Facing 'new world of work,' Microsoft locks up Office

REDMOND, Wash.--For most of their 20 years, Word and Excel documents have had free rein within corporate walls.

In the early days, workers used an array of floppy disks to shuttle documents created with the programs from department to department. E-mail let the files become even more far-flung, easily moving them among branch offices around the globe.

But with the advent of federal record-keeping regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which impose strict rules on how companies manage and archive information, those freewheeling days are nearly at an end.

News.context

What's new:
With the advent of federal record-keeping regulations that impose strict rules on how companies manage and archive information, the easy dominance of Microsoft programs such as Word and Excel could be at risk.

Bottom line:
The software giant wants to make sure that however the rules change, businesses are still using Excel (and Word and PowerPoint) for their computerized files. To that end, it's examining various ways to secure such documents for different situations.

That's a big deal to Microsoft, which wants to make sure that however the rules change, businesses are still using Excel (and Word and PowerPoint) for their computerized files.

"We know that we've got an opportunity to provide IT the types of controls that they need for this concept that we call the 'million dollar document,' which is one of those documents or spreadsheets that (contain) a million dollars or more worth of IP (intellectual property)," Chris Capossela, a corporate vice president in Microsoft's Information Worker unit, said during a meeting at a recent company-sponsored CEO summit here. "Those have got be something that IT could control. But we still want people using Excel to be able to build them."

With the next version of Office, Microsoft plans to let businesses set rules, enforced by server-based software, to determine how those documents are handled. The shift is just one of several trends the software giant is labeling part of a "new world of work" that its next generation Office software will address. But at the same time that Microsoft is saying it understands the shifting tides, it's trying to make sure it doesn't miss any undercurrents.

Along with its long-standing research efforts, the company has stepped up its efforts to look at how different people are working, across industries and geographic boundaries as well as in different age

Good For The Goose, Good For The Gander!

Jast as these rules will be applied to businesses using Excel (and Word and PowerPoint) for their computerized files... with IBM's Lotus 1-2-3 and Word Pro (for IBM's Workplace Editors) very much on the "prowl" this certainly appears to be the case where what is "good for the goose will be good for the gander". Based on its possible limitations... Keep watching for the "Shot over Microsoft's Excel's Bow" coming from within Workplace!

;-)

[Too Old For IT]

Chilling Effect

Locking down office may prove to be the catalyst for Open Office in a number of industries. In addition, how would I as an external user of IM, communicate with The Big Company, and forbid them from logging and saving my IM conversations.

The CEOs miss the point. There will have to be some communications app that is unmonitored, unlogged and unregulated, or the internet community will create one.

[KTLA_knew]

OO?

Why would the fact that Office now offers corporation the choice to lock down data if they so choose somehow drive anyone to OO?

The organizations that don't want to lock down data will continue to do whatever they were going to do anyway, and the companies that DO want to lock up their data now have the ability to do it in a much simpler manner than before.

I fail to see the drive to OO based on what's in this article.

[aabcdefghij987654321]

This is so pathetic...

There is no such thing as a document macro virus, only a Microsoft Office macro virus. There are no Word Perfect viruses, no OpenOffice viruses. Use anything but Microsoft Office and rid yourself of document viruses all together. Not only that, but you'll save a ton of cash, have a much more stable and compatible product too!

Remember...Anything But Microsoft (dot) ORG.

[System Tyrant]

Wordperfect

I use WordPerfect Office 12 and it works great. Open Office might be better than Microsoft Office and maybe even some earlier versions of WordPerfect, but not WordPerfect Office 12.

Yeah I said it. The best office app available as of today is WordPerfect Office 12. And no they aren't paying me, but it would be nice if they did. So let the bashing begin.

[LGUsec]

bring them in!

technology has no room for laggards, bring them IN!