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Microsoft Office 14 to get an airing at PDC
Conference goers to get a peek

By Ina Fried

Published: Tuesday 21 October 2008

Windows 7 and Windows Cloud may be the stars of Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference (PDC), but the next version of Office has also landed a role in the production.

Office 14, as the product is code-named, will be discussed at next week's event, with attendees likely to get a peek at a couple of its features, according to sources.

In particular, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has talked recently about the idea that the next version of Office will be able to run in various modes, including over the internet.

He said: "We will rewrite Office to work in a browser," in an interview with Computer Weekly.

Microsoft employees also got a look at Office 14's versatility during the company's recent annual employee meeting.

This job opening for the "Office Web Companions team" offers a bit more on what was shown.

Microsoft said in a job listing for a lead software development engineer: "Featured at the 2008 Company Meeting, the Web Companions organisation is at the centre of Office's Software plus Services transformation, co-ordinating this key vision area for Office '14'.

"Working together with partners across Office and beyond, we are tasked with delivering best-in-class Office Web Applications that expand the reach of the traditional client apps in a wide variety of innovative ways, delivering server, service, and browser client features."

It's not clear how deep the Office 14 discussion will be at PDC. Only two sessions are currently listed with the Office tag, and neither sounds particularly likely to cover new ground. One is on Office business applications, and the other deals with the software's Open XML file formats.

A Microsoft representative declined to offer details on Office 14 or what the company plans to show at PDC.