Microsoft unveiled the newest version of its ubiquitous Office productivity software on Monday. A consumer preview version for Windows 7 PCs is available now for free download, but it lacks all of the features of the full version, which will be released in the fall along with Windows 8, the company’s radically redesigned new operating system. Office is designed to be used on Windows 8, and supports many of that software’s emphasis on touchscreen interactions and on providing the same experience across tablets and full PCs.
Some of the new Office features include the ability to perform every function through the touch of a finger or a stylus, support for built-in Microsoft and third-party applications, and automatically saving documents to Microsoft’s cloud service, SkyDrive, allowing them to be accessed on any Internet-connected PC or tablet. Microsoft also integrated two of its recent and pricey acquisitions, chat service Yammer and video chat program Skype, into the new Office.
