Microsoft releases Office 2013, the most radical overhaul of the global office market leader in its history. Collaboration, the ability to take your office with you to any computer or tablet, storing documents in the cloud and the transition to subscription sales are the key innovations of the announced product.

Office 2013 is in some ways the antipode of Windows 8, for which it was being prepared for release. While Windows 8's bold redesign is meant to acclimate users to a new generation of interface and touch interactions, Office's external changes are fairly minor. But “under the hood” there is a completely different paradigm for organizing work - together, in the cloud, on many devices at the same time.

The changes are already obvious during installation, as it begins with entering your serial number on the Office website. After this, a tiny file is downloaded to the computer, which, when launched, “unfolds” full-fledged Office, downloading the necessary components from the network. You can work with applications without waiting for the download to finish: for example, Word will open in a couple of minutes, provided that the Internet channel provides sufficient speed. This is not a decorative change - it is assumed that the license holder can quickly deploy the workstation on any computer that is available to him. One license gives you the right to install Office on 5 devices; you can remove it from unnecessary devices and reinstall it on others. These can be regular computers with Windows or MacOS, as well as touch devices - tablets and hybrids. For the latter, an optimized interface is automatically activated: increased distance between buttons, an input mode that is convenient when working with an on-screen keyboard.

By default, Office offers to save documents to SkyDrive cloud storage, where license holders are allocated 20 GB of space. Of course, documents from here can be easily downloaded on any computer, and they will open on the page where work was stopped last time. It is also possible to “share” a document with colleagues, and discussion of edits in the margins is done in Facebook style - you can leave comments on edits.

All of these changes demonstrate Microsoft's commitment to maintaining the relevance of one of its most sought-after products as the role of personal mobile devices and mobile work in general grows. Of course, it’s worth remembering that the young tablet market is divided between Android and iOS, on which the new Office is not yet available, so a significant increase in the audience of mobile users is only possible if touch devices on Windows 8 are successful. This is precisely the main pitfall, because the new Windows has caused mixed reactions among users. But the release of Office versions for competing platforms, if it happens, will significantly strengthen Microsoft's position - competitors are significantly behind in functionality. Of course, Google's free web service for editing documents has many fans, but difficulties with working offline and limited functionality exclude its use by any demanding users.

The innovations in Office 2013 are undoubtedly useful, but there are some nuances - in particular, the fee for Office is not a one-time fee, but an annual one - 2,500 rubles. Thus, now Office is essentially not a product, but a service, which in the future will stabilize and increase Microsoft's income from this business, which today brings the company more than $15 billion a year. But for conservative users, a “classic” license remains available, which allows you to install the product on a single computer and use it for life.

Sergey Malenkovich

Office outside the office