Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office is an office software suite developed by Microsoft. This program was initially released with three main applications—MS Word, MS PowerPoint, and MS Excel. Word is the word processor, Excel is the spreadsheet program, and PowerPoint is the presentation software. However, through the years, the company developed more desktop applications to add to the collection. These are Outlook, OneNote, Access, InfoPath, Publisher, Lync, Project, and Visio. MS Outlook is the emailing application with a personal information management function. MS OneNote is the free-form information gathering and note-taking software of the group. MS Publisher is the desktop publishing program while MS Project is the project management application. MS Lync replaced the Communicator as the communications client for meetings and conferences. MS Access is a database manager; MS Visio is the flowchart and diagram application; and Infopath is the XML-based forms designing program.

Microsoft Office likewise offers Server applications. The program offers Microsoft SharePoint as the collaboration server with support for Infopath Forms Services, Microsoft Project Server, Microsoft Search Server, and Excel Services. In addition, Microsoft Office includes the MS Lync Server as its real-time communications server application. The office suite also offers applications specializing in Web services including Office Web Apps, Microsoft Update, and Microsoft Office 365. Office Web Apps features Web-based versions of Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and OneNote.  Microsoft Office 365, its latest offering, is a subscription-based software service enabling users to license MS programs for cloud-based utilities.