Business Applications and Services

As managing vice president, Rob Helm covers Microsoft collaboration and content management. His 25-plus years of experience analyzing Microsoft’s technology... more

Most of Microsoft’s business applications are due for updates in 2010, when the company will probably release the next versions of the Office suite, Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, and the Project line. However, Microsoft updated its Communications Server voice and instant messaging (IM) product in Feb. 2009, and it continues to roll out and update online services based on its server applications.

Office Suite, Visio, and Groove

The Office suite and the Visio diagramming product received major releases in late 2006. These “2007” product versions do not require Windows Vista, but they do require Windows XP SP2 or later, and thus are not supported on Windows 2000. The products will probably be updated in an “Office 14” wave of releases in 2010.

(For a timeline of recent and future versions, see the illustration “Office and Visio Overview“. For an overview of earlier Office versions, including service pack release history and life cycle support dates, see the chart “Past Office Versions“.)

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