This morning, we reached an important development milestone: the beginning of the "Office 15" Technical Preview Program. Office 15 is the codename for the next generation of the Microsoft Office products and services, and the Technical Preview is the first time we share our work with a select group of customers under non-disclosure agreements. These customers play a key role in our development process by testing early builds and providing feedback, which we incorporate into the final release.

When we released Office 2010 to the world one year ago, our critics weren't easy on us. They said we were heading in the wrong direction by continuing to invest in our desktop applications in addition to the cloud.

But in fact, business customers are deploying Office 2010 five times faster than they deployed Office 2007. Office 2010 is also the fastest-selling version of Office ever. And nearly 50 million people worldwide use Office Web Apps to view, edit, and share their documents from anywhere with a browser and an Internet connection.

Here's my perspective on our success...

Starting today, from Facebook you can view Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents via Office Web Apps with just one click. Read on for Takeshi's announcement.

It goes without saying that social networks are definitely becoming an indispensable part of people's lives. People don't just use social networks to connect with their personal and professional contacts, but also to discover new things and great ideas shared by people across their life. What if there were more convenient ways to capture and share my ideas beyond witty status updates and humorous photos? What if....

If you use an iPhone, now you can experience the organizing power of OneNote right there. Starting today, you can download Microsoft OneNote Mobile for iPhone from the iTunes App Store, and it's free for a limited time. 

OneNote Mobile for the iPhone lets you capture and review notes and lists on your phone. Notes are automatically backed up and synced with free Windows Live SkyDrive online storage, so that you can access them from virtually anywhere - your PC, phone, and browser. Collecting thoughts and ideas on the go is what OneNote was made for. Read the full post to learn more.

Based on many conversations with customers over the past year, I've noticed that people and companies are continuing to experiment and learn how to use social media at work. Although reports show that the number of people joining social networks keeps going up, it's no secret that many companies remain hesitant to allow social media into the workplace. Will it affect workplace productivity? Is it safe? What are the real benefits?

According to news reports, teens and the tech-savvy don't care for email so much these days. Recent headlines suggest the death of email is imminent, now that social networking, instant messaging, texting, and other tools are ever-present. We see evidence every day, however, that email is still a key means of communication. But rather than rely on our own experience, we wanted to know how the average information worker uses email and other messaging systems. We asked MarketTools Inc., to help us understand the use of email, social tools, and other means of communication in the office by conducting an independent online survey of 1,268 professionals and students, age 18 and older. Read what we found out in the research.

Today, Microsoft is announcing the public beta of Office 365, a service that we think delivers the best of the cloud, working with the Office applications people already know and trust. Office 365 brings together all of the familiar and powerful Microsoft productivity tools in a single cloud service. The public beta enables people in 37 countries to utilize Office, SharePoint, Exchange, and Lync as a cloud service.

Cloud computing is gaining mindshare fast. Companies of all sizes are using the cloud to deliver the latest applications and services, and they're seeing how cloud services can give them a competitive advantage while minimizing routine maintenance like patching, updating, and upgrading, and the upfront costs of traditional on-premises infrastructure. Cloud services can combine that convenience and affordability with powerful functionality and ease of use.

What does Office 365 offer you?

Office, the way it's meant to be

I love hearing the great stories about people sharing information and collaborating with colleagues, customers, friends and family in new ways with Office 2010.  I'm humbled by the amazing breadth and depth of the great projects our customers drive with Office.

Today, we are announcing Office 365, another significant step forward in the evolution of Office, set to launch in 2011.

Office 365 will bring together the power of Office applications with SharePoint, Exchange and Lync -- delivered as a predictable, monthly subscription service. The beauty of this is that instead of spending valuable time managing and maintaining technologies, people in businesses of all sizes will be able to connect easily to co-workers, partners, customers and information.

 We designed and developed our business productivity applications -- including Office, Exchange, SharePoint and Lync -- to work together. For instance, Exchange enables a great e-mail experience in Outlook; Lync helps you stay connected to others while working in Office apps; and SharePoint allows you to collaborate effectively on Office documents with social networking tools inside your business.

While many customers use Office every day, we want to help more people experience the full power of our 2010 products working in unison. We believe the value of the integrated experience is much greater than the individual parts working alone.

With a services-based approach that takes advantage of the cloud, we are bringing businesses of all sizes the ability to experience the benefits of our 2010 products. This means:

• You can see at-a-glance if a colleague is available, and then in one click call, IM, e-mail, or even start a video conference with that colleague through the 'rich presence' that lights up everywhere in Office.
• You can bring social networking to everyday work tasks, including document sharing and collaboration in Office - with all the security and privacy that business requires.
• You can avoid e-mail faux pas - such as accidentally e-mailing to a big distribution list - with "Mail Tips" in Outlook.
• You can broadcast PowerPoint presentations to colleagues, and everyone on your team can tune in - even those on mobile phones.
• You can work on one Word document with multiple people at the same time, see each other's changes, and collaborate without creating conflicts or losing data and formatting.

 More than ever, I am excited to enter this next stage in the evolution of Office. What do you think? How do you see Office 365 changing the way you work? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Takeshi Numoto

Corporate Vice President, Office Product Management Group

Microsoft Corp.

I've had my Windows Phone 7 for a few weeks. Whether I'm checking e-mail, capturing a video or photo, or taking notes, I'm regularly delighted with how common tasks are easier with Windows Phone 7. A key part of Windows Phone 7 is Office Mobile. Office Mobile is all about getting things done on the go--staying organized, blazing through e-mails, being more productive--and still finding time for a life. The introduction of Office Mobile for Windows Phone 7 brings to life our promise of helping you stay productive whether you are using your PC, browser or mobile phone.

Take a look at this video to see how simple and easy it is to use Office Mobile on your Windows Phone 7, and read the full post for my own real-life scenarios and links to more info.

The future generation of users is very important to us at Microsoft. For me, engagements like the Office World Championship refresh my enthusiasm for my job and give meaning to the kind of work we have the privilege to do in Office.I just got back from San Diego, where I got to meet some of the finalists in the 2011 Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office, hosted by our certification partner Certiport. What an experience to see their passion and camaraderie at the event.