely disliked and maligned Clippy, the animated paper-clip Office Assistant? ![]() But there were also misfires, some of them spectacular. For example, an email client and a database manager have remained part of every Office version (though not in every edition of every version) since they first appeared. Many of these new additions were keepers. ![]() Over the next decade, Microsoft pumped out a new version of Office roughly every year- and each revision piled on new functions and features. That first Office version debuted in 1989 and included just three tools: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. As you might imagine, the current version bears almost no resemblance to the original. The newly released Office 2013 - and Office 365, its by-subscription counterpart - is actually the 15th major iteration of Microsoft’s flagship productivity suite. To understand the context for Microsoft Office alternatives, it helps to look at Office itself. Did I mention they’re free? Office’s long, long road to Version 2013 Both suites use traditional toolbars ( no Ribbon interface) and come with six business apps: word processor, spreadsheet, presentation creator, drawing/desktop-publishing tool, database manager, and mathematics tool. Open Office and LibreOffice are nearly identical productivity suites that, unlike Office 2013, live and work entirely on your PC’s hard drive - there’s no prodding you toward cloud storage or app rental. Two - Open Office and LibreOffice - provide the core functionality of classic versions of Microsoft Office and are completely free! TOP STORY Two free, full-blown alternatives to MS OfficeĪs Microsoft’s Office has grown in size and complexity, more than a few users have wondered whether there’s a viable alternative - especially when it comes time to pay for an upgrade or new copy.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |