Microsoft's Office team has run like clockwork for at least the past decade. The 5,000 or so Office engineers delivered a new version of Office every 2.5 to 3 years without fail.
But these days, two or three years between new product releases is considered an eternity. While it's all well and good for the trains to run on time, the trains need to run a lot faster. In addition, these days, the different Office client, server and services trains don't all need to be on the same schedule.
Microsoft's Office team is well aware of the new reality. The team is believed to be on track to release the first upgrade to Office 2013 with the Office Blue release, codenamed "Gemini," this fall — which will be almost exactly a year since the company released to manufacturing its most recent Office client product, Office 2013. But even before that, the Office unit is looking to update the subscription versions of its Office client and server products with new features around June or July 2013.
I've heard from a number of users and developers who are doubtful that Microsoft can pull off this ambitious schedule. Can a division as set in its ways as Office turn things around in such a relatively short window?
Microsoft quietly laid much of the groundwork for this more rapid delivery schedule months, if not years, ago, company officials say.
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