Office 2010, la nuova versione della suite da ufficio più usata al mondo, vedrà la luce nel secondo quadrimestre del prossimo anno. Ecco però alcune notizie per chi sta provando la Beta (molto bella e stabile, a mio parere) e non vede l’ora del rilascio della versione finale..
Per prima ecco le quattro versioni in cui verrà commercializzato Office 2010: Home & Businness (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook), Home & Student (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote), Professional (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, Access) e, grande novità, la versione Professional Academic, con gli stessi componenti della Professional ma che probabilmente (o così spera il sottoscritto) sarà distribuita ad alcuni indirizzi universitari tramite MSDNAA. Di prezzi ancora non si sa nulla, ma credo sia lecito aspettarsi una soglia di poco inferiore ai 100 € per la Home & Student e poi via via a salire.
Il sito CentrumXp.pl (quello che in passato aveva mostrato in anteprima le box di Windows 7) questa volta ci offre il design delle scatole Retail di Office 2010. Date un’occhiata al blog di Sebastiano in cui trovate le foto di tutte e 4 le edizioni.
Ma non è ancora finita: Neowin ci parla di una probabile iniziativa di Microsoft legata al mondo OEM. Quante volte vi è capitato di vedere un Notebook appena acquistato con pre-installato Office 2007 in prova per 60 giorni? Bene, sembra che per semplificare le cose Microsoft stia pensando ad una “Key Card” da consegnare ai venditori. La storia dovrebbe funzionare così: io compro il portatile e provo Office 2010 (preinstallato); scaduto il termine, invece di acquistare una licenza on-line o di disinstallare il prodotto, vado dal rivenditore in cui ho acquistato il PC e compro una “card” con un codice per attivare la versione preinstallata della suite. Niente CD, niente Internet.. solo un codice a singola licenza da inserire nel portatile. Costo? Secondo me sui 50/60 € ma nulla è sicuro.. comunque un’ottima trovata per incentivare l’utilizzo legale del pacchetto.
Ma che fine ha fatto Office Starter 2010, la versione essenziale e gratuita supportata dalla pubblicità? Probabilmente è un progetto ancora attuale, ma non ha trovato spazio in queste news perché non si tratta, appunto, di una versione che vedremo sugli scaffali o nei cataloghi MSDNAA. Anche questa mi sembra un’ottima soluzione: agli scettici sarà consentito “testare” le potenzialità di questo prodotto e quando avranno bisogno di effettuare operazioni più specifiche potranno decidere se acquistare o meno una licenza in base alla esperienza maturata con la versione gratuita.
Credete che io abbia finito? Non ancora! Sì perché Microsoft sembra non volersi sedere sugli allori: ecco allora le primissime voci che parlano di “Lavori in corso” per Office 15, alias, addirittura, Office 2013.
La lotta tra Microsoft e il calendario Maya è aperta: vincerà Office 15 o la “grande profezia”?
PS: oh, per il momento il riferimento in chiusura era puramente ironico 😉
Brandon LeBlanc, sul Windows7BlogTeam, scrive che molto probabilmente per MSDNAA bisognerà attendere davvero il 14 Agosto 🙁
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Se siete degli universitari come me e se siete almeno un po’ malati di Windows 7 allora questa è la notizia che fa per voi: secondo quanto appreso da fonti “non proprio ufficiali” di Microsoft, Windows 7 Professional dovrebbe essere disponibile sul circuito accademico (MSDN Accademic Alliance) il 7 Agosto prossimo ora della Nuova Zelanda, ovvero domani per noi italiani. La notizia non è confermata e proviene da un account Facebook collegato a Microsoft. Altre fonti riportano invece come data per MSDNAA il 14 agosto prossimo.
Tra poche ore ne sapremo certamente di più.
PS: ci tenevo a sottolineare che ognuno di noi (abbonati MSDNAA) potrà scaricare Windows 7 quando il proprio Amministratore di Rete avrà il tempo e la voglia di caricarlo. In pratica: da domani sarà disponibile, ma comparirà nel vostro elenco di software scaricabile solo quando il tecnico della vostra scuola/università deciderà di aggiungerlo. E domani di certo i tecnici saranno in vacanza 😉
Ah, tanto per restare in tema: tra pochi minuti Windows 7 Retail comparirà su MSDN, Technet, Connect ecc.. in pratica ancora qualche ora e il mondo verrà “invaso” da Windows 7 😉
Dopo i rumors, ecco infine l’ufficialità: Brandon LeBlanc ha confermato sul Blog Ufficiale di sviluppo che Windows 7 ha raggiunto lo stadio di RTM (termine che non coincide con la dicitura Gold). Ecco il testo in inglese:
[note]
I am pleased to announce that Windows 7 has RTM’d!
As I mentioned previously, RTM officially happens only after sign-off occurs. What happens is a build gets designated as a RTM contender after going through significant testing and meeting our quality bar for RTM. Then, it goes though all the validation checks required for RTM including having all languages of that build completed. If all the validation checks have passed – sign-off for RTM can occur. Today after all the validation checks were met, we signed off and declared build 7600 as RTM.
