The world is shifting at a rapid pace and how industry uses software is evolving. Just a few years ago, we used to pay for a software product or license and we were good to go. But that is all changing.

Microsoft announced recently their Office 365 Home Premium service which is one of these new subscription-based services and it includes Microsoft Office 2013.

With Microsoft Office 2013, Microsoft gave their famous productivity suite a thorough make over. The jury is still out if we like it or not, we will spend some time with it and have more to come in later posts.

Office 365 Home Premium, the basic version of the Microsoft Office 2013 suite includes all the core applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Microsoft Outlook. We can’t forget about Publisher and Access which are also included.

Home users can get Microsoft Office 2013 for $100 annually (includes a one-month trial period) and home users can install Office on up to five of their devices including Windows 7 and Windows 8 PCs, tablets, and even their Apple computers.

Microsoft also announced that a business version of this solution that can be installed on 10 to 25 business computers is coming out shortly. The exact date is unknown at this time.

Microsoft Office 2013 was first made available in July through the Microsoft Preview program. Microsoft Office 2013 follows the Windows 8 design offering a clean and less cluttered interface. The Ribbon Bar is reduced in size and there are a number of new features and services.

Microsoft Word 2013 will allow users the ability to edit PDF files and Microsoft Outlook 2013 offers enhanced search. Exciting for users of Microsoft PowerPoint, you can now embedded Facebook and Flickr images, and Excel provides stronger reporting and analytical tools.

Is Microsoft Office 2013 right for your business?

Preston Gralla from ComputerWorld offers an extensive review of Office 2013.

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