Last week we brought you news of a leaked product roadmap from Microsoft that gave hints about the release of several products, including the next versions of Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office (though not, unfortunately, Windows 8). According to that document, the beta version of Office 15 will be releasing sometime this summer, with a full release not coming until sometime early in 2013.
Details about the next update to Microsoft’s venerable productivity platform are a little scarce, though screenshots obtained last month by The Verge show some interesting details. One thing that the each of the Office apps apparently includes is the option to sign in and save files to cloud services like SkyDrive.
Now it looks like a leaked video from Microsoft confirms Office 15’s cloud integration. According to the short video, which looks like the kind of video that Microsoft sometimes builds into their software, users will be able to sign into Office on their computers and “keep your documents safely online,” so that “they travel with you to all your devices.” Check out the video below:
Based on the video, it sounds like the sign-in process will allow users to edit Office files on their Windows 8 tablets. What will be interesting to see is whether “all your devices” means something more than “all your Windows devices.” That is, will we finally be seeing Microsoft Office for iPad? An Office app (or suite of apps, a la iWork) has been rumored for ages. In November there were rumors that an Office app would be coming sometime in 2012. A similar rumor popped up in February of this year, but was quickly shot down by Microsoft.