Microsoft has introduced its Office 15, which will complement the new redesigned Windows 8 later this year. The necessary for all Win users suite also has a  sleek Metro look and designed to make life and work easier. The updated suite includes Word 2013, InfoPath Designer 2013, Publisher 2013, OneNote 2013, InfoPath Filler 2013, Excel 2013, Outlook 2013, PowerPoint 2013, Lync 2013, and Access 2013. 

Photo: Office 15 Word preview, from mashable.com

Office 15 features an important for an office suite’s function—new touch controls created to be used on touch screens such as Microsoft’s Surface tablet. For example, you can handwrite emails using your stylus and then convert them to text. The stylus is also used as a laser pointer when presenting in PowerPoint.

SkyDrive cloud service is a key feature in Office 15. All your documents are saved by default to SkyDrive, allowing you access them anywhere. And—the most important thing—Office 15 is tied not to your computer but to your account so you can use it from any device.

Office 15 surprises with little details such as templates for different types of documents, which are delivered to your computer directly from Office.com, along with a preview. Multimedia elements, including YouTube videos can also now be previewed live when brought into Word documents. Using Outlook you can also see a mini version of your calendar. These are to name a few.

And, of course, social media have become an integral part of the new Microsoft’s product. The People Card, which lets you view out your friend’s status updates from Facebook and LinkedIn, is available throughout Office. A subscription to Office gives you 60 free minutes of Skype world minutes every month.

At the press conference in San Francisco, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said: We are taking bold steps at Microsoft. The new, modern Office will deliver unparalleled productivity and flexibility for both consumers and business customers. It is a cloud service and will fully light up when paired with Windows 8.”

Photo: Office 15 Excel preview, from mashable.com