Microsoft Starting to Plan for Office 15

Microsoft has already started planning for Office 15, which will be the version after Office 2010 (the fourteenth iteration of Office).

Such forward and advanced planning isn't uncommon. In fact, Microsoft is already at work on Windows 8, which it hopes to ship in 2012.

Ars Technica spotted a post on the Microsoft Access Team Blog titled, "Access 15 and SQL Server" with the following message: "Hello everyone! As Office 2010 nears shipping, we are starting to plan Office 15. One area that we are considering improving is our SQL Server support. Based on what I've heard from the community, that would be most welcome. Note that we are very early in planning, and considering many possible areas of investment, I unfortunately can't commit to any actual improvements at this time."

The final shipping name of the product likely won't be Office 15, as the previous versions 2003, 2007 and the upcoming 2010, are named after their release years. Of course, with no committed release frame yet, we'll be referring to it as Office 15 for some time to come.

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Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • XD_dued
    I enjoy Microsoft's new clever naming scheme of products...what's next...zune 3? :D
    Reply
  • darkknight22
    People are already struggling and delaying upgrading to office 2007, what could office 2010 have that I possibly need?
    Reply
  • abhik
    did you know that office 2007 was infact version twelve of the windows versions? Microsoft skipped version 13 and jumped to version 14 because they think 13 is an unlucky number. look it up if you dont believe me.
    Reply
  • omnimodis78
    darkknight22People are already struggling and delaying upgrading to office 2007, what could office 2010 have that I possibly need?64 bit sound good to you? Much improved user interface? Try the beta and see if you like it, if not then you won't have to wonder, you'll know for sure! Cheers.
    Reply
  • wesleywatson
    64 bit? Christ, who needs 3GB of memory reserved for a word document they're typing up?
    Reply
  • _SirO_
    You can complain about whatever you want, but the fact is that MS keeps pushing the envelope and does not stagnate.

    I wish I knew how to properly work with all their office apps, I just began working with OneNote, and I love it.
    Reply
  • IzzyCraft
    XD_duedI enjoy Microsoft's new clever naming scheme of products...what's next...zune 3??
    Microsoft has already started planning for Office 15, which will be the version after Office 2010 (the fourteenth iteration of Office).
    If you look into the install files windows 2010 is listed under office 14 in some cases this numbering is not an official name just pointing out that it's the 15th version to pop out so just

    wesleywatson64 bit? Christ, who needs 3GB of memory reserved for a word document they're typing up?Excell and access is more where 64bit is wanted. :D
    Reply
  • jacobdrj
    2010 has OneNote x64. I need this for my tablet to properly function when I upgrade my memory to 8gb ram and Windows 7 x64.
    Reply
  • darkknight22
    omnimodis7864 bit sound good to you? Much improved user interface? Try the beta and see if you like it, if not then you won't have to wonder, you'll know for sure! Cheers.
    Yes it's good and all, but more most users completley unnescessary, especially when the large corporations they are targeting AREN'T running 64 bit systems.....

    I would think they'd be better off improving multi-thread efficiency first
    Reply
  • wildwell
    abhikdid you know that office 2007 was infact version twelve of the windows versions? Microsoft skipped version 13 and jumped to version 14 because they think 13 is an unlucky number. look it up if you dont believe me.So maybe this should be "Office 14.1."
    Reply