Microsoft has been feeling the heat for quite some time in the office productivity suite. The cheaper competitive products like Open Office from Sun Microsystems and WordPerfect from Corel are really beginning to come into their own and give a functionality level that’s very similar to what we are used to seeing in Microsoft Office. Due to the fierce competition, Microsoft set out to give everyone a sneak peak at its latest version of Microsoft Office, Office 12, at the Professional Developer’s Conference (PDC), which is currently underway.

So, how do you take a product like Microsoft Office 2003 and make it better? We personally think that it’s one of the easiest Office suites out there. Sure the Mac version looks tremendously appealing but then everything just looks better on a Mac.

Microsoft has tried to radically change the design philosophy behind its office suites from 2003 to office 12. The difference between the interface of Office 12 and Office 11 (2003) is nothing short of staggering. The reason we say that is because Microsoft must put in a lot of effort to give a great user experience. It’s true that there are probably not many new groundbreaking functions that Microsoft has introduced, but what has changed is the way you can access them. The attempt has been to enhance the user’s ability to actually get to the function he wants to use quickly and without getting lost in the labyrinth of toolbars and menus.

Before we get into office 12, please keep in mind that this version is the pre-beta 1 and is therefore extremely experimental. The BC1 and the final release will, in all probability, look entirely different than what this looks like.

Next