Office 2013 Service Pack 1 released.

[GoodBytes]

Microsoft releases today, via Windows Update, Office 2013 Service Pack 1 as promissed last year. The Service Pack 1 is also for those on Office running Windows RT.

(New PowerMaps in Excel)

This Service pack features the following:

-> Cumulative updates (of course)

-> Improvement for high DPI displays

-> Power Map (pictured aboved), for Excel. A new 3D visualization tool for mapping and interacting data with geographical location.

-> Compatibility imporvement with Windows 8.1 and IE11

-> Click-to-Run cirtualizatiun improvement system.

-> SkyDrive Pro is now renamed OneDrive for Buisness

-> New APIs for developers

Source: http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-delivers-service-pack-1-for-office-2013-client-and-servers-7000026754/

[hawaiims]

Microsoft releases today, via Windows Update, Office 2013 Service Pack 1 as promissed last year. The Service Pack 1 is also for those on Office running Windows RT.

those greedy bastards should stop releasing a new version of office with small improvements every 2 years. I'm sick of the office 2009 and 2011 and 2013 bullcrap. 

[GoodBytes]

1- it's every 3 years. Like Windows. Most large software (yet peanut in size and complexity compared to Windows), beside being greatly overpriced, they are released every year.

2- This is a service packs.

3- The update is free.

4- You don't have to upgrade.

[defunkt]

I've had to download the update from the Microsoft site. Nothing in windows update.

[GoodBytes]

I've had to download the update from the Microsoft site. Nothing in windows update.

They are usually released in waves to not overload their servers. I got it a moment ago.

[Blake]

those greedy bastards should stop releasing a new version of office with small improvements every 2 years. I'm sick of the office 2009 and 2011 and 2013 bullcrap. 

No one is forcing you to upgrade.

Unless you require the new features just stick with what you have.

I still use office 2007, and I don't need the new features so who cares? (also If Open office or libre office where as good as MS Office, you think they would still sell office? the cost is pretty much the only downside).

[hawaiims]

No one is forcing you to upgrade.

Unless you require the new features just stick with what you have.

I still use office 2007, and I don't need the new features so who cares? (also If Open office or libre office where as good as MS Office, you think they would still sell office? the cost is pretty much the only downside).

openoffice does indeed suck, but ms office is very unintuitive and expensive for what it does. A lot of people these days rely solely on google docs (now called drive) because for basic word editing for students it's more than enough.And f*ck microsoft for basically forcing you to update because of their stupid templates and how they changed .doc to .docx. I bet in a couple years time they'll change .docx to some other sh*tty proprietary file format again. .rtf FTW!

[GoodBytes]

openoffice does indeed suck, but ms office is very unintuitive and expensive for what it does. A lot of people these days rely solely on google docs (now called drive) because for basic word editing for students it's more than enough.And f*ck microsoft for basically forcing you to update because of their stupid templates and how they changed .doc to .docx. I bet in a couple years time they'll change .docx to some other sh*tty proprietary file format again. .rtf FTW!

1- Microsoft always have deeply discounted software for students (even free, deepening on your school/department).

2- You can find Office (Word, Excel, Power Point, and OneNote) online at OneDrive.com. It's free. You can view and work on Office documents, and you have more than the basic set of features.

3- Google drive is not great. The support for Office document is abysmal at best (my opinion, based on my personal experience). OpenOffice does a far better job I find. LibreOffice even better, and you also have KingSoft which does a very good job. All are free.

4- Templates? Any document created in Office 2013, appear properly under 2007, and even 2003 with the viewer add-on available for free.

5- Microsoft provide a viewer/converter for their decade old version of Office to view and convert .docX files to .doc

6- The reason for the switch in file format, is because .doc is based on the early version of Office, and it was not done right. This was the BIG reason why you had document that got corrupted in their layout and a new document from scratch needed to be created to fix these layout issues, left over code when you do certain things and undo them without hitting undo, making the file size larger for nothing, and compatibility issues with newer or older version of Office. The "X" version of all saved format in the Office suit, was a MUST.

It's based on XML format, and based on the open standard format. Check this out. Take a docX file, rename it to .zip. You'll be able to open it, and access to the xml files, pictures, and what ever else you have embedded in the document. Cool no? Because it is all in XML format, which solves all issues. There are NO REASON, for Google Drive to fail at supporting this format properly.

7- RTF is a perfect example on how to NOT do a document.

Look at the crap you need to just define a font and make a word bold

{\rtf1\ansi{\fonttbl\f0\fswiss Helvetica;}\f0\pardThis is some {\b bold} text.\par}

If you unbold it, you'll most likely end up with:

{\rtf1\ansi{[b]\fonttbl[/b]\f0\fswiss Helvetica;}[b]{\b bold}[/b]\f0\pardThis is some text.\par}

In bold marked left over code that should not exists, making the document larger for nothing, and takes more time to load for nothing, all contributing to format layout issues.

In addition, RTF is a very limited format to work with.

8- WordPad in Windows can open and save DocX.

So to recap:

No only, X version of file format is greatly superior, asked for, and much need, but Microsoft offered a free add-on for the very old Office, solve compatibility issues between Office 2007 and 2013 with this format, made is far superior, and also open (it's in the name too: "Office Open XML"), but you have Office for free at OneDrive.com, and deep discounted full version for students.