Hasta La Gadget!

We already knew that Windows RT tablets would be getting their very own Outlook app with Windows 8.1, but apparently Microsoft has even more plans up its sleeve. Here at Build, the company is teasing a Metro-style Office suite that will be available through the Windows Store, just like any other non-desktop Windows program. Unfortunately, this is a tease in the truest sense of the word: Redmond won’t say when the app will be available, and isn’t providing many official screenshots. However, a company spokesperson did tell reporters that PowerPoint will have “all of the same transitions, the same graphic power [and] file format capability” as the desktop version, so presumably the same is true of Word and Excel too. That’s all we have to share for now, though you can bet we’ll be back with a proper hands-on as soon as Microsoft is ready to show off a more final version of the app.

Update: ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley reports that the Metro-style Office applications (codenamed Gemini) will hit the Windows Store in 2014.

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It wasn’t a question of whether Microsoft would release Office for iOS, but when. The company just released a free Office Mobile app for the iPhone, and it’s available today in the US, with other regions to follow over the coming days. Before you all go rushing off to the download link, though, there’s something you need to know: an Office 365 subscription is required in order to use the app. That’s a bummer for people who bought a traditional copy of the suite, or who normally use other word processors, but it makes perfect business sense for Microsoft. After all, the company doesn’t want to give folks too many reasons to use iOS, and it also needs to protect the precious revenue stream that is Office sales.

In any event, if you do have a 365 subscription, you’ll be delighted to know that the iOS app does not count toward your limit of five PC / Mac installations. Rather, you get to install the application on up to five iPhones, the same way you can put the full suite on up to five computers. Also, in addition to merely viewing whatever Word, PowerPoint and Excel files you already had stored in SkyDrive, you can also make light edits. Additionally, you can create new documents from your phone, though this only applies to Word and Excel, not PowerPoint (understandably so, we think). Again, the app is available today in the US, and for the iPhone, specifically; for the iPad, Microsoft is steering people toward its Office web apps. As for other platforms, the company won’t comment on whether an Android version is in the works. At any rate, all you iPhone owners with 365 subscriptions can get your download on now. And then you can read on past the break, where we’ve got some screenshots and hands-on impressions at the ready.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Microsoft

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Source: iTunes Store, MS Office News blog, MS Office Technical blog

Evernote’s premium package adds a bunch of extra features to the online jotter if you’re willing to pay the price. Now though, if you’ve got a mobile, fixed-line or broadband contract with Deutsche Telekom, a deal between the companies means you’ll be able to skip that 40 euro annual charge (around $52) and enjoy the power-user suite free for a year. Don’t get down if you’ve already forked out, though, as current premium subscribers can just tag that extra year onto the end of their cycle. In addition, Evernote has added another feature for premium users worldwide it calls “Document Search,” which’ll rifle through various note-attached files created in MS Office, iWork or OpenOffice. If you happen to be on Deutsche Telekom’s books, you can sign up for your free premium account at the link below. Then again, you’ve got until the back end of September 2014 to claim, so you could always clip this and get to it later.

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Via: The Next Web

Source: Evernote (1), (2)

Microsoft’s cloud storage service SkyDrive has hit a significant numerical landmark: over a billion Office documents are now hosted on it. To celebrate, Redmond has made is a little easier to edit files using Office Web Apps — you no longer need to sign in using a Microsoft account (unless the sharing party wants you to), so if you’ve got the right link, you can start tweaking with minimal fuss. A billion Office files sounds like a big number, but we’d really like the details of how many users that’s spread over. As many as DropBox? Who knows.

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Source: Microsoft

Until now, we’ve known almost all there is to know about Microsoft Office 2013 and Office 365: we got hands-on with the new features last summer, and the company has even confirmed pricing. The only thing we weren’t sure of was the exact on-sale date, but even that got leaked when a Canadian retailer put up a pre-order page indicating the two products would ship January 29th. Well, what do you know? Today is January 29th and sure enough, Office 2013 is on sale, along with the subscription service Office 365. To be clear, while every version of the boxed software is now out, 365 is only being offered to consumers; the business version will arrive later, on February 27th.

For now, Office 365 Home Premium is priced at $99.99 for an annual subscription, with permission to install the suite on up to five PCs and Macs. There’s also a “University” version for college students and faculty, which costs $79.99 for a four-year plan. Either way, the sub includes 20GB of SkyDrive storage on top of whatever plan you already have which is to say if you previously only had 7GB of space, your limit will now get bumped to 20 gigs. (In other words, people grandfathered into 25GB don’t get an additional 20 gigabytes.). Of course, you can always deactivate a particular machine through Office.com if you need to free up a license. Naturally, too, as a part of the subscription you’ll always have the most recent version. That means Office 2013 for Windows users; Office for Mac 2011 if you’re on OS X. That last piece is a bit of a bummer, for sure, but for what it’s worth Microsoft has said a new Mac product is in the works, and that subscribers will get it as part of a future software update.

If you’d rather buy the software outright, you can do that today too. At the low end, there’s Office 2013 Home and Student 2013 ($139), which comes with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Home and Business adds Outlook for $219, while the top-of-the-line Professional package includes all of the above along with Access and Publisher for $399. Remember, though: these come with only one user license, and you don’t get any complimentary cloud storage or upgrades to future versions. It’s your money, obviously, but it seems clear to us that Microsoft has gone out of its way to make its Office 365 service the more attractive option. So, you might want to think long and hard about how much owning your software really means to you before going the old-fashioned route.

Update: An Office 365 subscription includes 20GB of SkyDrive storage in addition to whatever plan you already have. So, if you were grandfathered into 25 gigs of storage, you’ll end up with 45GB in total.

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Source: Microsoft