Microsoftoffice

Microsoft Office was an office suite of desktop applications, servers, and services for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, Android, and Linux operating systems. The latest version is Microsoft Office 2021.

Microsoft Office was released by Microsoft on August 1, 1989 for the Apple Macintosh, followed later by a version for Windows in 1990. The first version of Office contained Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint. Plus, a "Pro" Office (Professional) included Microsoft Access. Over time, Office applications have grown substantially and more closely with shared features such as a common spell checker, OLE data integration, and Microsoft's scripting language, Visual Basic for Applications. Microsoft also positions Office as a development platform for line-of-business software, under the Office Business Applications (OBA) brand.

The suite used from 1997 to 2003 a group of proprietary formats known as 97-2003 or 98-2004. In 2007 and 2008, with the introduction of Office 2007 and Office 2008, a new group of formats called Office Open XML (docx, xlsx, pptx) was created, which are maintained in the most recent versions of the suite, Office 2021 and Microsoft Office 2021 for Mac and which are open and standard formats.

As of the 2010 version, a use system has been maintained through the use of payments to the program, called Microsoft Office 365, currently Microsoft 365. This version stands out for being a subscription software, where updates are made latest, no need to buy newer software again. It has the particularity of being installable on more than one device, regardless of its operating system.

With its latest versions, Office 2021 and Office 365, it was the most popular office suite worldwide.

In January 2023, Microsoft Office was replaced by Microsoft 365.

Historical overview

Office made its appearance in 1989 for the Apple Macintosh platform, and in 1990 on Windows, overseen by Charles Simonyi and Richard Brodie. The term was initially used in marketing to sell a suite of applications, previously sold separately.. The main selling point was that buying the complete package was cheaper than buying each app individually. The first version of Office contained the applications Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint. Additionally, a so-called "professional version" Office also included Microsoft Access.

Over the years, Microsoft Office applications have grown substantially from a technical point of view, even sharing functionality such as a common spell checker, an OLE data integrator, and scripting from Visual Basic for Applications. Microsoft also positions Office as a development platform for the line of business software.

Current versions are Office 2021 for Windows, released on October 5, 2021 and Office 2019 for Macintosh, released on April 11, 2017. Office 2013, announced on October 25, 2012, was released on January 29, 2013 with the novelty of Office 365. Office 365 is a subscription system available in different terms for the use of Office 2013.

The latest RTM version, called Office 2021, was released on October 5, 2021.

In January 2023 Microsoft Office ceased to exist and was replaced by Microsoft 365.

Components

Main Applications

• Microsoft Word is the text processor of the Suite. Word has a dominant position in the text processor market. Its proprietary DOC format is considered a de facto standard, although in its Word 2007 version it uses a new XML-based format called.DOCX, but it also has the ability to save and open documents in DOC format. Word is also included in some versions of Microsoft Works. It is available for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS platforms. The first version of Word, released in 1983, was for the MS-DOS operating system and had the distinction of introducing in the use of the mouse a lot of people. Word 1.0 could be purchased with a mouse, although it was optional.

• Microsoft Excel is a sheet or spreadsheet program, originally called Multiplan. Like Microsoft Word, it currently has a dominant market. It was originally the strongest competitor of the then popular Lotus 1-2-3, and in third position was Quattro Pro; but finally Excel sold more, popularized and became the de facto standard. It is available for Windows and macOS platforms.^{[chuckles]required]}

• Microsoft PowerPoint is a very popular program to develop and display visual presentations in Windows and Mac environments. It is used to create multimedia slides, that is, composed of text, images, sound, animations and videos. Office Mobile for Android and iOS 16.0 and later versions have a PowerPoint version called PowerPoint Mobile. This reduced version allows even adding SmartArts and animations on the slides.

• Microsoft Outlook (not confused with Outlook Express) is a personal information administrator and an email client. Replacement for Windows Messaging, Microsoft Mail and Schedule+ started in Office version 97. It included an email client, a calendar, a task manager and a contact directory. Although historically available for Mac, the closest equivalent for Mac OS X is Microsoft Entourage, which offers a smaller set of features.

