Office

Microsoft Office is an office suite from Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X operating systems. Along with core office applications, it includes associated servers and web-based services. Recent versions of Office are referred as "Office system". more...

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Office was introduced by Microsoft in 1989 on the Mac, with a version for Windows in 1990. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of Office contained Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint. Additionally, a "Pro" version of Office included Microsoft Access and Schedule Plus. Over the years, Office applications have grown substantially closer with shared features such as a common spell checker, OLE data integration and Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications scripting language. A major feature of the Office suite is the ability for users and third party companies to write Component Object Model add-ins, which are supplemental programs that extend the capabilities of an application by adding custom commands and specialized features. Microsoft also positions Office as a development platform for line-of-business software.

The current versions are Office 2007 for Windows, launched on January 30, 2007, and Office 2004 for Mac, released May 19, 2004. Office 2007, announced on February 15, 2006, was released on November 30, 2006 for businesses via volume License and MSDN channels. It features a distinct user interface and a new XML-based primary file format. The new Mac version, Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, is expected to be released in January 2008.

Core Desktop Applications

These programs are included in most editions of Microsoft Office 2007 and Office 2004 for Mac.

Word

Microsoft Word is a word processor and was long considered to be the main program of Office, although with the rise of electronic communication that distinction has now passed to Outlook. Word possesses a dominant market share in the word processor market. Its proprietary DOC format is considered a de facto standard, although its most recent version, Word 2007 uses a new XML-based format called .DOCX based on the Office Open XML ECMA standard, but has the capability of saving and opening the old .DOC format. Word is also available in some editions of Microsoft Works. It is available for the Windows and Mac platforms. The first version of Word, released in the fall of 1983, was for the DOS operating system and had the distinction of introducing the mouse to a broad population. Word 1.0 could be purchased with a bundled mouse, though one was not required. The following spring Apple introduced the Mac, and Microsoft released Word for the Mac, which became the most popular Mac application and which, like all Mac apps, required the use of a mouse.

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