In a new Office Next blog post, Microsoft talks about how they have taken Office 2013 and connected it more naturally to the cloud. On top of that, Microsoft briefly shows off the new interface for Office on Windows Phone 8.
“Your content and applications should be available to you wherever you are and on whatever device you are using in a way that is consistent and familiar to you. YOU should be front and center in the Office experience. This is a contrast to the past where Office was very aware of what you had in your local environment but stopped short in the connected, multi-device world we live in today,” Microsoft explains. According to Microsoft, all you have to do is “sign-in” and you will be able to roam your personal settings, which are stored in the cloud, synced with SkyDrive (the default file save location for Office 2013), SharePoint, and your local drive.
Microsoft also gave us a taste of what Office for Windows Phone 8 would look like (see screenshot below) and mentioned that users can resume their work on Word or PowerPoint because Office will remember where you left off in each document or presentation. You can start a project on your desktop and finish it on your Windows Phone! On top of that, users can even decorate the frame of their Office applications to suit their personality and allow to differentiate who is signed into Office when sharing a PC with friends.
Microsoft also introduces Office on Demand, which brings new meaning to having everything on the cloud. “Office on Demand streams and launches a temporary copy of your personalized Office application without installing it permanently, and when you close the application, it and the files you were working on are gone,” Microsoft explains. Microsoft will detail Office on Demand in the coming weeks.