• Microsoft OneNote is the apuntes program that collects notes by hand or type, drawings, screen clips and audio comments. Notes can be shared with other OneNote users on the Internet or a network. At first, OneNote was presented as an independent application that was not included in Microsoft Office 2003. However, OneNote eventually became a central component of Microsoft Office; with the launch of Microsoft Office 2013, OneNote was included in all Microsoft Office offers. OneNote is also available as a web application on Office Online, a freemium (and then freeware), and a mobile app

Windows-only components

• Microsoft Access: creation and editing of databases.
• Microsoft Project: project management software.
• Microsoft Publisher: publication design and web pages.
• Microsoft Visio: vector drawing software and flows

Mobile-only components

• Microsoft Officeis an application that unifies Word, Excel and PowerPoint in a single app, along with some features such as quick notes, scan and Microsoft Forms.
• Microsoft Lens is a Scanner app that allows you to export photos to different formats, mainly PDF.
• Office Remote It is an app that allows you to control desktop services with your mobile

Server applications

• Microsoft SharePoint is a business collaboration platform, made up of products and software elements that includes, among an increasing selection of components, collaborative functions, based on the web browser, process management modules, search modules and a document management platform (documentary management).
  • Excel Services: spreadsheet editing server
  • Microsoft Project Server: project management server
  • Microsoft Search Server: online search server
• Skype Enterprise: Business Edition of Skype
• Microsoft Exchange: Microsoft e-mail server software product
• Microsoft Teams: collaborative software, chat and video calls

Web services

• Microsoft Sway: online slide show or videos that allows you to work collaboratively
• Microsoft Delve: service that allows Microsoft 365 users to search and manage their emails, meetings, contacts, social networks and documents stored in OneDrive or SharePoint
• Microsoft Forms: is an online survey creator, available for Microsoft 365 Education subscribers
• Microsoft To Do: is a task management service
• OneDrive: file hosting service that allows users to synchronize files and then access them from a web browser or mobile device
• Outlook.com: free web mail with a user interface similar to Microsoft Outlook
• Microsoft Planner: planning application available on the Microsoft 365 platform
• Microsoft Stream: corporate streaming service for business users with a Microsoft 365 Academic or Enterprise license
• Microsoft Bookings: Appointment booking application on the Microsoft Office 365 platform

Office 365

Office 365 is a free and lightweight online version of Microsoft Office and mainly includes three web applications: Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The solution also includes Outlook.com, OneNote, and OneDrive, all of which can be accessed through a unified app browser. Users can install the on-premises version of this service, called Office Online Server, in private clouds along with SharePoint, Microsoft Exchange Server, and Microsoft Lync Server.

Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on Office.com can natively open, edit, and save Office Open XML files (.docx,.xlsx,.pptx) and OpenDocument files (.odt,.ods,.odp). Older Office file formats (.doc,.xls,.ppt) can also be opened, but will be converted to the newer Open XML formats if the user wishes to edit them online. Office.com cannot open other formats in browser applications, such as CSV in Excel or HTML in Word, nor can it open password-encrypted Office files. Office.com can open files with macros in in-browser apps, but the macros cannot be accessed or run. Since July 2013, Word can render PDF documents or convert them to Microsoft Word documents, although the document format may not be the same as the original. Since November 2013, apps support real-time co-authoring and file autosave.

Office 365 lacks many of the advanced features found in full desktop versions of Office. In addition, it lacks the Access and Publisher programs. Instead, users can select the 'Open in Desktop App' option, which causes the document to appear in the desktop version of Office on their computer or device to use advanced features.

Supported web browsers for this are Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer 11, the latest versions of Firefox or Google Chrome, and Safari for OS X 10.8 or later.

The personal edition of Office.com is available to the general public for free with a Microsoft account through the Office.com website. Managed versions for business are available through Office 365. In February 2013, Microsoft added the ability to view and edit files on Office.com through OneDrive without signing in. The service can also be installed privately in enterprise environments as a SharePoint app or Office Web Apps Server. Microsoft also offers other web applications in the Office suite, such as Outlook Web App (formerly Outlook Web Access), Lync Web App (formerly Office Communicator Web Access), Project Web App (formerly Project Web Access). In addition, Microsoft offers a service called Online Doc Viewer to view Office documents on a website through Office.com.

In January 2023, Microsoft 365 replaces Microsoft Office.

Product life cycle

Since 2002, Microsoft established the Product Lifecycle Policy.

