What Does Microsoft Office Mean?
Microsoft Office is a suite of desktop productivity applications that is designed specifically
by Microsoft for business use. It is a proprietary product of Microsoft Corporation and was
first released in 1990. For decades, MS Office has been a dominant model in delivering
modern office-related document-handling software environments.
Microsoft Office is available in 35 different languages and is supported by Windows, Mac
and most Linux variants.
The core components of Microsoft Office are the six items present in the original package,
notwithstanding the later addition of services like OneDrive and SharePoint and a web design tool called FrontPage.
Microsoft Office, or simply Office, is a family of client software, server
software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill
Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketing term
for an office suite (bundled set of productivity applications), the first version of
Office contained Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint.
Over the years, Office applications have grown substantially closer with shared
features such as a common spell checker, OLE data integration and Visual
Basic for Applications scripting language. Microsoft also positions Office as a
development platform for line-of-business software under the Office Business
Applications brand. On July 10, 2012, Softpedia reported that Office was being
used by over a billion people worldwide. [11]
Office is produced in several versions targeted towards different end-users and
computing environments. The original, and most widely used version, is the
desktop version, available for PCs running the Windows and macOS operating
systems. Microsoft also maintains mobile apps for Android and iOS. Office on
the web is a version of the software that runs within a web browser.
Since Office 2013, Microsoft has promoted Office 365 as the primary means of
obtaining Microsoft Office: it allows the use of the software and other services
on a subscription business model, and users receive feature updates to the
software for the lifetime of the subscription, including new features and cloud
computing integration that are not necessarily included in the "on-premises"
releases of Office sold under conventional license terms. In 2017, revenue from
Office 365 overtook conventional license sales. Microsoft also rebranded most
of their standard Office 365 editions into Microsoft 365 to emphasize their
current inclusion of products and services.
History of Microsoft Office
Another way to understand how Microsoft Office has evolved over the years is to look at the
three different ways that the software has been delivered to users.
First, there was out of the box software licensing. Users bought Microsoft Office in a box in a
brick and mortar store (or by mail,) and used a compact disc inside to download the software
onto a workstation.
The out of the box model held though the era of the floppy disk and the early days of the
compact disc, but eventually, this bulky and cumbersome method of software purchasing was
replaced by a system where users downloaded the software over the Internet. Passcodes and
license keys insured against unauthorized use.
The third delivery method that is now replacing the other two is web delivery or delivery
through “the cloud.”
Cloud delivery means that the actual application service is delivered over the Internet, so that
no downloading is necessary. The provider also does not have to protect as much against
unauthorized use because the actual data storage and utility are taking place in the vendor’s
“walled garden.”
One thing that's remarkable about Microsoft Office is its staying power. Through the cloud
era, enterprise software has changed quite a bit. Amazon Web Services took over large
swaths of the cloud services industry. However, Microsoft's new Office 365 model continues
to remain a popular office suite in today's post-cloud world.
At the same time, Microsoft Office also has started to get built into mobile phones, and the
addition of add-ins and plug-ins was another major evolution. Today, users can use Microsoft
Office 2019 or take
CEO of Microsoft
Satya Narayana Nadella (Telugu: సత్యనారాయణ నాదెళ్ల, /nəˈdɛlə/; born 19 August 1967) is an Indian-born American business executive. He is the executive chairman and CEO of Microsoft,succeeding Steve Ballmer in 2014 as CEO and John W. Thompson in 2021 as chairman. Before becoming CEO, he was the executive vice president of Microsoft's cloud and enterprise group, responsible for building and running the company's computing platforms.
The six core programs in Microsoft Office are:
Word.
Excel.
PowerPoint.
Access.
Publisher.
OneNote.
These could be separated into what you might call the “three greater applications” and the
“three lesser applications” that receive much lower use by the average end-user.
The Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications in Microsoft Office are familiar household
names, even to people who are not familiar with the details of the Office suite’s evolution.
They are often used by a diverse user base, for example, college students, interns, or front
line workers in IT. By contrast, someone may use Word, Excel and PowerPoint frequently,
and rarely or never use Access, Publisher or OneNote.
The three major Microsoft Office pieces include the word processor (Word), the spreadsheet
(Excel) and the visual presentation tool (PowerPoint.)Access is a database management tool, while Publisher allows for the presentation of various marketing materials.
Advantage of Office Web Apps for Apple or Android.
Although some other types of cloud word processors like Grammarly and Hemingway have
presented options for specific types of editing, Microsoft Word still remains by far the most
popular word processor of its kind.
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a word processor included in Microsoft Office and some editions of the now-discontinued Microsoft Works. The first version of Word, released in the autumn of 1983, was for the MS-DOS operating system and introduced the computer mouse to more users.Word 1.0 could be purchased with a bundled mouse, though none was required. Following the precedents of LisaWrite and MacWrite, Word for Macintosh attempted to add closer WYSIWYG features into its package.Word for Mac was released in 1985. Word for Mac was the first graphical version of Microsoft Word. Initially, it implemented the proprietary .doc format as its primary format. Word 2007, however, deprecated this format in favor of Office Open XML, which was later standardized by Ecma International as an open format. Support for Portable Document Format (PDF) and OpenDocument (ODF) was first introduced in Word for Windows with Service Pack 2 for Word 2007. [13]
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet editor that originally competed with the dominant Lotus 1-2-3 and eventually outsold it. Microsoft released the first version of Excel for the Mac OS in 1985 and the first Windows version (numbered 2.05 to line up with the Mac) in November 1987.
Microsoft Power Point
Microsoft Power Point is a presentation program used to create slideshows composed of text, graphics, and other objects, which can be displayed on-screen and shown by the presenter or printed out on transparencies or slides.
Microsoft One Note
Microsoft One Note is a notetaking program that gathers handwritten or typed notes, drawings, screen clippings and audio commentaries. Notes can be shared with other OneNote users over the Internet or a network.OneNote was initially introduced as a standalone app that was not included in any Microsoft Office 2003 edition. However, OneNote eventually became a core component of Microsoft Office; with the release of Microsoft Office 2013, OneNote was included in all Microsoft Office offerings. OneNote is also available as a web app on Office on the web, a freemium (and later freeware) Windows desktop app, a mobile app for Windows Phone, iOS, Android, and Symbian, and a Metro-style app for Windows 8 or later.
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Outlook(not to be confused with Outlook Express,Outlook.com or Outlook on the web) is a personal information manager that replaces Windows Messaging, Microsoft Mail, and Schedule+starting in Office 97; it includes an e-mail client, calendar, task manager and address book. On the Mac OS, Microsoft offered several versions of Outlook in the late 1990s, but only for use with Microsoft Exchange Server. In Office 2001, it introduced an alternative application with a slightly different feature set called Microsoft Entourage. It reintroduced Outlook in Office 2011, replacing Entourage. [14]
Microsoft Outlook is a file hosting service that allows users to sync files and later access them from a web browser or mobile device.
Microsoft Teams is a platform that combines workplace chat, meetings, notes, and attachments.
Windows-only apps
Microsoft Publisher is a desktop publishing app for Windows mostly used for designing brochures, labels, calendars, greeting cards, business cards, newsletters, web sites, and postcards.
Microsoft Access is a database management system for Windows that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software development tools. Microsoft Access stores data in its own format based on the Access Jet Database Engine. It can also import or link directly to data stored in other applications and databases. [15]
Microsoft Project is a project management app for Windows to keep track of events and to create network charts and Gantt charts, not bundled in any Office suite.
Microsoft Visio is a diagram and flowcharting app for Windows not bundled in any Office suite.
Mobile-only apps
Office Lens is an image scanner optimized for mobile devices. It captures the document (e.g. business card, paper, whiteboard) via the camera and then straightens the document portion of the image. The result can be exported to Word, OneNote, PowerPoint or Outlook, or saved in OneDrive, sent via Mail or placed in Photo Library.
Office Mobile is a unified Office mobile app for Android and iOS, which combines Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into a single app and introduces new capabilities as making quick notes, signing PDFs, scanning QR codes, and transferring files. [16]
Office Remote is an application that turns the mobile device into a remote control for desktop versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Server applications
Microsoft SharePoint is a web-based collaborative platform that integrates with Microsoft Office. Launched in 2001, SharePoint is primarily sold as a document management and storage system, but the product is highly configurable and usage varies substantially among organizations. SharePoint services include:
o Excel Services is a spreadsheet editing server similar to Microsoft Excel.
o InfoPath Forms Services is a form distribution server similar to Microsoft InfoPath.
o Microsoft Project Server is a project management server similar to Microsoft Project.
o Microsoft Search Server
Skype for Business Server is a real-time communications server for instant messaging and video-conferencing.
Microsoft Exchange Server is a mail server and calendaring server.
Web services
Microsoft Sway is a presentation web app released in October 2014. It also has a native app for iOS and Windows 10.
Delve is a service that allows Office 365 users to search and manage their emails, meetings, contacts, social networks and documents stored on OneDrive or Sites in Office 365.
Microsoft Forms is an online survey creator, available for Office 365 Education subscribers.
Microsoft To Do is a task management service.
Outlook.com is a free webmail with a user interface similar to Microsoft Outlook.
Outlook on the web is a webmail client similar to Outlook.com but more comprehensive and available only through Office 365 and Microsoft Exchange Server offerings.
Microsoft Planner is a planning application available on the Microsoft Office 365 platform.
Microsoft Stream is a corporate video sharing service for enterprise users with an Office 365 Academic or Enterprise license.
Microsoft Bookings is an appointment booking application on the Microsoft Office 365 platform.