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Coming To An Office Near You: Page 2 of 2

Bill's presentation was focused on the client side of Office, showing off Word and Excel and Outlook. But where things get interesting is on the server side, and little was said about that. Maybe it is easier to demo client apps than servers. He did make an effort at drawing the connection between servers and client pieces, but it wasn't very satisfying. Maybe we are all getting older and more difficult to please. Maybe it was just me, a self-admitted server-centric kind of guy.

Wait a minute. What does running Office have to do with servers? Plenty. Microsoft is extending the notion of what desktop software is, and with Office 2003 we have applications that can reach out across the Internet for online help, for data via Web services, for document repositories and collaboration via SharePoint, for project management and scheduling information via Project Server, for workflow information via BizTalk, and for automatically filling out forms via InfoPath. And I forgot about Exchange Server 2003 and Outlook 2003, which have their own series of enhancements too.

The key issue for VARs and system integrators -- and IT managers too -- is going to be able to sort out which server works best for which particular application, and how they can get up to speed on deploying these new services and servers to their customers and differentiate themselves with the rest of the hordes rushing to embrace Office 2003. Ironically, it may be the inclusion and support for Web services and the rather good XML features in this version of Office that could tip the balance for many to consider using it, just as they dive deeply into the Microsoft pool and wrap themselves around Redmond's numerous server offerings. Or it could be the quirky $150 million ad campaign that Microsoft is planning on spending during the next few months too.

Many of the partners at the upstairs pavilion showed off some pretty neat add-ons to these servers, and in some cases were using multiple Microsoft servers to demonstrate their wares. But it was all too much to take in. In the old days, Microsoft would have been much sharper about listing which server went with which partner. I had to keep a running scorecard on my own.

Office 2003 is a huge collection of stuff, and sorting it out during the next couple of months will be a big part of my professional life. You'll read more about what others and I have to say in the pages of VARBusiness. In the meantime, if you want to read one of the better analyses of its components, in particular its XML features, check out Jon Udell's review in Infoworld here.