On Wednesday, Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft released details on its next version of Office, which will include an improved home version, new server-based offerings and a high-end corporate edition of the desktop package, CNET News.com reports.Microsoft also offered up prices on some of the new products. On average, the company said consumers would pay roughly the same amount for Office 2007 as they have for previous versions, CNET News.com reports.“We do not expect our customers to notice any significant change in our pricing,” said Parri Munsell, a group program manager in Microsoft’s information worker unit. According to CNET News.com, Office Standard will be priced at $399 and Office Professional will go for $499. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe “There’s a tremendous amount in the new Office 2007,” Munsell said. “We do believe this is the most significant advance in over a decade.” A beta version of Office 2007 was first made available in November, and the second beta testing cycle is slated for this spring, CNET News.com reports.The company will offer two high-end editions along with the Standard and Professional offerings–deemed “professional plus” and “enterprise”–that can only be purchased by businesses through the company’s volume-licensing program. Though Microsoft did not announce prices for either high-end edition, it did offer details on a number of their features. The Professional Plus version contains standard Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook applications that tout the features of the professional edition’s Access and Publisher products, an instant messaging program called Office Communicator, InfoPath software for creating forms, and server-based content and forms management capabilities, according to CNET News.com. The enterprise edition offers Groove, a collaborative program that gives users the option of running their own Groove server or employing a hosted service, CNET News.com reports. Microsoft is currently offering small businesses a Groove Live service for $79 per user, per year.In addition, the company’s SharePoint Portal Server, which was used solely for handling portals in the past, will now manage other Office functions as well, such as spreadsheet hosting and content rights management, CNET News.com reports.“We think Office SharePoint is going to be the heart of the Office system,” Munsell told CNET News.com.Don’t forget to keep checking in at our CIO News Alerts page for updated news coverage. Related content feature Mastercard preps for the post-quantum cybersecurity threat A cryptographically relevant quantum computer will put everyday online transactions at risk. Mastercard is preparing for such an eventuality — today. By Poornima Apte Sep 22, 2023 6 mins CIO 100 Quantum Computing Data and Information Security feature 9 famous analytics and AI disasters Insights from data and machine learning algorithms can be invaluable, but mistakes can cost you reputation, revenue, or even lives. These high-profile analytics and AI blunders illustrate what can go wrong. By Thor Olavsrud Sep 22, 2023 13 mins Technology Industry Generative AI Machine Learning feature Top 15 data management platforms available today Data management platforms (DMPs) help organizations collect and manage data from a wide array of sources — and are becoming increasingly important for customer-centric sales and marketing campaigns. By Peter Wayner Sep 22, 2023 10 mins Marketing Software Data Management opinion Four questions for a casino InfoSec director By Beth Kormanik Sep 21, 2023 3 mins Media and Entertainment Industry Events Security Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe