Microsoft Office for Linux may come by 2014

Microsoft Office for Linux may come by 2014

Microsoft Office is probably the most used software when desktop applications are concerned. Until now, the office productivity suite was available for Windows and Mac OS. Now with the rise of Open Source Software as choice of OS, the company cannot ignore another source of income and the latest news from the Redmond stable is that the company may soon release Microsoft Office for Linux by 2014.

According to ExtremeTech, Microsoft is taking a “meaningful look” at releasing a full Linux port of Office in 2014. That would be quite something but it makes perfect sense. It’s apparent that Office, as a proprietary software, will not regain its luster of its enterprise glory years. Open sourcing Office gives them a window, no pun intended, to collaborate with a developer community outside the .NET universe.

Extreme Tech reports that rumors of the Linux version of Office surfaced last weekend at FOSDEM, the open source conference held annually in Brussels.Sources there told ExtremeTech that the meaningful consideration is prompted by Microsoft’s realization that Linux may be a viable commercial opportunity after all.

It also stems from Microsoft’s plans to develop a version of Office for Android to work on mobile devices. According to ExtremeTech:

Android, as you may already know, is a Linux-based operating system, meaning a lot of the porting work will have already been done — it shouldn’t take too much effort to take the next step and bring Office to Ubuntu, or whichever distro Microsoft favors.

Microsoft has never offered a Linux version of its software.

Source

Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office is an office suite of desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft on August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of Office contained Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint. Over the years, Office applications have grown substantially closer with shared features such as a common spell checker, OLE data integration and Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications scripting language. Microsoft also positions Office as a development platform for line-of-business software under the Office Business Applications brand. Office is reported to now be used by over a billion people worldwide.

The current versions are Office 2013 for Windows, released on October 11, 2012; and Office 2011 for OS X, released October 26, 2010.
Microsoft just recently unveiled the Office 365  for Home or Business.