Originally published July 24 2005
Microsoft demonstrating Office 12
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
With Office 12, Microsoft will try to make it easier for businesses to share forms and applications with their customers and vendors, largely by using InfoPath forms.
The software maker has talked about its broad goals for the next version of Office, but had yet to talk in detail about the specific features that will be added to the release.
Office 12's beta is scheduled for release this fall, and the product is set to go on sale in the second half of next year.
At its three-day partner conference, which starts Friday in Minneapolis, Microsoft will show off one particular feature of Office 12: an enhancement to its InfoPath forms.
With Office 12, Microsoft will try to make it easier for businesses to share such forms with their customers and vendors, largely by allowing InfoPath forms to be edited and viewed from within a browser.
In its first incarnation with Office 2003, InfoPath forms were closely tied to the Office program itself.
In its demonstration, Microsoft will show an example of a loan application, in which a potential home buyer fills out a form via the Web.
Ahead of the conference, Microsoft this week discussed its plans for the next version of its customer-relationship management software and announced a server software discount for midsize customers.
� Unveil its RTC Toolkit, a set of tools that will allow other software makers to include Microsoft's presence engine--its method for identifying whether people are available and through what mode of communication, such as phone, e-mail and instant messaging, they can best be reached.
By hovering their cursor over a presence indicator, customers can see whether someone is available and then right click with the mouse to determine which means to use to contact that person.
So-called Small Business Specialists will have to pass tests showing they have knowledge about small business issues in general and about Microsoft's products that target the market.
At last year's partner show, Microsoft told partners it needed them to offer services that were better tailored to a particular industry, such as retailing or manufacturing.
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