David Kirkpatrick of Fortune writes:
The changes in how it will work in the future will make waves across the world of software. For instance, Office will no longer just be a variety of interlinked desktop applications, but will now extend onto the server, where it will be linked with many other kinds of software. The fast-growing new technology called RSS will allow workers to pull data in and out of Office. With RSS, you can subscribe to view new posts on blogs. With Office 12, you will be able to subscribe to receive data from your companys software applications. For example, you might be able to automatically receive the latest analysis of your companys profitability.
This is how it will work. The information produced by enterprise applications like SAP will be drawn down into Excel, Word, and other elements of the Office desktop, so workers can manipulate, comment on, and share new kinds of data. This data sits on corporate servers today, but few workers have access to it. If Office becomes the portal to corporate information, it could increase the number of employees who can easily find and use critical information in a companys applications and databases.
