Windhoek
On Tuesday, Microsoft Corp. began the worldwide release of Office 2016. The apps are the latest addition to Office 365, Microsoft’s cloud-based subscription service that helps people do their best work, together. The company also announced new and enhanced Office 365 services built for team productivity.
“The way people work has changed dramatically, and that’s why Microsoft is focused on reinventing productivity and business processes for the mobile-first, cloud-first world,” said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. “These latest innovations take another big step forward in transforming Office from a familiar set of individual productivity apps to a connected set of apps and services designed for modern working, collaboration and teamwork, Nadella wrote about the new Office on the Official Microsoft Blog.
Office 2016 delivers new versions of the Office desktop apps for Windows, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Project, Visio and Access. By subscribing to Office 365, customers can get always-up-to-date, fully installed apps for use across their devices, combined with a continually evolving set of consumer and commercial services, such as OneDrive online storage, Skype for Business, Delve, Yammer and enterprise-grade security features.
”The new Office was built by the new Microsoft with the clear understanding that it’s too hard to work together. Collaborating, sharing ideas to make them bigger and better – it is the way of the new workplace. We designed the new Office to enable people to focus on progress, not process – it takes the work out of working together,” explained Sebuh Haileleul, Microsoft East and Southern Africa Country Manager
The Office 2016 apps run beautifully on the best Windows ever, including the new Sway for Windows 10 to create shareable, interactive stories that look great on any screen. Windows Hello logs you into Windows and Office 365 in one simple step. Office Mobile apps on Windows 10 empower on-the-go productivity, and work with Continuum so you can use your phone like a PC. Cortana connects with Office 365 to help with tasks such as meeting preparation, with Outlook integration coming in November.
“The new Office provides built-in intelligence to help you work faster and smarter. Office 365 with the new Office 2016 apps is the smartest productivity suite ever and it connects you to your work no matter where you are,” Haileleul further added.
The Office 2016 apps simplify collaboration and remove barriers to team success and now enables co-authoring in Word, PowerPoint and OneNote desktop software, including real-time typing in Word that lets you see others’ edits as they make them.
Skype in-app integration across client apps allows screen sharing, talk or video chat right in the documents. Office 365 Groups are now an integrated part of the Outlook 2016 client app and available on mobile device through the Outlook Groups app, delivering a consistent team experience across the suite. In addition, new Office 365 solutions that combine the power of apps and services for better collaboration are expected soon.