Office 14 - When!

ok some of you may have already seen this blog

So here's my question. As a corporate customer using Office 2000, I have 3 options available to me:-

1. Upgrade to office 2007 now but downgrade to Office 2003 until SP1 arrives. Here I'm assuming that the next version of Office is over 2 years away
2.Upgrade to office 2007 now with software assurance but downgrade to Office 2003 until SP1 arrives. Here I'm assuming that the next version of Office is within 2 years
3. Do option 2 but in 12 months time. Here I'm assuming that the next version of Office is over 2 years away but I handicap my  users and development programs for another 12 months
4. Do option 2 now but pay to extend SA in 2 years time



Option 2 or 3 will cost me ~£24k extra over option 1.
Option 4 will cost me ~£48k extra over option 1.

Chance are that option 1 is the best bet but who else is betting on Office 14 not arriving until 2010:s

Surely after office 13?

Although I wouldn't imagine the next version of office taking much less time than the last version did.

Who am I kidding, I haven't a clue.

[edit:] skipped the bit about superstition. Ignore me, there is nothing to see here. [/edit]

Is there a particular blocking issue that requires you to wait for SP1?

AndyC wrote:

Is there a particular blocking issue that requires you to wait for SP1?

I don't see what would hold you back right now...  the only "blocking" issue I've hit is an issue with trendline equations on a scatter plot in Excel, and performance is comparable with or better than Office 2003 (impressive considering the enhancements to the graphics engine).

Unless you're hoping for menus, toolbars or a customizable ribbon in SP1--  which won't happen unless the Office team makes a complete 180 on their current stance (they won't add anything that adds any complexity to the ribbon system, even if it would make it easier to find things that you used in 2003).

But I'd expect Office.Next (be it 13 or 14) to be released in 2009.  They won't be making the revolutionary changes they did in this release, so it's within reason that they should get back onto a two-year schedule again.

AndyC wrote:

Is there a particular blocking issue that requires you to wait for SP1?

On the face of it no but experience suggests that once office 2007 is used in the real world, real issues will rise to the surface. Some will be major and others just irratating (e.g. cannot use ctrl+insert for copy in the preview pane in Outlook 2007 but it works when the message is opened)