Microsoft has begun inviting picked testers to be component of the beta of a new, consumer-focused Office-family item, codenamed “Albany.”The beta invitation for Albany is cryptic, according to testers who received the invite and asked not to be named. Albany will be aimed at home PC users, not business customers, and will include both a software and a services part. The individuals who;ve been invited into the private,
Microsoft Office 2010 Pro Plus, limited beta so far are those who;ve previously beta-tested Office releases.Update: I hear some folks who helped Microsoft test Windows Live OneCare all-in-one customer security/backup service also got invites to the Albany beta.Some testers with whom I;ve spoken are betting that Albany could be the next version of Microsoft Works, Microsoft;s low-end productivity suite. Works includes an address book, calendar, database, dictionary,
Office 2007 Enterprise Key, PowerPoint Viewer, basic Word and templates.Microsoft officials said last year that they planned to conduct pilots and beta tests of Microsoft Works 9 SE, an ad-funded, free version of Microsoft Works. Officials would not discuss when and whether the company also planned to release a complementary Microsoft-hosted version of Works — even though there have been many signs pointing to Microsoft doing such a release.One tester suggested that Albany, instead,
Office 2010 Activation, might be a new offering from Microsoft;s Office Authoring Services team. Workplace Authoring Services is in charge with the “authoring” applications that are part of Office — specifically, Word, OneNote (Microsoft;s note-taking app), InfoPath (its electronic forms offering) and Publisher.Microsoft has been looking for ways to compete with Google Docs that would not require the company to completely Web-ify its Workplace productivity suite. Workplace Live Workspace — the online-collaboration service meant to complement Office, which is still currently in beta — is one of Microsoft;s intended Google Docs competitors. I;ve argued in the past that at least some of us users want a cheap or free version/subset of Workplace more than we want a Web-hosted one like Google Docs. Maybe Albany is an answer to those prayers….The next version of Microsoft;s full-fledged Workplace suite, codenamed Office 14,
Office 2010 Key, will include services elements,
Office 2010 Standard Key, but it will still be a PC-based, not a Web-based item, according to early Workplace 14 information.I asked Microsoft for comment on Albany and was told, via a company spokesperson, that Microsoft has “nothing to share at this time” about it.Anyone else out there have more clues or guesses about what Albany is? If it is a Software+Service version of Microsoft Works, do you think consumers will be interested in such an offering?
Office 2010 Standard Key 'Albany' New Microsoft '
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