Microsoft To Launch Office 2016 Later This Year

Following its Windows 10 event, Microsoft announced that the next version of Office is called Office 2016 and will be made available in the second half of this year.

The tech giant from Redmond revealed its plans for Office on Thursday, when it announced Office for Windows 10 and Office 2016.

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While Microsoft isn't ready to reveal new features for Office 2016, but one should expect a darker theme and a Clippy-like helper, notes The Verge.

"Over the past 12 months, you've seen us reimagine the traditional Office experience for a mobile-first, cloud-first world. The next step in this journey is the delivery of touch and mobile optimized versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook for Windows 10", the company said in a blog post.

The Office 2016 suite will basically keep the focus on traditional keyboard and mouse users, rather than the touch-focused version for smartphones and tablets.

The Office "universal" apps for Windows 10, shown during the event will exist as a separate entity and will deliver touch-focused experience across all of the devices, from phones and tablets.

"We will have more to share on Office 2016 in the coming months, but this suite will remain the comprehensive Office experience you're long familiar with, best suited for a PC with keyboard and mouse."

"We have compelling new experiences coming as part of this Office suite-stay tuned to the Office Blog for more details. We expect to make Office 2016 generally available in the second half of 2015."

Stay tuned to GizBot for more updates!