Resources for the new Office release

Yes we’ve been busy!  With the release of the new Office, we have lots of new resources for you to look at. To get started, have a look at our new Tech Centers:

• Office for IT pros
• New Office for IT pros
• Office 365 for IT pros

And now the Office Resource Kit Team presents to you….three, yes three, new content libraries:

• Office 365 ProPlus Preview 
• Office 2013 Preview Resource Kit
• Office Web Apps Preview

Why are there three?   If your organization is considering or planning to use Office 365 with the Office subscription option, you’ll want to use the Office 365 ProPlus Preview library.  Because Office 365 ProPlus uses Click-to-Run, the deployment process is different than the traditional Windows Installer-based (MSI) deployments of Office. If you are considering Office 2013 without the Office 365 subscription, which would be an MSI deployment, use the Office 2013 Preview Resource Kit.  And finally, if you are considering deploying Office Web Apps on-premises instead of using one of the Office 365 offerings that offers Office Web Apps, use the Office Web Apps Preview library.

The documentation available today in these libraries is just a small portion of the content that we have planned.  We will continue to publish new content over the next several months.  So keep an eye on the newly published content lists (which are the first article under each library).

Give us feedback!   While you’re reviewing the content, if you find something confusing or spot other content issues, please send us feedback by clicking the “Rate this topic” option on the article in TechNet and explain the content issue.  If you want to give feedback on the product itself, use the smile/frown icons within the Office applications or post to the forum.

Content highlights - Here is a highlight of what is included in these libraries today:

• Office 365 ProPlus Preview is part of the Office 365 product suite and is downloaded and managed through the Office 365 portal. As an alternative, administrators who are managing Office 365 for their organization can download and install Click-to-Run product and language sources to an on-premises location. This is useful in scenarios where administrators want to minimize the demand on the network or want to prevent users from installing from the Internet due to corporate security requirements. This documentation is intended for the IT professionals who deploy and maintain Office 365 ProPlus Preview in their organizations.

  • Overview of Office 365 ProPlus Preview

  • Deployment options for Office 365 ProPlus Preview

  • Click-to-Run overview

  • Customization overview for Click-to-Run

  • Office Deployment Tool for Click-to-Run

  • Overview of licensing and activation in Office 365 ProPlus Preview

  • + more

• The Office 2013 Preview Resource Kit is intended for IT professionals who plan, implement, and maintain Office MSI installations in their organizations.

  • Explore Office 2013 Preview provides information about system requirements and new features and improvements in the Office 2013 suites that are relevant to IT professionals.

  • Compatibility in Office 2013 Preview provides information about new Office 2013 Preview compatibility tools and resources.

  • Deploy Office 2013 Preview provides information that will help you learn how to configure and deploy volume activation, customize an installation, and deploy Office 2013 Preview in your organization.

  • Manage Office 2013 Preview provides information that will help you support and manage installations of Office 2013 in your organization.

  • Office 2013 Preview Glossary contains definitions for terms that are either new or changed in Office 2013 Preview.

• Office Web Apps Preview - Office Web Apps architecture and deployment have changed in this new release. Learn how Office Web Apps Server Preview makes this possible.

  • Deploy the infrastructure: Office Web Apps Server Preview provides information about Office Web Apps Server Preview and how it provides Office Web Apps Preview functionality to hosts.

  • Use Office Web Apps Preview with SharePoint 2013 Preview provides information about how to deploy and configure Office Web Apps Preview for SharePoint.

Want to download the library content to use offline?   Two of the content libraries are available in the complied help format today.  The complied help format version of Office 365 ProPlus Preview is coming soon. Keep in mind that the complied help files are snapshots of the content as it was available day 1 of the Office Preview and not as fresh as the online content.  Be sure to check the newly published lists for updates (which are the first article under each library - for example Newly published content for the Office 2013 Preview Resource Kit). Here are the links to the downloads:

• Office 2013 Technical Library in Compiled Help
• Office Web Apps Technical Library in Compiled Help

Was that information overload?   We will go into more depth about the new Office on this blog in the days, weeks and months to come.

What should you do now?  Download Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus Preview.

Also check out the new Office 2013 and Office 365 ProPlus Preview forum.

Cheers!
The Office Resource Kit Team