Office 2013

Microsoft has released a new Customer Preview demo of its upcoming Office 2013 (aka Office 15) suite, and we’ve spent a few hours with the product to get a feel for what we can expect when the full version drops in early 2013. According to Microsoft, Office 2013 is a cloud-based product with a physical, licensed-for-perpetuity option for those who aren’t willing to sign up for a subscription service. It’s Metroesque without being a full implementation of Metro, and it’s very much a product in transition.

According to Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO, Office 2013 is “a service first.” The executive, who’s come under fire in recent months for the company’s lackluster stock price over the past decade, claimed that Office 2013 is “the most ambitious release of Office we’ve ever done.”

As part of that “service first” mentality, Office 2013 is effectively being rolled into Office 365 and now comes in a Home Premium subscription flavor. Up to now, Office 365 was strictly a business product; Microsoft hopes to change that by integrating features like SkyDrive and offering a multi-license family pack. Sign up for Office Home Premium, and you receive a license for up to five devices (which, of course, Microsoft hopes will be a bunch of Surface tablets).

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