Software giant sprays a few more Office bugs

By DOUG GRIFFITHS

Extensive bug reports on the Beta 2 version of Microsoft Office 2003 have prompted the software giant to hold off announcements of its release date.

Beta 2 was expected to have been the final test version before launch, but now Microsoft has told its network of trouble-shooters to expect a "refreshed" update of the software.

The latest incarnation of Microsoft's world-dominating business productivity suite, known as Microsoft Office System 2003, includes all the old favourites - Word, Excel, Access and Powerpoint. But they are joined by a swag of newcomers that Microsoft says will enhance the power of Office and enable businesses and users to have a tighter grasp on information and business contacts.

Business Contact Manager has been included to centralise business contacts and opportunities, OneNote to organise and catalogue abstract data and information in one universal data-store, and the tight integration of Extensible Markup Language-based forms is intended to maximise the potential of the suite's core components via the InfoPath module.

Apart from being dazzled by the shiny new Windows XP-like interface, those who don't make Microsoft's "power-user" demographic will notice few fundamental improvements in the new software.

The most dramatic change comes in the email module, Outlook which has been redesigned to make email simpler and faster.

Outlook 2003 aims to "make more efficient use of screen real estate", and features vertical column orientation by default.

Mail and newsgroup folders are found within the left-hand column, the currently selected folder contents are displayed in the middle, and new to Outlook 2003, a larger pane is positioned on the left for viewing the contents of individual email messages.

Another new feature is the new "search folders" that allow users to categorise incoming mail into multiple folders automatically.

For example, urgent mail from a particular contact can be made accessible from both an "urgent" folder as well as a folder that stores all the mail from that same contact.

The intrusion of unwanted spam has also been addressed with the addition of a user-controlled filter - allowing users to build lists of good and bad mail sources, as well as letting them import existing lists.

Those worried about losing potentially important emails branded as spam by Outlook will be able to direct all filtered mail to the new "junk mail" folder enabling them to view messages before they are deleted permanently.

Corporate-based power users of Office seem to have the most to gain from the upcoming release of Office 2003.

According to Chris Coffey, Microsoft New Zealand's Office System product manager, the way the business world handles data is about to be revolutionised with the advent of XML-based data-sharing.

"Microsoft expects InfoPath 2003 to be of particular interest primarily to medium and large enterprise businesses," says Coffey.

"It enables teams to gather and share information within an organisation by creating dynamic XML forms.

Business users can more easily collect, access, and reuse information with InfoPath so that they can make better informed decisions."

The concept behind InfoPath is simple: because XML is designed to separate content from its presentation, the same information can be used in different environments.

No matter where the data originates from, be it a supplier's online catalogue or a customer's "bill of materials", ensuring all data is eventually saved within an XML document means that it will adhere to a universal set of parameters.

Inserting and using information will be seamless, regardless of servers, applications or platforms.

"Also, InfoPath is intelligently integrated with existing Windows Sharepoint Services, and offers great opportunities for interaction with information held in current lines of business systems," said Coffey.

As with previous versions of Office, Microsoft Office System will come in various configurations, including Professional, Standard and Small Business Edition.

Pricing has yet to be announced.

www.microsoft.com/office/preview/editions/