While Office 12, Microsoft"s next-generation desktop suite, is not expected to hit Beta 1 until later this fall, Microsoft officials are set to show off a number of its components at the company"s annual Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in mid-September. Recent developer conferences have focused almost exclusively on operating system and tools futures. But this year"s will include dozens of tracks aimed at Office developers and users.
At the conference, Microsoft officials are set to show off some of the individual Office 12 desktop applications; InfoPath and Excel server capabilities; SharePoint "Version 3" futures; and new functionality on the Groove collaboration front. Company officials are expected to outline Microsoft"s updated enterprise-content-management strategy at the confab. And Senior Vice President of Office, Steven Sinofsky, is slated to deliver the September 14 PDC keynote.