• Versions before Office 95 are without support.
• Microsoft Office 95: the main support ended on 31 December 2000. Extended support was completed on 31 December 2001.
• Microsoft Office 97: the main support ended on 28 February 2002. Extended support was completed on January 16, 2004.
• Microsoft Office 2000: the main support ended on June 30, 2004. Extended support was completed on July 14, 2009.
• Microsoft Office XP: the main support ended on July 11, 2006. Extended support was completed on July 12, 2011.
• Microsoft Office 2003: the main support ended on January 13, 2009, and the extended support ended on January 14, 2014.
• Microsoft Office 2007: without support since October 10, 2017.
• Microsoft Office 2010: standard support was completed on October 13, 2015. Extended support ended on October 13, 2020.
• Microsoft Office 2013: the main support was finished on April 10, 2018. Extended support will end on April 11, 2023.
• Microsoft Office 2016: the main support ended on October 13, 2020. Extended support will end on October 14, 2025.

• Microsoft Office 2019: the main support ends on October 13, 2023. Extended support will end on October 14, 2025

• Microsoft Office 2021: the main support will end on October 13, 2026.

Editions

The latest version of the office suite is Office 2021. The Windows version of Microsoft Office 2021 is available in five consumer and two volume editions:

• Microsoft Office Home " Student
• Microsoft Office Home & Business
• Microsoft Office Standard
• Microsoft Office Professional
• Microsoft Office Professional Plus
• Microsoft Office LTSC Standard
• Microsoft Office LTSC Professional Plus

The Mac version, Microsoft Office for Mac 2021, is available in three editions. All include Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint. The included software is identical in each package except for the professional version, which includes Microsoft Outlook.

• Office for Mac 2021 Home and Student
• Office for Mac 2021 Standard
• Office for Mac 2021 Professional
• Office for Mac 2021 (365)
• Office for Mac LTSC 2021

Comparison of editions

Table of issues

Programmes and features	Education " Students	Home & Business	Standard	Professional	Professional Plus
Licenses	OEM	retail sale	retail sale	retail sale	Volume
Prices of the full version	Free	125,10 €	341,10 €	629,10 €	N/A
Update version prices	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Excel	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.
Word	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.
PowerPoint	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.
OneNote	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.
Project	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.
Visio	No.	No.	No.	No.	No.
Outlook	No.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.
Publisher	No.	No.	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.
Access	No.	No.	No.	Yes.	Yes.

Versions

Windows versions

Mac Versions

Old applications

• Microsoft Accounting Express: Small business-oriented accounting software. Disappears in version 2009.
• Office Assistant: set of animated characters that offered suggestions and help users. The best known was a clip called Clippy. Disappears in version 2007.
• Microsoft Notebook (Microsoft Binder): multiple active Office documents container program. It disappears in version 2003 and is partially replaced by OneNote.
• Microsoft FrontPage: web design software. Offered until version 2003. In 2006, Microsoft announced that FrontPage should be replaced by two applications: Microsoft SharePoint Designer and Microsoft Expression Web.
• Microsoft InterConnect: personal information manager available only in Japan. Offered until version 2007 Service Pack 2.
• Microsoft Mail: mail client replaced by Microsoft Schedule and later Microsoft Outlook.
• Microsoft PhotoDraw: vector graphics program. Launched as an option in version 2000.
• Microsoft Photo Editor: image editing software. Included until version 2002/XP. It was replaced by Microsoft Office Picture Manager.
• Microsoft Schedule Plus: calendar manager and contact list. Its functions were incorporated into Microsoft Outlook.
• Microsoft Vizact: interactive document editing software (HTML + TIME). It appears only in version 2000 as an independent product.
• Microsoft Office Picture Manager: Basic image editing software, which replaced Microsoft Photo Editor. It was included until version 2010.
• Microsoft InfoPath
• Microsoft Office Accounting
• Microsoft Office Document Image Writer
• Microsoft Office Document Imaging
• Microsoft Office Document Scanning
• Microsoft Virtual PC
• Microsoft Data Analyzer 2002
• Microsoft SharePoint Workspace
• Microsoft SharePoint Designer
• Microsoft Entourage

Discontinued Server Applications

• Microsoft Office Forms Server
• Microsoft Office Groove Server
• Microsoft Office Project Portfolio Server
• Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server

Discontinued web services

• Office Live
  • Office Live Small Business
  • Office Live Workspace
• Office Live Meeting