Microsoft launches new generation of office today: need to turn to cloud computing

Lead: the US it website PC today wrote that office suites are crucial to the success of the software giant as Microsoft's "cash cow". But if Office wants to continue its victory and maintain its long-term dominance in the corporate market, it must improve ease of use, "friendlier" to mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones, and accelerate the transition to cloud computing.

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New generation of Office appearances

Office is a very successful product of Microsoft (Weibo), but as software shifts to the clouds, and employees can use mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones at work, the outlook for Office is clouded by a question mark over whether the dominance of the enterprise market can last.

In Monday, Microsoft will hold a conference under the chairmanship of CEO Ballmer (Steve Ballmer) to launch a new generation of office. It will be clearer whether Microsoft is pushing office to continue to succeed or to bury its failures. Once office failed, the impact on Microsoft's entire business was disastrous, as the ubiquitous office suite was one of the most contributing businesses to Microsoft's profit growth.

To eliminate the threat of competitive products such as Google Apps, office must be transformed into a more user-friendly, tablet-and smartphone-friendly product that does not add to the barriers to users accessing office through the cloud because of major product flaws and complex setup operations.

Specifically, Microsoft has to change its previous approach by launching an Office version that supports Apple's ipad and Android Tablet PCs. At the same time, Microsoft must increase the functionality of the Cloud Office suite Office 365, which was launched a year ago. Office 365 includes online versions of Office, Lync, SharePoint, and Exchange and other Microsoft products.

Microsoft's "Cash cow"

It is not easy for Microsoft to achieve these goals because any change would affect the revenue and profitability of a product that is considered a "cash cow". But according to several people familiar with the matter, there are signs that Microsoft may be making bold attempts at the latest version of Office 2013.

When Microsoft announced the launch of Office 2013 "Technology Preview" (code-named Office 15) This January, the company said the upgrade would not only transform Office applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, but also improve office 365 and functionality for local versions of collaboration and communication products such as Exchange, Lync, SharePoint, and so on.

In addition, the upgrade will not only extend to the PC interface, but will also extend to Tablet PCs and smartphones. Most importantly, Microsoft must highlight ease of use and avoid a repeat of the long term users ' confusion at the time Office 2010 was released. At that time, these users found that the menu and instruction settings for office were completely changed.

Simplifies functional operations

"In the previous version of Office, Microsoft seemed to have replaced the accelerator and brake pedal of the car," said Rebecca Wettemann, Ribecca Witman research analyst at Nucleus, a marketing agency. "Microsoft now has the opportunity to reorganize the complex features of the Office user interface in a more user-friendly manner."

Guy Creese, a Gartner analyst at Market Research, said: "For a long time, Microsoft has added a lot of new features to every new Office version, which helps keep the integrity of the system, but not Guy Cresse usability." Microsoft does not need to remove features or simplify office-as long as it does not allow users to be overwhelmed with new features as they used to. ”

Microsoft has long been criticized for its snub attitude to Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. In particular, Microsoft's launch of an ipad version of Office has become a pressing task, as the tablet is now a tool for many people, who initially bought the ipad for personal use, but are now available for office use. "Microsoft now has no choice but to launch an ipad version of office," said Michael Osterman, Michael Ostermann Research analyst at Osterman, a marketing agency. ”

Transformation is not easy

Osterman said he would not be surprised if Microsoft still resisted porting office to the iOS platform, especially after Microsoft plans to launch its own Tablet PC product surface. Surface will run on the next generation of Windows 8 operating systems, the new Metro interface specifically designed for touch devices such as Tablet PCs. But Osterman also pointed out that if Microsoft continues to see the iOS platform as missing, I am afraid it will pay a painful price.

The trend of "bringing your own equipment to work" (BYOD) is sweeping the corporate world, and end users are flocking to the prospect of using Microsoft products such as Office and SharePoint via mobile devices. "If Microsoft continues to ignore this reality, saying I will only have office support for Windows 8 tablets, that means they will miss out on this new trend," he said. ”

However, it is clearly demanding that Microsoft optimize its applications for a variety of mobile devices, a process that requires Microsoft to reposition and use its smartphone, touch-screen-only tablet and hybrid electronic devices with touch screens and mouse/keyboard. That is to say, Microsoft must also launch a platform-specific application while offering a partial application through a mobile browser that supports HTML5.

"The design concept will affect what you can do with these applications and what you expect," said Philip Philipp Karcher, research analyst at the Market Study Institute, Forrester (Weibo). He pointed out that Microsoft must be cautious in this regard, because immature products may hurt the Office brand itself, but also to meet the expectations of Office users.

Windows is not the first choice

' Given that consumers today have the choice to use apps for all kinds of devices, ' says Crixus, ' Microsoft needs to find a solution as quickly as possible: ' Windows is the first choice ' era, especially on mobile devices, which has absolutely ended. Microsoft may want this era to continue, but consumers are not buying it. ”

Katcher agreed. "There is no doubt that mobile devices are spreading rapidly, and people are looking forward to seeing Microsoft's new move to apply office to such devices," he said. Analysts point out that another priority for Microsoft is to enhance the functionality of Office 365, giving users the impression that they don't have to make a functional sacrifice to get the cloud product.

Osterman points out that Microsoft may not treat office, Lync, SharePoint, and Exchange local and online versions equally, but will have the opportunity to narrow the existing functional differences. "Microsoft should combine these two versions more closely," he said. ”

Katcher pointed out that Microsoft should also strive to simplify the work of enterprise IT administrators, otherwise they can only manage users on Office 365 and Office, Lync, SharePoint, and Exchange local versions. He said: "I believe that Microsoft will make it Administrator management work easier. ”

The final question is whether Office 2013 is persuasive enough to allow individual consumers and business users to devote their energy and money to upgrades. Osterman said: "If they do not want to upgrade, give up the new office, Microsoft's revenue will suffer significant losses." ”