Office 2013 review

We go in depth with the RTM version of Office 2013

Do you feel modern? The next version of Microsoft Office - Office 2013 - gets the Windows 8 treatment, with a touch-friendly interface as well as new features, and goes to the cloud, with subscription pricing, on-demand installation and automatic syncing of settings and documents you save in the cloud - if you want to pay for it that way.

The Office 2013 suite won't be on sale to consumers until Q1 in 2013 but the code is finished now, as is the version of Office 2013 that comes with Windows RT. Although the first Windows RT devices come with a preview version of Office, the free upgrade to the final version is already available to download.

What we've looked at here is the RTM (ie final) code of the traditional boxed software you pay for in advance that's available to developers and IT professionals who want to try it out.

What we haven't yet seen is the final version that you'll get if you buy it from Office 365 as a subscription, which may have some extra options when it comes out next year. (We know Microsoft is planning to add new features to Office several times a year.)

The Office 365 integration is one of the reasons that Office 2013 isn't on the shelves yet (beyond the fact that it takes time to print boxes, duplicate DVDs and put new support information on the Office web site.

There are features in the desktop Office applications that need the Office 2013 servers. Just as businesses who run their own servers need to plan and schedule their upgrades, it takes time to upgrade the cloud versions of Exchange, Lync and SharePoint in Office 365 to the 2013 versions and roll out the new Project server.