Editor's Note: Explore New Office Content for IT Pros

IT pros can now explore new technical content and resource offerings to help them get started deploying and administering the new Office, SharePoint, Exchange, Lync, Project, and related products and technologies.

By Nina Ruchirat

Those who have been following the hype know that, last week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the new Office at a press conference in San Francisco. If you missed it, here is a video of that keynote and the transcript. Press response to the announcement has been positive, as demonstrated by articles in the Seattle Times (Microsoft's new Office puts cloud in its corner), CNET (Hands-on: Microsoft's New Office Is the Best Version Yet), and Fast Company (New Office: Microsoft's Best Bet for Winning the Cloud).

For the IT pros whose organizations are planning to make the leap to the new Office (or are considering it), we have provided a sizable volume of new Office technical content and resources, including Preview downloads, Preview service sign-ups, deep technical documentation, training, blogs, forums, videos, and more. And because the IT Pro content publishing teams in the Microsoft Office Division operate on a continuous publishing model, more resources and documentation and updates will be rolling out as the product lifecycle evolves. The continuous publishing model allows us to incorporate necessary changes and content enhancements based on customer needs and feedback.

Get started with the New Office for IT Pros TechCenter, which covers details about activation, compatibility, and deployment for Office 2013 Preview and Office 365 ProPlus Preview. The Office 2013 Preview Resource Kit provides essential content such as system requirements and volume activation, and information about new features such as the Office Telemetry Dashboard. I peeked at the content calendar for the Office IT Pro blog and there is lots of great stuff coming up, so I recommend subscribing to the RSS or bookmarking it. 

To experience first-hand how the new Office is designed as a service in the cloud, start by signing up for the Office 365 Enterprise Preview service, which includes 25 user licenses, IT admin tools and policies for user management, data leakage protection, mail archiving and compliance, and team sites for project management. Review the capabilities and features and be sure to also catch a great Office 365 ProPlus Administrator Series posted on the Office 365 Preview blog, written by Jeremy Chapman, a senior product manager for Office 365.

SharePoint IT pros can sink their teeth into lots of content around installation, upgrade, migration, and services on the new SharePoint 2013 for IT pros TechCenter, and enjoy some advanced training with this 14-module video-based SharePoint 2013 training for IT pros. Stay up-to-date on the SharePoint IT Pro blog and continue the conversation in the forums.

From the Exchange Server 2013 for IT Pros TechCenter, you can learn about prerequisites and system requirements, hybrid on-premises and online deployments, follow the EHLO Blog, and much more. Exchange Online Preview content is also available.

You can enable enhanced communication such as phone, instant messaging, web and video conferencing, etc., in your organization with the content in the Lync Server 2013 for IT Pros TechCenter. Find a vibrant Lync community in the NextHop Community blogs.

To support your enterprise project managers, explore the Project Server 2013 for IT pros TechCenter. Since Project Server 2013 Preview is built on SharePoint Server 2013 Preview, we recommend that you review the new features and functionality of SharePoint Server 2013 Preview. The release of Project Server 2013 Preview is paired with the release of Project Online Preview, a new service in the Office 365 Enterprise Preview designed for businesses that need full portfolio and project management tools online. Project Online administration will help you find the resources you need to deploy and operate Project Online Preview.

It feels so good to finally be able to talk about everything we’ve been working on for so long. Most of the links captured here are compiled in this TechNet Feature Package, another recommended bookmark. For continued updates from the product engineering teams, the Office Next blog is the one to watch. Stay tuned and enjoy the previews.

Thanks for reading,

Nina

Nina Ruchirat*, Senior Content Project Manager, sits in the Office Content Publishing group and is a liaison for the technical communities of Office, Office 365, SharePoint, Exchange, Lync, Project, and their related products and technologies. She has worked on various technical and non-technical content projects at Microsoft since 2000. Before that, she was a daily metro newspaper journalist at the* Seattle Post-Intelligencer*. Follow Nina on Twitter at @MSNinaR.*