With all of the excitement around Blue, one major product that got left off the chopping block for Microsoft was Office. While Office may not be a part of Blue, it does have its own codename of ‘Gemini’ that moves the platform to an annual release cycle.
According to Mary Jo Foley, who has a solid track record on this type of info, Office will be getting series of updates over the next two years with the first update arriving as early as this fall. MJF speculates that this could be the metro-style visual overhaul that many were expecting with Office 2013 was announced but never materialized.
The update will hit many of Microsoft’s major Office applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. These are the applications that are expected to be updated this fall in the first update.
Gemini is more than an update to Office, it is forcing the development cadence to change for the development team. Seeing that Microsoft is moving to more rapid releases rather than multi-year development cycles, Gemini is the new heart-beat for the team.
If you haven’t noticed by now, Microsoft is moving to annual updates for many of its major products including Windows, Windows Phone and now Office. This rapid release cycle is surely changing the flow of how Microsoft traditionally worked but should help keep the company agile in terms of marketplace developments moving forward.
Source: Mary Jo Foley
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