Not only is RTM an important milestone for us – it’s also an important milestone for our partners. Today’s release is the result of hard work and collaboration with our partners in the industry to make Windows 7 a success. We delivered Windows 7 with a predictable feature set on a predictable timetable that allowed OEMs to focus on value and differentiation for their customers.
Our customers told us what they want (and expect) and we defined those specific experiences and then built features to support them (like HomeGroup and the Windows Taskbar enhancements). Our customers also told us that “fundamentals” on both the hardware and software side was extremely important. Windows 7 today runs great on the broadest array of hardware types ranging from netbooks to high-end gaming machines. We worked closely with OEMs so that their PCs delight customers with the new features in Windows 7.
Of course, today’s release is also the result of the amazing amount of feedback we received from the millions of people who tested Windows 7 – from Beta to RC. We actually had over 10 million people opt-in to the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). That’s a lot of people opting in to help us make Windows 7 a solid release. Through CEIP, our engineers were guided by customer feedback all the way to RTM. We also have had a great group of beta testers who have dedicated a great deal of their time to testing Windows 7 too. A special thank you goes out to all the people who helped test Windows 7.
I’d also like to give a shout-out to my friends over on the Windows Server Team. Today they are also announcing that Windows Server 2008 R2 has RTM’d. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 together can help businesses cut costs and increase productivity. Click here to read their blog post on Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM.
The RTM code will be delivered to our partners within the next few days who will then start preparing to deliver some amazing new products timed to hit at General Availability (GA) of Windows 7 on October 22nd. And going forward, I expect to be showcasing MANY of these new products here on The Windows Blog.
We continue to be overwhelmed at the community’s response to Windows 7 and it has been an extremely rewarding experience to witness. We hope the enthusiasm will continue to grow even more as our partners build amazing experiences with their products and Windows 7.
If you want to know when you’ll be able to get RTM of Windows 7, click here to read my post from yesterday outlining which audiences will get access to the RTM bits.
I am pleased to announce that Windows 7 has RTM’d!
As I mentioned previously, RTM officially happens only after sign-off occurs. What happens is a build gets designated as a RTM contender after going through significant testing and meeting our quality bar for RTM. Then, it goes though all the validation checks required for RTM including having all languages of that build completed. If all the validation checks have passed – sign-off for RTM can occur. Today after all the validation checks were met, we signed off and declared build 7600 as RTM.
Not only is RTM an important milestone for us – it’s also an important milestone for our partners. Today’s release is the result of hard work and collaboration with our partners in the industry to make Windows 7 a success. We delivered Windows 7 with a predictable feature set on a predictable timetable that allowed OEMs to focus on value and differentiation for their customers.
Our customers told us what they want (and expect) and we defined those specific experiences and then built features to support them (like HomeGroup and the Windows Taskbar enhancements). Our customers also told us that “fundamentals” on both the hardware and software side was extremely important. Windows 7 today runs great on the broadest array of hardware types ranging from netbooks to high-end gaming machines. We worked closely with OEMs so that their PCs delight customers with the new features in Windows 7.
Of course, today’s release is also the result of the amazing amount of feedback we received from the millions of people who tested Windows 7 – from Beta to RC. We actually had over 10 million people opt-in to the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). That’s a lot of people opting in to help us make Windows 7 a solid release. Through CEIP, our engineers were guided by customer feedback all the way to RTM. We also have had a great group of beta testers who have dedicated a great deal of their time to testing Windows 7 too. A special thank you goes out to all the people who helped test Windows 7.
I’d also like to give a shout-out to my friends over on the Windows Server Team. Today they are also announcing that Windows Server 2008 R2 has RTM’d. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 together can help businesses cut costs and increase productivity. Click here to read their blog post on Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM.
The RTM code will be delivered to our partners within the next few days who will then start preparing to deliver some amazing new products timed to hit at General Availability (GA) of Windows 7 on October 22nd. And going forward, I expect to be showcasing MANY of these new products here on The Windows Blog.
We continue to be overwhelmed at the community’s response to Windows 7 and it has been an extremely rewarding experience to witness. We hope the enthusiasm will continue to grow even more as our partners build amazing experiences with their products and Windows 7.
If you want to know when you’ll be able to get RTM of Windows 7, click here to read my post from yesterday outlining which audiences will get access to the RTM bits.[/note]
Ecco una sintesi di quando potrete scaricare/acquistare Windows 7:
OEM partner: 24/07/2009 (in Inglese, con LP in Italiano)
Connect, Technet, MSDN: 06/08/2009 (in Inglese)
Volume License (con SA): 07/08/2009 (in Inglese)
Gold Partners: 16/08/2009 (in Inglese)
Volume License (senza SA): 01/09/2009 (in Inglese)
Tutti i gruppi precedenti: 01/10/2009 (anche in Italiano)
Enthusiasts, beta tester, il mondo intero: 22/10/2009 (anche in Italiano)
Ovviamente non è segnata sulla tabella, ma tutti noi “disporremo” di Windows 7 RTM + LP in Italiano già dal weekend 😉
Ecco ora un video in cui si mostrano spezzoni del “sign-off day” a Redmond (compresa la festa):
Ecco invece l’annuncio ufficiale di Steve Ballmer e Steven Sinofsky:
