HISTORY OF THE COMPUTER

ARTICLE WRITTEN BY:

ADEBOWALE ONIFADE
ELECTRICAL ELECTRONIC
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN
NIGERIA
REGION 8
HISTORY OF THE COMPUTER
ABSTRACT
This paper takes a keen look at the history of computer technology with a view to encouraging
computer or electrical electronic engineering students to embrace and learn the history of their
profession and its technologies. Reedy (1984) quoted Aldous Huxley thus: “that men do not learn
very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to
teach.” This paper therefore emphasizes the need to study history of the computer because a proper
study and understanding of the evolution of computers will undoubtedly help to greatly improve on
computer technologies.
INTRODUCTION
The word ‘computer’ is an old word that has changed its meaning several times in the last few
centuries. Originating from the Latin, by the mid-17th century it meant ‘someone who computes’.
The American Heritage Dictionary (1980) gives its first computer definition as “a person who
computes.” The computer remained associated with human activity until about the middle of the 20 th
century when it became applied to “a programmable electronic device that can store, retrieve, and
process data” as Webster’s Dictionary (1980) defines it. Today, the word computer refers to
computing devices, whether or not they are electronic, programmable, or capable of ‘storing and
retrieving’ data.
The Techencyclopedia (2003) defines computer as “a general purpose machine that processes data
according to a set of instructions that are stored internally either temporarily or permanently.” The
computer and all equipment attached to it are called hardware. The instructions that tell it what to do
are called "software" or “program”. A program is a detailed set of humanly prepared instructions that
directs the computer to function in specific ways. Furthermore, the Encyclopedia Britannica (2003)
defines computers as “the contribution of major individuals, machines, and ideas to the development
of computing.” This implies that
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the computer is a system. A system is a group of computer components that work together as a unit
to perform a common objective.
The term ‘history’ means past events. The encyclopedia Britannica (2003) defines it as “the
discipline that studies the chronological record of events (as affecting a nation or people), based on a
critical examination of source materials and usually presenting an explanation of their causes.” The
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (1995) simply defines history as “the study of past events.
…” In discussing the history of computers, chronological record of events – particularly in the area
of technological development – will be explained. History of computer in the area of technological
development is being considered because it is usually the technological advancement in computers
that brings about economic and social advancement. A faster computer brings about faster operation
and that in turn causes an economic development. This paper will discuss classes of computers,
computer evolution and highlight some roles played by individuals in these developments.
CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
Computing machines can be classified in many ways and these classifications depend on their
functions and definitions. They can be classified by the technology from which they were
constructed, the uses to which they are put, their capacity or size, the era in which they were used,
their basic operating principle and by the kinds of data they process. Some of these classification
techniques are discussed as follows:
Classification by Technology
This classification is a historical one and it is based on what performs the computer operation, or the
technology behind the computing skill.
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I FLESH: Before the advent of any kind of computing device at all, human beings performed
computation by themselves. This involved the use of fingers, toes and any other part of the body.
II WOOD: Wood became a computing device when it was first used to design the abacus. Shickard
in 1621 and Polini in 1709 were both instrumental to this development.
III METALS: Metals were used in the early machines of Pascal, Thomas, and the production
versions from firms such as Brundsviga, Monroe, etc
IV ELECTROMECHANICAL DEVICES: As differential analyzers, these were present in the early
machines of Zuse, Aiken, Stibitz and many others
V ELECTRONIC ELEMENTS: These were used in the Colossus, ABC, ENIAC, and the stored
program computers.
This classification really does not apply to developments in the last sixty years because several kinds
of new electro technological devices have been used thereafter.
Classification by Capacity
Computers can be classified according to their capacity. The term ‘capacity’ refers to the volume of
work or the data processing capability a computer can handle. Their performance is determined by
the amount of data that can be stored in memory, speed of internal operation of the computer, number
and type of peripheral devices, amount and type of software available for use with the computer.
The capacity of early generation computers was determined by their physical size - the larger the
size, the greater the volume. Recent computer technology however is tending to create smaller
machines, making it possible to package equivalent speed and capacity in a smaller format.
Computer capacity is currently measured by the number of applications that it can
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run rather than by the volume of data it can process. This classification is therefore done as follows:
I MICROCOMPUTERS The Microcomputer has the lowest level capacity. The machine has
memories that are generally made of semiconductors fabricated on silicon chips. Large-scale
production of silicon chips began in 1971 and this has been of great use in the production of
microcomputers. The microcomputer is a digital computer system that is controlled by a stored
program that uses a microprocessor, a programmable read-only memory (ROM) and a random-access
memory (RAM). The ROM defines the instructions to be executed by the computer while RAM is
the functional equivalent of computer memory.
The Apple IIe, the Radio Shack TRS-80, and the Genie III are examples of microcomputers and are
essentially fourth generation devices. Microcomputers have from 4k to 64k storage location and are
capable of handling small, single-business application such as sales analysis, inventory, billing and
payroll.
II MINICOMPUTERS
In the 1960s, the growing demand for a smaller stand-alone machine brought about the manufacture
of the minicomputer, to handle tasks that large computers could not perform economically.
Minicomputer systems provide faster operating speeds and larger storage capacities than
microcomputer systems. Operating systems developed for minicomputer systems generally support
both multiprogramming and virtual storage. This means that many programs can be run concurrently.
This type of computer system is very flexible and can be expanded to meet the needs of users.
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Minicomputers usually have from 8k to 256k memory storage location, and a relatively established
application software. The PDP-8, the IBM systems 3 and the Honeywell 200 and 1200 computer are
typical examples of minicomputers.
III MEDIUM-SIZE COMPUTERS
Medium-size computer systems provide faster operating speeds and larger storage capacities than
mini computer systems. They can support a large number of high-speed input/output devices and
several disk drives can be used to provide online access to large data files as required for direct
access processing and their operating systems also support both multiprogramming and virtual
storage. This allows the running of variety of programs concurrently. A medium-size computer can
support a management information system and can therefore serve the needs of a large bank,
insurance company or university. They usually have memory sizes ranging from 32k to 512k. The
IBM System 370, Burroughs 3500 System and NCR Century 200 system are examples of medium-
size computers.
IV LARGE COMPUTERS
Large computers are next to Super Computers and have bigger capacity than the Medium-size
computers. They usually contain full control systems with minimal operator intervention. Large
computer system ranges from single-processing configurations to nationwide computer-based
networks involving general large computers. Large computers have storage capacities from 512k to
8192k, and these computers have internal operating speeds measured in terms of nanosecond, as
compared to small computers where speed is measured in terms of microseconds. Expandability to 8
or even 16 million characters is possible with some of these systems. Such characteristics permit
many data processing jobs to be accomplished concurrently.
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Large computers are usually used in government agencies, large corporations and computer services
organizations. They are used in complex modeling, or simulation, business operations, product
testing, design and engineering work and in the development of space technology. Large computers
can serve as server systems where many smaller computers can be connected to it to form a
communication network.
V SUPERCOMPUTERS The supercomputers are the biggest and fastest machines today and they are
used when billion or even trillions of calculations are required. These machines are applied in nuclear
weapon development, accurate weather forecasting and as host processors for local computer. and
time sharing networks. Super computers have capabilities far beyond even the traditional large-scale
systems. Their speed ranges from 100 million-instruction-per-second to well over three billion.
Because of their size, supercomputers sacrifice a certain amount of flexibility. They are therefore not
ideal for providing a variety of user services. For this reason, supercomputers may need the
assistance of a medium-size general purpose machines (usually called front-end processor) to handle
minor programs or perform slower speed or smaller volume operation.
Classification by their basic operating principle
Using this classification technique, computers can be divided into Analog, Digital and Hybrid
systems. They are explained as follows:
I ANALOG COMPUTERS
Analog computers were well known in the 1940s although they are now uncommon. In such
machines, numbers to be used in some calculation were represented by physical quantities - such as
electrical voltages. According to the Penguin Dictionary of Computers (1970), “an analog computer
must be able to accept inputs which vary with respect to time and directly
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apply these inputs to various devices within the computer which performs the computing operations
of additions, subtraction, multiplication, division, integration and function generation….” The
computing units of analog computers respond immediately to the changes which they detect in the
input variables. Analog computers excel in solving differential equations and are faster than digital
computers.
II DIGITAL COMPUTERS
Most computers today are digital. They represent information discretely and use a binary (two-step)
system that represents each piece of information as a series of zeroes and ones. The Pocket Webster
School & Office Dictionary (1990) simply defines Digital computers as “a computer using numbers
in calculating.” Digital computers manipulate most data more easily than analog computers. They are
designed to process data in numerical form and their circuits perform directly the mathematical
operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Because digital information is
discrete, it can be copied exactly but it is difficult to make exact copies of analog information.
III HYBRID COMPUTERS
These are machines that can work as both analog and digital computers.
THE COMPUTER EVOLUTION
The computer evolution is indeed an interesting topic that has been explained in some different ways
over the years, by many authors. According to The Computational Science Education Project, US,
the computer has evolved through the following stages:
The Mechanical Era (1623-1945)
Trying to use machines to solve mathematical problems can be traced to the early 17th century.
Wilhelm Schickhard, Blaise Pascal, and Gottfried Leibnitz were among
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mathematicians who designed and implemented calculators that were capable of addition,
subtraction, multiplication, and division included The first multi-purpose or programmable
computing device was probably Charles Babbage's Difference Engine, which was begun in 1823 but
never completed. In 1842, Babbage designed a more ambitious machine, called the Analytical
Engine but unfortunately it also was only partially completed. Babbage, together with Ada Lovelace
recognized several important programming techniques, including conditional branches, iterative
loops and index variables. Babbage designed the machine which is arguably the first to be used in
computational science. In 1933, George Scheutz and his son, Edvard began work on a smaller
version of the difference engine and by 1853 they had constructed a machine that could process 15-
digit numbers and calculate fourth-order differences. The US Census Bureau was one of the first
organizations to use the mechanical computers which used punch-card equipment designed by
Herman Hollerith to tabulate data for the 1890 census. In 1911 Hollerith's company merged with a
competitor to found the corporation which in 1924 became International Business Machines (IBM).
First Generation Electronic Computers (1937-1953)
These devices used electronic switches, in the form of vacuum tubes, instead of electromechanical
relays. The earliest attempt to build an electronic computer was by J. V. Atanasoff, a professor of
physics and mathematics at Iowa State in 1937. Atanasoff set out to build a machine that would help
his graduate students solve systems of partial differential equations. By 1941 he and graduate student
Clifford Berry had succeeded in building a machine that could solve 29 simultaneous equations with
29 unknowns. However, the machine was not programmable, and was more of an electronic
calculator.
A second early electronic machine was Colossus, designed by Alan Turing for the British military in
1943. The first general purpose programmable electronic computer was the
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Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), built by J. Presper Eckert and John V.
Mauchly at the University of Pennsylvania. Research work began in 1943, funded by the Army
Ordinance Department, which needed a way to compute ballistics during World War II. The machine
was completed in 1945 and it was used extensively for calculations during the design of the hydrogen
bomb. Eckert, Mauchly, and John von Neumann, a consultant to the ENIAC project, began work on a
new machine before ENIAC was finished. The main contribution of EDVAC, their new project, was
the notion of a stored program. ENIAC was controlled by a set of external switches and dials; to
change the program required physically altering the settings on these controls. EDVAC was able to
run orders of magnitude faster than ENIAC and by storing instructions in the same medium as data,
designers could concentrate on improving the internal structure of the machine without worrying
about matching it to the speed of an external control. Eckert and Mauchly later designed what was
arguably the first commercially successful computer, the UNIVAC; in 1952. Software technology
during this period was very primitive.
Second Generation (1954-1962)
The second generation witnessed several important developments at all levels of computer system
design, ranging from the technology used to build the basic circuits to the programming languages
used to write scientific applications. Electronic switches in this era were based on discrete diode and
transistor technology with a switching time of approximately 0.3 microseconds. The first machines to
be built with this technology include TRADIC at Bell Laboratories in 1954 and TX-0 at MIT's
Lincoln Laboratory. Index registers were designed for controlling loops and floating point units for
calculations based on real numbers.
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A number of high level programming languages were introduced and these include FORTRAN
(1956), ALGOL (1958), and COBOL (1959). Important commercial machines of this era include the
IBM 704 and its successors, the 709 and 7094. In the 1950s the first two supercomputers were
designed specifically for numeric processing in scientific applications.
Third Generation (1963-1972)
Technology changes in this generation include the use of integrated circuits, or ICs (semiconductor
devices with several transistors built into one physical component), semiconductor memories,
microprogramming as a technique for efficiently designing complex processors and the introduction
of operating systems and time-sharing. The first ICs were based on small-scale integration (SSI)
circuits, which had around 10 devices per circuit (or ‘chip’), and evolved to the use of medium-scale
integrated (MSI) circuits, which had up to 100 devices per chip. Multilayered printed circuits were
developed and core memory was replaced by faster, solid state memories.
In 1964, Seymour Cray developed the CDC 6600, which was the first architecture to use functional
parallelism. By using 10 separate functional units that could operate simultaneously and 32
independent memory banks, the CDC 6600 was able to attain a computation rate of one million
floating point operations per second (Mflops). Five years later CDC released the 7600, also
developed by Seymour Cray. The CDC 7600, with its pipelined functional units, is considered to be
the first vector processor and was capable of executing at ten Mflops. The IBM 360/91, released
during the same period, was roughly twice as fast as the CDC 660.
Early in this third generation, Cambridge University and the University of London cooperated in the
development of CPL (Combined Programming Language, 1963). CPL was, according to its authors,
an attempt to capture only the important features of the complicated
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and sophisticated ALGOL. However, like ALGOL, CPL was large with many features that were hard
to learn. In an attempt at further simplification, Martin Richards of Cambridge developed a subset of
CPL called BCPL (Basic Computer Programming Language, 1967). In 1970 Ken Thompson of Bell
Labs developed yet another simplification of CPL called simply B, in connection with an early
implementation of the UNIX operating system. comment):
Fourth Generation (1972-1984)
Large scale integration (LSI - 1000 devices per chip) and very large scale integration (VLSI -
100,000 devices per chip) were used in the construction of the fourth generation computers. Whole
processors could now fit onto a single chip, and for simple systems the entire computer (processor,
main memory, and I/O controllers) could fit on one chip. Gate delays dropped to about 1ns per gate.
Core memories were replaced by semiconductor memories. Large main memories like CRAY 2
began to replace the older high speed vector processors, such as the CRAY 1, CRAY X-MP and
CYBER
In 1972, Dennis Ritchie developed the C language from the design of the CPL and Thompson's B.
Thompson and Ritchie then used C to write a version of UNIX for the DEC PDP-11. Other
developments in software include very high level languages such as FP (functional programming)
and Prolog (programming in logic).
IBM worked with Microsoft during the 1980s to start what we can really call PC (Personal
Computer) life today. IBM PC was introduced in October 1981 and it worked with the operating
system (software) called ‘Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS DOS) 1.0. Development of MS
DOS began in October 1980 when IBM began searching the market for an operating system for the
then proposed IBM PC and major contributors were Bill Gates, Paul Allen and Tim Paterson. In
1983, the Microsoft Windows was announced and this has witnessed several improvements and
revision over the last twenty years.
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Fifth Generation (1984-1990)
This generation brought about the introduction of machines with hundreds of processors that could
all be working on different parts of a single program. The scale of integration in semiconductors
continued at a great pace and by 1990 it was possible to build chips with a million components - and
semiconductor memories became standard on all computers. Computer networks and single-user
workstations also became popular.
Parallel processing started in this generation. The Sequent Balance 8000 connected up to 20
processors to a single shared memory module though each processor had its own local cache. The
machine was designed to compete with the DEC VAX-780 as a general purpose Unix system, with
each processor working on a different user's job. However Sequent provided a library of subroutines
that would allow programmers to write programs that would use more than one processor, and the
machine was widely used to explore parallel algorithms and programming techniques. The Intel
iPSC-1, also known as ‘the hypercube’ connected each processor to its own memory and used a
network interface to connect processors. This distributed memory architecture meant memory was no
longer a problem and large systems with more processors (as many as 128) could be built. Also
introduced was a machine, known as a data-parallel or SIMD where there were several thousand very
simple processors which work under the direction of a single control unit. Both wide area network
(WAN) and local area network (LAN) technology developed rapidly.
Sixth Generation (1990 - )
Most of the developments in computer systems since 1990 have not been fundamental changes but
have been gradual improvements over established systems. This generation brought about gains in
parallel computing in both the hardware and in improved understanding of how to develop
algorithms to exploit parallel architectures.
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Workstation technology continued to improve, with processor designs now using a combination of
RISC, pipelining, and parallel processing. Wide area networks, network bandwidth and speed of
operation and networking capabilities have kept developing tremendously. Personal computers (PCs)
now operate with Gigabit per second processors, multi-Gigabyte disks, hundreds of Mbytes of RAM,
colour printers, high-resolution graphic monitors, stereo sound cards and graphical user interfaces.
Thousands of software (operating systems and application software) are existing today and Microsoft
Inc. has been a major contributor. Microsoft is said to be one of the biggest companies ever, and its
chairman – Bill Gates has been rated as the richest man for several years.
Finally, this generation has brought about micro controller technology. Micro controllers are
’embedded’ inside some other devices (often consumer products) so that they can control the features
or actions of the product. They work as small computers inside devices and now serve as essential
components in most machines.
THE ACTIVE PLAYERS
Hundreds of people from different parts of the world played prominent roles in the history of
computer. This section highlights some of those roles as played in several parts of the world.
The American Participation
America indeed played big roles in the history of computer. John Atanasoff invented the Atanasoff-
Berry Computer (ABC) which introduced electronic binary logic in the late 1930s. Atanasoff and
Berry completed the computer by 1942, but it was later dismantled.
Howard Aiken is regarded as one of the pioneers who introduced the computer age and he completed
the design of four calculators (or computers). Aiken started what is known as computer science today
and was one of the first explorers of the application of the new
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machines to business purposes and machine translation of foreign languages. His first machine was
known as Mark I (or the Harvard Mark I), and originally named the IBM ASCC and this was the first
machine that could solve complicated mathematical problems by being programmed to execute a
series of controlled operations in a specific sequence.
The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was displayed to the public on
February 14, 1946, at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania
and about fifty years after, a team of students and faculty started the reconstruction of the ENIAC
and this was done, using state-of-the-art solid-state CMOS technology.
The German Participation
The DEHOMAG D11 tabulator was invented in Germany. It had a decisive influence on the
diffusion of punched card data processing in Germany. The invention took place between the period
of 1926 and 1931.
Korad Zuse is popularly recognized in Germany as the father of the computer and his Z1, a
programmable automaton built from 1936 to 1938, is said to be the world’s ‘first programmable
calculating machine’. He built the Z4, a relay computer with a mechanical memory of unique design,
during the war years in Berlin. Eduard Stiefel, a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology (ETH), who was looking for a computer suitable for numerical analysis, discovered the
machine in Bavaria in 1949. Around 1938, Konrad Zuse began work on the creation of the
Plankalkul, while working on the Z3. He wanted to build a Planfertigungsgerat, and made some
progress in this direction in 1943 and in 1944, he prepared a draft of the Plankalkul, which was
meant to become a doctoral dissertation some day. The Plankalkul is the first fully-fledged
algorithmic programming language. Years later, a small group under the direction of Dr. Heinz
Billing constructed four different
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computers, the G1 (1952), the G2 (1955), the Gla (1958) and the G3 (1961), at the Max Planck
Institute in Gottingen.
Lastly, during the World war II, a young German engineer, Helmut Hoelzer studied the application
of electronic analog circuits for the guidance and control system of liquid-propellant rockets and
developed a special purpose analog computer, the ‘Mischgerat’ and integrated it into the rocket. The
development of the fully electronic, general purpose, analog computer was a spin-off of this work. It
was used to simulate ballistic paths by solving the equations of motion.
The British Participation
The Colossus was designed and constructed at the Post Office Research Laboratories at Dollis Hill in
North London in 1943 to help Bletchley Park in decoding intercepted German telegraphic messages.
Colossus was the world’s first large electronic valve programmable logic calculator and ten of them
were built and were operational in Bletchley Park, home of Allied World War II code-breaking.
Between 1948 and 1951, four related computers were designed and constructed in Manchester and
each machine has its innovative peculiarity. The SSEM (June 1948) was the first such machine to
work. The Manchester Mark 1 (Intermediate Version, April 1949) was the first full-sized computer
available for use. The completed Manchester Mark 1 (October 1949), with a fast random access
magnetic drum, was the first computer with a classic two-level store. The Ferranti Mark 1 (February
1951) was the first production computer delivered by a manufacturer. The University of Manchester
Small-Scale Experimental Machine, the ‘Baby’ first ran a stored program on June 21, 1948, thus
claiming to be the first operational general purpose computer. The Atlas computer was constructed in
the Department of Computer Science at the University of Manchester. After its completion in
December 1962,
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it was regarded as the most powerful computer in the world and it had many innovative design
features of which the most important were the implementation of virtual addressing and the one-level
store.
The Japanese Participation
In the second half of the 1950s, many experimental computers were designed and produced by
Japanese national laboratories, universities and private companies. In those days, many experiments
were carried out using various electronic and mechanical techniques and materials such as relays,
vacuum tubes, parametrons, transistors, mercury delay lines, cathode ray tubes, magnetic cores and
magnetic drums. These provided a great foundation for the development of electronics in Japan.
Between the periods of 1955 and 1959, computers like ETL-Mark 2, JUJIC, MUSASINO I, ETL-
Mark-4, PC-1, ETL-Mark-4a, TAC, Handai-Computer and K-1 were built.
The African Participation
Africa evidently did not play any major roles in the recorded history of computer, but indeed it has
played big roles in the last few decades. Particularly worthy of mention is the contribution of a
Nigerian who made a mark just before the end of the twentieth century. Former American President –
Bill Clinton (2000) said “One of the great minds of the Information Age is a Nigerian American
named Philip Emeagwali. He had to leave school because his parents couldn't pay the fees. He lived
in a refugee camp during your civil war. He won a scholarship to university and went on to invent a
formula that lets computers make 3.1 billion calculations per second….”
Philip Emeagwali, supercomputer and Internet pioneer, was born in 1954, in Nigeria, Africa. In
1989, he invented the formula that used 65,000 separate computer processors to perform 3.1 billion
calculations per second. Emeagwali is regarded as one of the fathers of the
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internet because he invented an international network which is similar to, but predates that of the
Internet. He also discovered mathematical equations that enable the petroleum industry to recover
more oil. Emeagwali won the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize, computation's Nobel prize, for inventing a
formula that lets computers perform the fastest computations, a work that led to the reinvention of
supercomputers.
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Researching, studying and writing on ‘History of the Computer’ has indeed been a fulfilling, but
challenging task and has brought about greater appreciation of several work done by scientists of old,
great developmental research carried out by more recent scientists and of course the impact all such
innovations have made on the development of the human race. It has generated greater awareness of
the need to study history of the computer as a means of knowing how to develop or improve on
existing computer technology.
It is therefore strongly recommended that science and engineering students should develop greater
interest in the history of their profession. The saying that ‘there is nothing absolutely new under the
sun’ is indeed real because the same world resources but fresh ideas have been used over the years to
improve on existing technologies.
Finally, it is hoped that this paper is found suitable as a good summary of ‘the technological history
and development of computer’ and challenging to upcoming scientists and engineers to study the
history of their profession.
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INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER APPLICATION :

Overview of computers; Computer organization; Software - System software and Application

software; Networking; Internet services.

COMPUTER FUNDAMENTALS AND PROGRAMMING :

Computer Fundamentals - Number systems: decimal, octal, binary and hexadecimal;

Representation of integers, fixed and floating point numbers, character representation: ASCII,
EBCDIC. Functional units of computer, I/O devices, primary and secondary memories.
Programming Fundamentals - Algorithm development, techniques of problem solving,
flowcharting, stepwise refinement; Representation of integer, character, real, data types;
constants and variables; Arithmetic expressions, assignment statement, logical expression;
Sequencing, alteration and iteration; Arrays, string processing; Sub-programs, recursion, files
and pointers; Structured programming concepts; Top down Design, development of efficient
programs; Program correctness; Debugging and testing of programs.

COMPUTER ORGANIZATION AND ARCHITECTURE :

Number systems; Boolean algebra - minimization of Boolean function using Karnaugh Map;
Logic Gates, Combinational circuits – multiplexer, demultiplexer, encoder, decoder;
Sequential circuits: Flip-flops, Half and Full adder, Shift register, Counters; Organization of
CPU, Control Unit- Instruction and Execution cycle in CPU, Register Organization, The
Instruction Cycle, Instruction Pipelining; Memory organisation - Internal memory:
Semiconductor Main Memory (RAM, ROM, EPROM), Cache Memory, Advanced DRAM
Organization; External Memory - Magnetic Disks, RAID, Optical Memory, Magnetic Tape;
Basic structure of computer hardware and system software - Addressing methods and
machine programme sequencing; Input-output organisations - accessing I/O devices - direct
memory access (DMA) – interrupts; Introduction to microprocessors – CISC and RISC
Architecture, Study of functional units of microprocessors.

FUNDAMENTALS OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING IN C :

Computer algorithms; Over view of C; Structure of program, Data types, Constants,

Variables, Expression, Operators; Basic input/ output and library functions; Control
structures; Arrays; Pointers, Structure and union, Pointer to functions, Function returning
pointers; Dynamic memory allocation; File management; Graphics.

MATHEMATICAL FOUNDATIONS IN COMPUTER

APPLICATION :

Matrix algebra: Basic operations on matrices, Rank and inverse of matrices, System of linear
equations, Characteristic roots and equations, Eigen values and eigen vectors; Basic
Differentiation, Integration and Differential Equations; Vector algebra: Double and Triple
Product of vectors; Coordinate geometry: circles and conic sections; Three dimensional
geometry: point, straight line, plane and sphere; Sets: Set theory, subsets, operations on sets,
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set cardinality and counting; Functions: Bijective functions, pigeon-hole principle, Boolean
functions, permutation functions, Boolean algebra, recursion relations; Number Theory:
Binary arithmetic, exponentiation, induction, sequences, Fibonacci sequence, big-oh notation,
GCD, Euclidean algorithm, partially ordered sets, congruence and equivalence relation,
encryption scheme, linear homogenous recurrence relations with constant coefficients; Graph
Theory: Graphs, trees, LAN, Eulerian cycles, Hamiltonian cycles, graph coloring, graph
algorithms; Mathematical Logic: Propositional calculus, proposition, logic connectives and
compound statements, conjunction, disjunction, truth tables, duality, tautologies and fallacies;
Turing Machine: DFA, NFA.

OBJECT ORIENTED PROGRAMMING AND DESIGN :

Procedural abstraction, command and functional procedures; Data encapsulation - concepts

of modules and interfaces; Data abstraction and types; Introduction to object orientation;
History and evolution of object oriented languages; Object oriented programming in C++ -
Abstract data types, classes, objects, object/message paradigm, overloading, dynamic
binding, parametric polymorphism, Inheritance: class and object inheritance, inheritance and
dynamic binding, multiple inheritance; Object oriented software design; Generic and reusable
classes.

OPERATING SYSTEM :

Operating system overview: operating system as an extended machine and resource manager;
Operating system classifications; Operating system modes and system calls; Operating
system architecture; Process model, Process synchronization, Concurrent processes, Process
scheduling criterion and algorithms; Problem of mutual exclusion; Deadlock and prevention;
Race conditions; Semaphores; Monitors; Process allocation; Memory management;
Multiprogramming
with fixed and variable number of tasks; Continuous allocation; Paging,
Demand paging, Page fault; Virtual memory; Fragmentation; Segmented memory
management, Shared segments; Segmented and demand paged management, Overlays and
swapping, Thrashing; Multi processor system, Master slave scheduling; Homogeneous
scheduling; Device management system; Dedicated share and virtual devices; Spooling
channels; Multiplexer and selector, control units; Traffic controllers and device handlers;
Information management memory techniques; Input-Output file protection; Distributed
operating system (Course to be taught in accordance to the Unix Operating System).

NUMERICAL ANALYSIS :

Introduction to complex variables; Basic concepts: Floating point number system,

Implication of finite precision, Rounding off errors; Interpolation: Polynomial interpolation,
Inverse interpolation, Spline interpolation; Numerical integration: Trapezoidal rule,
Simpson’s 1/3rd and 3/8th rules; Ordinary differential equations: Runge-Kutta methods,
Predictor - corrector methods; Linear system of equations: Gaussian’s elimination, Operation
counts, Implementation including pivoting and scaling, Direct factorization methods, Iterative
techniques and their analysis; Linear Difference equations; Non-linear equations : Bisection,
Newton Raphson, false positions, Secant methods, Iterative methods; Inverse of Matrices;
Computation of eigen values and eigen vectors: Error estimates, the power methods – Jaccobi
and Householder Method; Exposure to mathematical software packages.
3
SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN:

Effective communication in systems analysis: Tools of the system analyst, problem

definition, classification, data collection and analysis; Systems planning and alternative,
feasibility and proposal: User and management involvement, planning alternatives, design
considerations, systems feasibility, selection of a system plan, the system proposal; System
Cost Determination: System costs and System benefits, Comparative cost analysis. Data
processing costs; A Structured Approach to system design: Structured top-down design, data
administration and data dictionaries; Audible systems, Logical design requirements, Form
requirement and design. Project Management and control: Development of standards, project
control , Gantt charts, PERT and CPM; System conversion and Implementation: Planning
consideration, conversion methods, system follow up and quality assurance of the new
system.

DATA BASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM :

Database system - Operational Data, Characteristics of database approach, architecture;

Overview of DBMS; Data associations - Entities, Attributes and Associations, Relationship
among Entities, Representation of Associations and Relationship, Data Model classification,
Entity Relationship model; Relational Data Structure- Relations, Domains and Attributes,
Relational Algebra and Operations, Retrieval Operations; Relational Database Design -
Anomalies in a Database, Normalization Theory, and Normal forms; Query processing;
Distributed Databases- concepts, architecture, design; Structured Query Language (SQL) -
Data Definition Language (DDL), Data Manipulation Language (DML), PL/SQL - Stored
procedure, Database triggers; Relational Data Base Management Package.

DATA STRUCTURES AND ALGORITHMS :

Representation of character, string and their manipulation; Linear list structure; Stacks;
Queues; Heaps; Sorting algorithms; Searching algorithms; Representation and processing of
linear linked lists; Multiple linked structures; Sparse arrays; Tree Structures: Representation
of tree structures and different tree traversal algorithms; Graph and geometric algorithms.

MODELING AND SIMULATION :

Uses and purposes of simulation; Classification of models; Generation and testing of random
numbers, Simulation of stochastic events and processes, Design of simulation experiments,
Analysis of data generated by simulation experiments, Discrete event simulation; Verification
and validation of simulation models, Simulation languages, Simulation of agricultural
problems and systems.

COMPUTER NETWORKS:

The importance of Networking, Types of Networking, Network Topology, Transmission

Media, Data communication: Concepts of data, signal, channel, bandwidth, bit-rate and baudrate;
Maximum data-rate of channel; Analog and digital communications, asynchronous and
synchronous transmission; Network adapters card, Multiplexer (FDM, TDM, STDM), Hub,
Repeater. Network References Models: Layered architecture, protocol hierarchies, interface
4
and services; ISO-OSI references model, TCP/IP reference model; Datalink layer function
and protocols: Framing, error-control, flow control; sliding window protocol; HDLC, SLIP
and PPP protocol; Network layer - routing algorithms, congestion control algorithms;
Internetworking: bridges and gateway; Transport layer - connection management,
addressing; Flow control and buffering, multiplexing; Session layer – RPC; Presentation
layer - abstract syntax notation; Application layer - File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Telnet,
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol(SMTP); World Wide Web(WWW) - Wide Area Indexed
Servers (WAIS), WAP; Network Security; Data compression and cryptography.

COMPILER CONSTRUCTION :

Introduction to Compiler, Compilation Process, Compiler Structure; Programming Language

Grammars, Elements of a Formal Language Grammar, Derivation, Reduction & Syntax
Trees, Ambiguity Regular Grammar & Regular Expression – Context Free Grammar;
Introduction to Finite Automata, Deterministic Finite Automata, Non-deterministic Finite
Automata; Scanning & Parsing Techniques – The Scanner, Regular Grammar and FSA, Top
Down Parsing, Parsing Algorithm, Top Down Parsing Without Backtracking, Predictive
Parsers, Bottom Up Parsing, Parsing, LR Parsers, Shift Reduce Parsing ; Symbol Table
Organization, Memory Allocation – Static & Dynamic Memory Allocation, Compilation
Control Transfer, Procedure Calls, Conditional Execution, Iteration Control Construct;
Lexical Syntax Errors, Semantic, Major Issues In Optimization, Optimizing ,
Transformations, Local Optimization, Program Flow Analysis, Global Optimization.

COMPUTER GRAPHICS :

Introduction, Application of Graphics, Elements of Graphics Workstation, Graphics I/P

Devices; Development of computer graphics: Basic graphics system and standards; Raster
scan and random scan graphics; Continual refresh and storages displays; Display processors
and character generators; Colour display techniques; Frame buffer and bit operations,
Concepts in raster graphics; Points, Lines and Curves; Scan conversion; Line-drawing
algorithms; Circle and ellipse generation; Polygon filling; Conic-section generation;
Antialiasing; Two-dimensional viewing: Basic transformations; Co-ordinate systems;
Windowing and clipping; Segments; Interactive picture-construction techniques; Interactive
input/output devices.; Three-dimensional concepts: 3-D representations and transformations;
3-D viewing; Algorithm for 3-D volumes, Spline curves and surfaces; Fractals; Quadtree and
Octree data structures; Hidden line and surface rendering and animation.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI); Scope of AI: Games, theorem proving, natural
language processing, robotics, expert system; Knowledge: General concept of knowledge,
Knowledge based system, Representation of knowledge, Knowledge organization and
manipulation, Acquisition of knowledge; Symbolic approach: Syntax and Semantics for
Prepositional Logic (PL) and First order predicates logic (FOPL), Properties of well formed
formulas (wffs), Conversion to clausal form, Inference rules, Resolution principle, Non
deductive inference methods; Search and Control strategies: Blind search, Breadth- first
search, Depth – First search, Hill climbing method, Best – First search, Branch and Bound
search; Learning: Concept of learning, learning automation, genetic algorithms, learning by
5
induction; Expert System: Introduction to expert system, Characteristics features of expert
system, Applications, Importance of Expert system, Rule based system architecture.

INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES AND APPLICATIONS :

Survey of contemporary Internet Technologies - Role, use and implementation of current

tools; Application Layer Services and protocols - Domain name services, network
management protocol, electronic mail and file transfer protocol; World Wide Web – Web
pages, Web Sites, Web Servers; Intranet and Extranet Concepts; Web Application
Architectures; Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML); Building static and dynamic web
pages; Scripting Languages - Client side and server side scripting; Interaction with database.

SOFTWARE ENGINEERING :
Software engineering definition; Software Development: Phases, Process models, Project
structure, Project team structure, Role of Metrics, Measurement, Software quality factors.
Planning and Software Project: Requirement Analysis, Cost Estimation, Project Scheduling,
Quality Assurance Plan, and Project Monitoring Plans. System Design: Design Objectives,
Design Principles, Design Tools, and Techniques, Prototyping Structured Programming
Coding: Programming practices, Verification, Monitoring and Control. Testing: Testing
Fundamentals, Functional Testing, Structural Testing, Test Plan activities, Unit testing,
Integration Testing. Reliability: Concept of Software Reliability, Reliability Models,
Limitations of Reliability Models, Software Maintenance.

DATA WAREHOUSING AND DATA MINING :

Concepts and principles of data warehousing; Data warehousing architecture; System process
and process architecture; Data warehousing design; Database schema; Partitioning strategy;
Aggregations; Data marts; Meta data management; Data warehouse process; Query
Management; Data warehouse security; Backup and recovery; Capacity planning; Testing the
warehouse. Introduction to data mining; Neural networks; Fuzzy logic; Visualization
techniques; Decision trees; Association rules; Statistical and clustering models.

MULTIMEDIA AND APPLICATIONS :

Introduction to Multimedia Technology - Computers, communications and entertainment;

Framework for multimedia systems; M/M devices, presentation devices and the user
interface, M/M presentation and authoring; Digital representation of sound and transmission;
Brief survey of speech recognition and generation; Digital video and image compression;
JPEG image compression standard; MPEG motion video compression; DVD technology,
Time based media representation and delivery; M/M software environment; Limitation of
workstation operating systems; M/M systems services; OS support for continuous media
applications; Media stream protocol; M/M file system and information representation; Data
models for M/M and Hypermedia information.

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM :

Basic management principles; Objectives of MIS; System concepts of MIS; Planning, design
and implementation of MIS; Decision making with MIS; Data information and
communication of MIS; Information systems in agriculture; Development of a MIS;
Accounting and Financial management; Project management-project scheduling CPM and
PERT.

GIS AND REMOTE SENSING TECHNIQUES :

Introduction to Geographical Information System; Introduction- maps and spatial

information, components of a GIS; GIS Internals - data representation- raster and vector data
structures and analysis techniques; Digital Elevation Models; Data input, verification, storage
and output; Spatial modelling- manual and automatic digitizing process; Data errors in GIS;
Classification methods-multivariate analysis and classification; Spatial interpolation; Current
and potential uses of GIS in agricultural planning; Software components used in GIS; GIS in
India.
Physics of remote sensing, atmospheric effects and remote sensing sensors; Spectral
signatures of earth surface features, spectral characteristics of vegetation, soil and water; Data
acquisition system, satellite image acquisition; Data collections: pre-processing and data
storage; Visual and digital image interpretation; Digital image processing.

DATA ANALYSIS IN AGRICULTURE :

Use of Software packages for: Summarization and tabulation of data; Descriptive statistics;
Graphical representation of data; Fitting and testing the goodness of fit of probability
distributions; Testing of hypothesis; t-test, Chi-square test and F-test; Concept of analysis of
variance and covariance of data for one-way and multi-classified experiments; Analyzing
crossed and nested classified designs; Analysis of mixed models; Estimation of variance
components; Testing the significance of contrasts; Correlation and regression including
multiple regression; Multivariate Analysis Techniques: Principal component analysis, Factor
analysis, Canonical Correlation Analysis, Cluster Analysis, Discriminent function; Analysis
of time series data etc.
 Computers can be

• 1 Size

o 1.1 Microcompu
[edit]Mainframe Computers
The term mainframe computer was created to distinguish the traditional, large, institutional computer
intended to service multiple users from the smaller, single user machines. These computers are capable
of handling and processing very large amounts of data quickly. Mainframe computers are used in large
institutions such as government, banks and large corporations. These institutions were early adopters of
computer use, long before personal computers were available to individuals. "Mainframe" often refers to
computers compatible with the computer architectures established in the 1960s. Thus, the origin of the
architecture also affects the classification, not just processing power.

Mainframes are measured in integer operations per second or MIPS. An example of integer operation is
moving data around in memory or I/O devices. A more useful industrial benchmark is transaction
processing as defined by the Transaction Processing Performance Council. Mainframes are built to be
reliable for transaction processing as it is commonly understood in the business world: a commercial
exchange of goods, services, or money. A typical transaction, as defined by the Transaction Processing
Performance Council, would include the updating to a database system for such things as inventory
control (goods), airline reservations (services), or banking (money). A transaction could refer to a set of
operations including disk read/writes, operating system calls, or some form of data transfer from one
subsystem to another.

[edit]Supercomputer

A supercomputer is focused on performing tasks involving intense numerical calculations such as weather
forecasting, fluid dynamics, nuclear simulations, theoretical astrophysics, and complex scientific
computations. A supercomputer is a computer that is at the frontline of current processing capacity,
particularly speed of calculation. The term supercomputer itself is rather fluid, and today's supercomputer
tends to become tomorrow's ordinary computer. Supercomputer processing speeds are measured in
floating point operations per second or FLOPS. Example of floating point operation is the calculation of
mathematical equations in real numbers. In terms of computational capability, memory size and speed,
I/O technology, and topological issues such as bandwidth and latency, Supercomputers are the most
powerful. Supercomputers are very expensive and not cost-effective just to perform batch or transaction
processing. Transaction processing is handled by less powerful computer such as server computer or
mainframe.

[edit]Classes by function
[edit]Servers

Server usually refers to a computer that is dedicated to providing a service. For example, a computer
dedicated to a database may be called a "database server". "File servers" manage a large collection
of computer files. "Web servers" process web pages and web applications. Many smaller servers are
actually personal computers that have been dedicated to providing services for other computers.

[edit]Workstation

Workstations are computers that are intended to serve one user and may contain special hardware
enhancements not found on a personal computer.

[edit]Embedded computers
Embedded computers are computers that are a part of a machine or device. Embedded computers
generally execute a program that is stored in non-volatile memory and is only intended to operate a
specific machine or device. Embedded computers are very common. Embedded computers are typically
required to operate continuously without being reset or rebooted, and once employed in their task the
software usually cannot be modified. An automobile may contain a number of embedded computers;
however, a washing machine and a DVD player would contain only one. The central processing
units (CPUs) used in embedded computers are often sufficient only for the computational requirements of
the specific application and may be slower and cheaper than CPUs found in a personal computer.

Microsoft Office 2007

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Microsoft Office 2007

 Microsoft Office 2007 applications shown on Windows

Vista (clockwise from top left: Excel, Word, OneNote,

PowerPoint; these four programs make up the Home and

Student Edition)

Developer(s) Microsoft

Stable release 2007 Service Pack 2 (12.0.6535.5002)

/ April 28, 2009; 14 months ago

Operating system Windows XP SP2 and later

Platform Microsoft Windows

Type Office suite

License Proprietary EULA

Website Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office 2007 (officially called 2007 Microsoft Office System) is aWindows version of the Microsoft
Office System, Microsoft's productivity suite. Formerly known as Office 12 in the initial stages of its beta cycle,
it was released to volume license customers on November 30, 2006[1] and made available to retail customers
on January 30, 2007. These are, respectively, the same dates Windows Vista was released to volume licensing
and retail customers. Office 2007 contains a number of new features, the most notable of which is the entirely
new graphical user interface called the Fluent User Interface[2] (initially referred to as theRibbon User Interface),
replacing the menus and toolbars – which have been the cornerstone of Office since its inception – with a
tabbed toolbar, known as the Ribbon. Office 2007 requires Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or
higher, Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 or higher, Windows Vista or Windows 7.[3] Office 2007 is the
last version of Microsoft Office available for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.

The 'Ribbon User Interface' is a task-oriented Graphical User Interface (GUI). It features a central menu button,
widely known as the 'Office Button'. The Ribbon Interface stayed in Microsoft Office 2010.

Office 2007 also includes new applications and server-side tools. Chief among these is Groove, a collaboration
and communication suite for smaller businesses, which was originally developed by Groove Networksbefore
being acquired by Microsoft in 2005. Also included is Office SharePoint Server 2007, a major revision to the
server platform for Office applications, which supports "Excel Services", a client-server architecture for
supporting Excel workbooks that are shared in real time between multiple machines, and are also viewable and
editable through a web page.

Microsoft FrontPage has been removed from the Office suite entirely. It has been replaced by Microsoft Office
SharePoint Designer, which is aimed towards development of SharePoint portals. Its designer-oriented
counterpart Microsoft Expression Web is targeted for general web development. However, neither application is
included in any of the Office suites.

Speech recognition and handwriting recognition are now part of Windows Vista. Speech and ink components
have been removed from Office 2007.[4][5] Handwriting and speech recognition work with Office 2007 only on
Windows Vista or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. However, XP users can use an earlier version of Office to
use speech recognition.[6]

According to Forrester Research, as of May 2010, Microsoft Office 2007 is used in 81% of enterprises[7].

Contents

[hide]

• 1 Development

o 1.1 Service Pack 1

o 1.2 Service Pack 2

• 2 Editions

o 2.1 "Blue Edition"

• 3 Components

o 3.1 Additional Components

• 4 New features

o 4.1 User interface

  4.1.1 Office button

 4.1.2 Ribbon

 4.1.3 Contextual

Tabs

 4.1.4 Live Preview

 4.1.5 Mini Toolbar

 4.1.6 Quick Access

Toolbar

 4.1.7 Other UI

features

o 4.2 SmartArt

o 4.3 File formats

 4.3.1 Office Open

XML

 4.3.2 PDF

 4.3.3 XPS

 4.3.4 OpenDocumen

o 4.4 Metadata

o 4.5 User assistance system

o 4.6 Collaboration features

 4.6.1 SharePoint

 4.6.2 Groove

o 4.7 Themes and Quick Styles

• 5 Application-specific changes

o 5.1 Microsoft Office Word

o 5.2 Microsoft Office Outlook

o 5.3 Microsoft Office Excel

o 5.4 Microsoft Office

PowerPoint

o 5.5 Microsoft Office OneNote

o 5.6 Microsoft Office Access

o 5.7 Microsoft Office Publisher

 o 5.8 Microsoft Office InfoPath

o 5.9 Microsoft Office Visio

o 5.10 Microsoft Office Project

o 5.11 Microsoft Office

SharePoint Designer

• 6 Server components

o 6.1 SharePoint Server 2007

o 6.2 Forms Server 2007

o 6.3 Groove Server 2007

o 6.4 Project Server 2007

o 6.5 Project Portfolio Server

2007

o 6.6 PerformancePoint Server

2007

• 7 Criticism

o 7.1 Attempt to patent user

interface elements

o 7.2 ODF implementation in

Service Pack 2

• 8 Other products

• 9 See also

• 10 References

• 11 External links

[edit]Development

The first beta of Microsoft Office 2007, referred to as Beta-1 in emails sent to a limited number of testers, was
released on November 16, 2005. The Beta-1 Technical Refresh was released to testers on March 13, 2006.
The Technical Refresh fixed issues in installing with Windows Vista build 5308. Office 2007 Beta 2 was
announced by Bill Gates at WinHEC 2006, and was initially released to the public at no cost from Microsoft's
web site. However, because of an unprecedented number of downloads, a fee of $1.50 was introduced for
each product downloaded after August 2, 2006. The beta was updated on September 14, 2006 in Beta 2
Technical Refresh (Beta2TR). It included an updated user interface, better accessibility support, improvements
in the robustness of the platform, and greater functionality. The beta versions continued to function in a
reduced functionality mode after February 1, 2007. If users downloaded the Technical Refresh to update Beta
2, then users could use its full functionality until March 31, 2007 for client products and May 15, 2007 for server
products. The Beta program ended on November 8, 2006, when Microsoft declared the product "Released to
Manufacturing" (RTM) and started manufacturing the final product. After RTM, the availability of the beta
download ended. Office 2007 was released to volume licensing customers on November 30, 2006, and to the
general public on January 30, 2007.

[edit]Service Pack 1
Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 1 was released on December 11, 2007. Microsoft published a list of
changes.[8] Official documentation claims that SP1 is not simply a rollup of publicly released patches, but that it
also contains fixes for 455 total issues throughout the entire Office suite.[9]

[edit]Service Pack 2
Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2 was released on April 28, 2009.[10] Service Pack 2 is inclusive of Office
2007 Service Pack 1. It added improved support of ODF, XPS, and PDF standards as well as a large number
of bug fixes.[11][12]

[edit]Editions

The 2007 Microsoft Office System is distributed in eight editions.[13]

Microsoft Office 2007 System Editions

License
Edition License model[14]
availability

Retail / limited
editionstudent
Microsoft Office Ultimate One main device and one additional portable
license[15]
2007 device
(860,000 /
55,500)

Microsoft Office Enterprise Volume license

Dependent upon Volume Licensing program
2007 only

Microsoft Office Volume license

Dependent upon Volume Licensing program
Professional Plus 2007 only

Microsoft Office Retail One main device and one additional portable
 (503,300) device

Professional 2007

OEM One device only

Retail One main device and one additional portable

(453,000) device

Microsoft Office Small

OEM One device only
Business 2007

Volume
Dependent upon Volume Licensing program
license

Retail(402,600 One main device and one additional portable

/ 473,000) device
Microsoft Office Standard
2007
Volume
Dependent upon Volume Licensing program
license

Retail(148,500
Three devices in one household; for non-
/ 70,000 /
commercial use only
Microsoft Office Home and 88,000)
Student 2007

OEM One device only; for non-commercial use only

Microsoft Office Basic 2007 OEM only One device

Eligible employees of companies with Volume License agreements for Office can obtain copies for use on a
home computer.[16]

Notes:

1. Additional tools include enterprise content management, electronic forms, and Information
Rights Management capabilities
 2. As noted on the packaging, below the comparison grid on the back, the OEM and Retail
Home and Student 2007 edition is not licensed for commercial, non-profit, or any revenue-generating
use. This is displayed in the actual programs themselves with a line of text after the program name.

Non-commercial banner in Microsoft Word 2007

[edit]"Blue Edition"
In mid-2007, a cracking group released an "Office 2007 Enterprise Blue Edition", which has since circulated on
the internet. The group claims it to be an edition available only to original equipment manufacturers. The
package contains all component software except Accounting Express and Communicator. The "Blue Edition"
contains no EULA, and does not require a product key or activation. The legitimacy of this edition is neither
confirmed nor denied by Microsoft or any authoritative source.[17]

This edition does a complete install of all Office 2007 Enterprise main programs, giving the user no option to do
a custom install or select only certain programs to be installed except by running the setup program again and
selecting additional functions.

[edit]Components

The components of Microsoft Office 2007 depend on the edition.

Home
Small
Basi and Standa Professio Ultima Profession Enterpri
Component Busines
c Stude rd nal te al Plus se
s
nt

Office Word 2007 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Office Excel 2007 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Office PowerPoint
No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
2007
 Office Outlook
Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
2007

Business Contact
No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Manager[18]

Office Publisher
No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
2007

Office Access
No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes
2007

Office InfoPath
No No No No No Yes Yes Yes
2007

Office Groove
No No No No No Yes No Yes
2007

Office OneNote
No Yes No No No Yes No Yes
2007

Office
Communicator No No No No No No Yes Yes
2007

Integrated
Enterprise
No No No No No Yes Yes Yes
Content
Management

Integrated
No No No No No Yes Yes Yes
Electronic Forms

Advanced No No No No No Yes Yes Yes

Information
Rights
Management and
Policy
Capabilities

Office
Customization No No Yes 1
Yes 1
No No Yes 1
Yes 1

Tool (OCT) 1 [19]

Note: 1 Office Customization Tool is used to customize the installation of Office 2007 by creating a Windows
Installer patch file (.MSP) and replaces the Custom Installation Wizard and Custom Deployment Wizard
included in earlier versions of the Office Resource Kit which created a Windows Installer Transform (.MST).
Office Customization Tool is only included in Volume License editions of Office 2007.

[edit]Additional Components
Microsoft markets additional software tools as part of the Microsoft Office 2007 suite, although not included in
any of the Microsoft Office 2007 editions:

 Microsoft Office Project

 Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer

 Microsoft Office Visio

[edit]New features
[edit]User interface
The new user interface (UI), officially known as Fluent User Interface,[20][21] has been implemented in the core
Microsoft Office applications:Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and in the item inspector used to create or edit
individual items in Outlook. These applications have been selected for the UI overhaul because they center
around document authoring.[22] The rest of the applications in the suite will also be upgraded to the new UI in
subsequent versions.[23] The default font used in this edition is Calibri. Original prototypes of the new user
interface were revealed at MIX 2008 in Las Vegas.[24]

[edit]Office button
Office Button in Microsoft PowerPoint

The Office 2007 button, located on the top-left of the window, replaces the File menu and provides access to
functionality common across all Office applications, including opening, saving, printing, and sharing a file. It can
also close the application. Users can also choose color schemes for the interface. A
notable accessibilityimprovement is that the Office button follows Fitt's law. [25]

[edit]Ribbon

Main article: Ribbon (computing)

The Ribbon, a panel that houses a fixed arrangement of command buttons and icons, organizes commands as
a set of tabs, each grouping relevant commands. The Ribbon is not customizable in Office 2007. Each
application has a different set of tabs which expose the functionality that application offers. For example, while
Excel has a tab for the graphing capabilities, Word does not; instead it has tabs to control the formatting of a
text document. Within each tab, various related options may be grouped together. The Ribbon is designed to
make the features of the application more discoverable and accessible with fewer mouse clicks[26] as compared
to the menu-based UI used prior to Office 2007. However, many users feel that the existing menus should have
been left alone.[27] An online survey reports the ribbon menu has decreased productivity by an average of 20%
for users.[28]. Moving the mouse scroll wheel while on any of the tabs on the ribbon cycles --through the tabs.
The Ribbon can be minimized by double clicking the active section's title, such as the Home text in the picture
below.[29] Without third party add-ins, it is not possible to remove the Ribbon, modify it, or replace it with menus
with the normal Office 2007 functions. There are third party add-ins which can be purposed that can bring
menus and toolbars to Office 2007 as well as add-ins which allow users to customize the Ribbon commands.
However, the upcoming Microsoft Office 2010 is expected to allow users to customize the ribbon right out of the
box.
[edit]Contextual Tabs

Some tabs, called Contextual Tabs, appear only when certain objects are selected. Contextual Tabs expose
functionality specific only to the object with focus. For example, selecting a picture brings up the Pictures tab,
which presents options for dealing with the picture. Similarly, focusing on a table exposes table-related options
in a specific tab. Contextual Tabs remain hidden except when an applicable object is selected.

[edit]Live Preview

Microsoft Office 2007 also introduces a feature called "Live Preview", which temporarily applies formatting on
the focused text or object when any formatting button is moused-over. The temporary formatting is removed
when the mouse pointer is moved from the button. This allows users to have a preview of how the option would
affect the appearance of the object, without actually applying it.

[edit]Mini Toolbar

The new "Mini Toolbar" is a type of context menu that is automatically shown (by default) when text is selected.
The purpose of this feature is to provide easy access to the most-used formatting commands without requiring
a right-mouse-button click, as was necessary in older versions of the software. Because the Mini Toolbar is
automatically displayed, it remains semi-transparent until the mouse pointer is situated on the control in order
to allow an almost-unobstructed view of what is beneath it. It also appears above the right-click menu when a
user right-clicks on a selection of words. The Mini Toolbar is currently not customizable, but can be turned off.

[edit]Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick Access toolbar, which sits in the title bar, serves as a repository of most used functions, regardless
of which application is being used, such as save, undo/redo and print. The Quick Access toolbar is
customizable, although this feature is limited compared to toolbars in previous Office versions. Any command
available in the entire Office application can be added to the Quick Access toolbar, including commands not
available in the Ribbon and macros. Keyboard shortcuts for any of the commands on the toolbar are also fully
customizable, similar to previous Office versions.

[edit]Other UI features
  Super-tooltips, or screentips, that can house formatted text and even images, are used to provide
detailed descriptions of what most buttons do.

 A zoom slider present in the bottom-right corner, allowing for dynamic and rapid magnification of
documents.

[edit]SmartArt

SmartArt, found under the Insert tab in the ribbon in PowerPoint, Word, Excel, and Outlook, is a new group of
editable and formatted diagrams. There are 115 preset SmartArt graphics layout templates in categories such
as list, process, cycle, and hierarchy. When an instance of a SmartArt is inserted, a Text Pane appears next to
it to guide the user through entering text in the hierarchical levels. Each SmartArt graphic, based on its design,
maps the text outline, automatically resized for best fit, onto the graphic. There are a number of "quick styles"
for each graphic that apply largely different 3D effects to the graphic, and the graphic's shapes and text can be
formatted through shape styles and WordArt styles. In addition, SmartArt graphics change their colors, fonts,
and effects to match the document's theme.

[edit]File formats
[edit]Office Open XML

Main article: Microsoft Office 2007 filename extensions

Microsoft Office 2007 introduced a new file format, called Office Open XML, as the default file format. Such files
are saved using an extra X letter in their extension (.docx/xlsx/pptx/etc.). However, it can still save documents
in the old format which is compatible with previous versions. Alternatively, Microsoft has made available a free
add-on known as the "Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack" that lets Office 2000-2003 editions open, edit, and
save documents created under the newer 2007 format.

Office Open XML is based on XML and uses the ZIP file container. According to Microsoft, documents created
in this format are up to 75% smaller than the same documents saved with previous Microsoft Office file formats,
owing to the ZIP data compression.[30]

Files containing macros are saved with an extra M letter in their extension instead (.docm/xlsm/pptm/etc.).

[edit]PDF

Initially, Microsoft promised to support exporting to Portable Document Format (PDF) in Office 2007. However,
due to legal objections fromAdobe Systems, Office 2007 does not offer PDF support out of the box, but rather
as a separate free download.[31][32][33] Service Pack 2 allows users to natively export PDF files.[34]

[edit]XPS
Office 2007 documents can also be exported as XPS documents, via another free plug-in that is also a
separate download.[35]

[edit]OpenDocument

Main article: OpenDocument software

Microsoft backs an open-source effort to support OpenDocument in Office 2007, as well as earlier versions (up
to Office 2000), through a converter add-in for Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and also a command-line utility.
[36]
As of 2008, the project supports conversion between ODF and Office Open XML file formats for all three
applications.[37] According to ODF Alliance this support falls short and substantial improvements are still needed
for interoperability in real-world situations.[38][39] Third-party plugins able to read, edit and save to the ISO-
standard Open Document Format (ODF) are available as a separate download.[40][41]

[edit]Metadata

In Office 2007, Microsoft introduced the Document Inspector, an integral metadata removal tool which strips
Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents of information such as author name and comments and other
"metadata".

[edit]User assistance system

In Microsoft Office 2007, the Office Assistants have been eliminated in favour of a new online help system. One
of its features is the extensive use of Super Tooltips, which explain in about one paragraph what each function
performs. Some of them also use diagrams or pictures. These appear and disappear like normal tooltips, and
replace normal tooltips in many areas. The Help content also directly integrates searching and viewing Office
Online articles.

[edit]Collaboration features
[edit]SharePoint

Microsoft Office 2007 includes features geared towards collaboration and data sharing. As such, Microsoft
Office 2007 features server components for applications such as Excel, which work in conjunction
with SharePoint Services, to provide a collaboration platform. SharePoint works with Microsoft Office
SharePoint Server 2007, which is used to host a SharePoint site, and uses IIS and ASP.NET 2.0. Excel server
exposes Excel Services, which allows any worksheet to be created, edited and maintained via web browsers. It
features Excel Web Access, the client-side component which is used to render the worksheet on a
browser, Excel Calculation Service which is the server side component which populates the worksheet with
data and perform calculations, and Excel Web Services that extends Excel functionalities into individual web
services. SharePoint can also be used to host Word documents for collaborative editing, by sharing a
document. SharePoint can also be used to hold PowerPoint slides in a Slide Library, from which the slides can
be used as a formatting template. It will also notify users of a slide automatically in case the source slide is
modified. Also by using SharePoint, PowerPoint can manage shared review of presentations. Any SharePoint
hosted document can be accessed from the application which created the document or from other applications
such as a browser or Microsoft Office Outlook.

[edit]Groove

Microsoft Office 2007 also includes Groove, which brings collaborative features to a peer-to-
peer paradigm. Groove can host documents, including presentations, workbooks and others, created in
Microsoft Office 2007 application in a shared workspace, which can then be used in collaborative editing of
documents. Groove can also be used in managing workspace sessions, including access control of the
workspace. To collaborate on one or more documents, a Workspace has to be created, and then those who
are to work on it have to be invited. Any file shared on the workspace are automatically shared among all
participants. The application also provides real-time messaging, including one-to-one as well as group
messaging, and presence features, as well as monitoring workspace activities with alerts, which are raised
when pre-defined set of activities are detected. Groove also provides features for conflict resolution for
conflicting edits. Schedules for a collaboration can also be decided by using a built-in shared calendar, which
can also be used to keep track of the progress of a project. However, the calendar is not compatible with
Microsoft Outlook.

[edit]Themes and Quick Styles

Microsoft Office 2007 places more emphasis on Document Themes and Quick Styles. The Document Theme
defines the colors, fonts and graphic effects for a document. Almost everything that can be inserted into a
document is automatically styled to match the overall document theme creating a consistent document design.
The new Office Theme file format (.THMX) is shared between Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook email
messages. Similar themes are also available for data reports in Access and Project or shapes in Visio.

Quick Styles are galleries with a range of styles based on the current theme. There are quick styles galleries for
text, tables, charts, SmartArt, WordArt and more. The style range goes from simple/light to more
graphical/darker.

[edit]Application-specific changes
[edit]Microsoft Office Word
Main article: Microsoft Word
Microsoft Office Word 2007

Word 2007 introduced many new image editing abilities that change the shape, borders and colours of an image.

 New style sheets (quick styles) and ability to switch easily among them.

 Default Font now 'Calibri' not 'Times New Roman', as featured in previous Office editions.

 Word count listed by default in the status bar. The word count dynamically updates as you type.

 New contextual spell checker, signified by a wavy blue underline analogous to the traditional wavy red
underline for misspellings and wavy green underline for grammar errors, sometimes catches incorrect
usage of correctly spelled words, such as in "I think we will loose this battle".

 Translation tool tip option available for English (U.S.), French (France), and Spanish (International
Sort). When selected, hovering the mouse cursor over a word will display its translation in the particular
language. Non-English versions have different sets of languages. Other languages can be added by using
a separate multilingual pack.

 Automated generation of citations and bibliographies according to defined style rules, including APA,
Chicago, and MLA. Changing style updates all references automatically. Connect to web services to
access online reference databases.
  Rearchitected native mathematical equation support with TeX-like linear input/edit language or GUI
interface. Also supports the Unicode Plain Text Encoding of Mathematics.[42]

 Preset gallery of cover pages with fields for Author, Title, Date, Abstract, etc. Cover pages follow the
theme of the document (found under the Page Layout tab).

 Document comparison engine updated to support moves, differences in tables, and also easy to follow
tri-pane view of original document, new document, and differences.

 Full screen reading layout that shows two pages at a time with maximal screen usage, plus a few
critical tools for reviewing.

 Building Blocks, which lets one save frequently used content, so that they are easily accessible for
further use. Building blocks can have data mapped controls in them to allow for form building or structured
document authoring.

 The ability to save multiple versions of a document (which had existed since Word 97) has been
removed.[43]

 Blog entries[44] can be authored in Word itself and uploaded directly to a blog. Supported blogging sites
include Windows Live Spaces,WordPress, SharePoint, Blogger, Telligent Community etc.

 Drops function for Insert/Picture/From Scanner or Camera. Can be added manually.[45]

[edit]Microsoft Office Outlook

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007

Main article: Microsoft Outlook

 As a major change in Outlook 2007, Exchange 5.5 support has been dropped. Like Evolution,Outlook
Express and Entourage, Outlook now works only with Exchange 2000 and above.

 Outlook now indexes[46] (using the Windows Search APIs) the e-mails, contacts, tasks, calendar
entries, RSS feeds and other items, to speed up searches. As such, it features word-wheeled search,
which displays results as characters are being typed in.
  Search folders, which are saved searches, have been updated to include RSS feeds as well. Search
folders can be created with a specific search criteria, specifying the subject, type and other attributes of the
information being searched. When a search folder is opened, all matching items for the search are
automatically retrieved and grouped up.

 Outlook now supports text-messages and SMSs, when used in conjunction with Exchange Server
2007 Unified Messaging.

 Outlook includes a reader for RSS feeds, which used the Windows Common Feeds Store. RSS
subscription URLs can be shared via e-mails. RSS feed updates can also be pushed to a mobile device.

 Outlook can now support multiple calendars being worked with, simultaneously. It also includes a side-
by-side view for calendars, where each calendar is displayed in a different tab, and allows easy
comparison of them. Outlook also supports web calendars. Calendars can be shared with other users.

 Calendar view shows which tasks are due.

 Flagged e-mails and notes can also be converted to Task items.

 Outlook includes a To Do Bar, which integrates the calendar, appointments and tasks items, in a
concise view.

 Online or offline editing of all Microsoft Office 2007 documents via a SharePoint site. All edits are
automatically synchronized.

 Contacts can be shared among users, via e-mail, Exchange Server or a SharePoint site.

 Attachment preview allows users to view Office e-mail attachments in the reading pane rather than
having to open another program.

 HTML in e-mails is now rendered using the Microsoft Word rendering engine which disallows several
HTML tags like object, script, iframeetc. along with several CSS properties.

Microsoft Office Outlook can also include an optional Business Contact Manager (included on a separate
installation disc in Office 2007 Small Business and above) which allows management of business contacts and
their sales and marketing activities. Phone calls, e-mails, appointments, notes and other business metrics can
be managed for each contact. It can also keep a track of billable time for each contact on the Outlook Calendar.
Based on these data, a consolidated report view can be generated by Microsoft Office Outlook with Business
Contact Manager. The data can be further analyzed using Microsoft Office Excel. This data can also be shared
using SharePoint Services.
[edit]Microsoft Office Excel

Microsoft Office Excel 2007

Color Scales, Icon Sets, and Data Bars in Excel 2007

Main article: Microsoft Excel

 Support up to 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns (XFD) in a single worksheet, with 32,767
characters in a single cell (17,179,869,184 cells in a worksheet, 562,932,773,552,128 characters in a
worksheet)[47]

 Conditional Formatting introduces support for three new features — Color Scales, Icon Setsand Data
Bars

 Color Scales, which automatically color the background of a group of cells with different colors
according to the values.

 Icon sets, which precede the text in a cell with an icon that represent some aspect of the value
of the cell with respect to other values in a group of cells, can also be applied. Icons can be
 conditionally applied to show up only when certain criteria are met, such as a cross showing up on an
invalid value, where the condition for invalidity can be specified by the user.

 Data Bars show as a gradient bar in the background of a cell the contribution of the cell value
in the group.

 Column titles can optionally show options to control the layout of the column.

 Multithreaded calculation of formulae, to speed up large calculations, especially on multi-core/multi-

processor systems.

 User Defined Functions (UDF), which are custom functions written to supplement Excel's set of built-in
functions, supports the increased number of cells and columns. UDFs now can also be multithreaded.
Server side UDFs are based on the .NET Managed code.

 Importing data from external sources, such as a database, has been upgraded. Data can also be
imported from formatted tables and reports, which do not have a regular grid structure.

 Formula Autocomplete, automatically suggests function names, arguments and named ranges, and
automatically completing them if desired, based on the characters entered. Formulae can refer to a table
as well.

 CUBE functions which allow importing data, including set aggregated data, from data analysis
services, such as SQL Server Analysis Services.

 Page Layout view, to author spreadsheets in a way that mirrors the formatting that will be applied
when printed.

 PivotTables, which are used to create analysis reports out of sets of data, can now support
hierarchical data by displaying a row in the table with a "+" icon, which, when clicked, shows more rows
regarding it, which can also be hierarchical. PivotTables can also be sorted and filtered independently, and
conditional formatting used to highlight trends in the data.

 Filters, now includes a Quick filter option allowing the selection of multiple items from a drop down list
of items in the column. The option to filter based on color has been added to the choices available.

 Excel features a new charting engine, which supports advanced formatting, including 3D rendering,
transparencies and shadows. Chart layouts can also be customized to highlight various trends in the data.

[edit]Microsoft Office PowerPoint

Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007

Main article: Microsoft PowerPoint

 Improvements to text rendering to support text based graphics.

 Rendering of 3D graphics.

 Support for many more sound file formats such as .mp3 and .wma.

 Support for tables and enhanced support for table pasting from Excel.[48]

 Slide Library, which lets you reuse any slide or presentation as a template. Any presentation or slide
can be published to the Slide Library.

 Any custom-designed slide library can be saved.

 Presentations can be digitally signed.

 Improved Presenter View.[49]

 Added support for widescreen slides.[50]

 Allows addition of custom placeholders.

 Drops function for Insert/Picture/From Scanner or Camera.

[edit]Microsoft Office OneNote

Microsoft Office OneNote 2007

Main article: Microsoft OneNote

 OneNote now supports multiple notebooks.

 Notebooks can be shared across multiple computers. Anyone can edit even while not connected and
changes are merged automatically across machines when a connection is made. Changes are labeled with
author and change time/date.
  Notebook templates.

 Word-wheeled search is also present in OneNote, which also indexes notes.

 Synchronization of Tasks with Outlook 2007. Also Outlook can send mails to OneNote, or open pages
in OneNote that are linked to tasks, contacts, appointments/meetings.

 Support for tables. Using tabs to create tabular structure automatically converts it to a table.

 OCR is performed on images (screen clips, photos, scans) so that any text in them is searchable.

 Audio and video recordings are also tagged and indexed, so that they can be searched.

 Notes can have hyperlinks among themselves, or from outside OneNote to a specific point on a page.

 Embedding documents in notes.

 Extensibility support for add-ins.

 Drawing tools for creating diagrams in OneNote.

 Typing any arithmetic expression, followed by "=" results in the result of the calculation being
displayed.

 Send to Microsoft OneNote, via which any application can print to a virtual printer for OneNote and the
"printed" document is imported to the notebook, and any text is indexed for searching.

 OneNote Mobile is included for Smartphones and some PocketPC devices. Syncs notes two-way with
OneNote. Takes text, voice, and photo notes.

[edit]Microsoft Office Access

Microsoft Office Access 2007

Main article: Microsoft Access

 Access now includes support for a broader range of data types, including documents and images.

 Whenever any table is updated, all reports referencing the table are also updated.

 Dropdown lists for a table can be modified in place.

  Lookup Fields, which get their values by "looking up" some value in a table, have been updated to
support multi valued lookups.

 Many new preset schemata are included.

 Access can synchronize with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Office SharePoint Server 2007.
This feature enables a user to use Access reports while using a server-based, backed-up, IT managed
version of the data.

[edit]Microsoft Office Publisher

Main article: Microsoft Publisher

 Templates automatically fill out with information such as company name, logo etc., wherever
applicable.

 Frequently used content can be stored in Content Store for quick access.

 A document can be automatically converted from one publication type, such as a newsletter, to
another publication type, say a web page.

 Save as PDF supports commercial printing quality PDF.

 Catalog Merge can create publication content automatically by retrieving data, including text, images
and other supported types, from an external data source.

 Design Checker, which is used to find design inconsistencies, has been updated.

[edit]Microsoft Office InfoPath

Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007

Main article: Microsoft InfoPath

 InfoPath designed forms can now be used from a browser, provided the server is running InfoPath
Forms Services in SharePoint 2007 or Office Forms Server.

 A form can be sent out to people via e-mail. Such forms can be filled out from Outlook 2007 itself.
  Automatic conversion of forms in Word and Excel to InfoPath forms. Forms can also be exported to
Excel.

 Forms can be published to a network share or to SharePoint Server.

 Adding data validation, using validation formulae, and conditional formatting features without manually
writing code.

 Print Layout view for designing forms in a view that mirror the printed layout. Such forms can be
opened using Word as well.

 Ability to use Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Office Access, or other databases as back-end data
repository.

 Multiple views for the same forms, to expose different features to different class of users.

 Template Parts, used to group Office InfoPath controls for use later. Template parts retain its XML
schema.

[edit]Microsoft Office Visio

Microsoft Office Visio 2007

Main article: Microsoft Visio

 PivotDiagrams, which are used to visualize data, show data groups and hierarchicalrelationships.

 Visual modification of PivotDiagrams by dragging data around levels, to restructure the data
relationships.

 PivotDiagrams can show aggregate statistical summaries for the data and show them.

 Shapes can be linked with external data sources. Doing so, the shapes are formatted according to the
data. The data, and hence the shapes, are updated periodically. Such shapes can also be formatted
manually using the Data Graphics feature.

 AutoConnect : Link easily two shapes.[51]

 Data Link : Link data to shapes.[52]

 Data Graphics : Dynamic objects (text and images) linked with external data.[53]
  New Theme behaviour and new shapes.[54]

[edit]Microsoft Office Project

Microsoft Office Project 2007

Main article: Microsoft Project

 Ability to create custom templates.

 Any change in the project plan or schedule highlights everything else that is affected.

 Analyze changes without actually committing them. Changes can also be done and undone
programmatically, to automate analysis of different changes.

 Improved cost resource management and analysis for projects.

 Project data can be used to automatically create charts and diagrams in Microsoft Office Excel and
Microsoft Office Visio, respectively.

 The project schedule can be managed as 3D Gantt chart

 Sharing project data with the help of SharePoint Services.

[edit]Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer

Main article: Microsoft SharePoint Designer

Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 is new addition to the Office suite replacing
discontinued FrontPage for users of SharePoint. People who don't use SharePoint can use Microsoft
Expression Web.

 Supports features and constructs that expose SharePoint functionality.

 Supports ASP.NET 2.0 and Windows Workflow Foundation.

 Support for creating workflows and data reports, from external data sources.
  Allows XML data to be displayed using XSLT

[edit]Server components
[edit]SharePoint Server 2007
Main article: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 allows sharing and collaborative editing of Office 2007 documents. It
allows central storage of documents and management of Office documents, throughout the enterprise. These
documents can be accessed either by the applications which created them, Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, or a
web browser. Documents can also be managed through pre-defined policies that let users create and publish
shared content, through a SharePoint site.

SharePoint Server allows searching of all Office documents which are being managed by it, centrally, thereby
making data more accessible. It also provides access control for documents. Specialized server components
can plug into the SharePoint Server to extend the functionality of the server, such as Excel Services exposing
data analysis services for Excel services. Data from other data sources can also be merged with Office data.

SharePoint also lets users personalize the SharePoint sites, filtering content they are interested in. SharePoint
documents can also be locally cached by clients for offline editing; the changes are later merged.

[edit]Forms Server 2007

Main article: Microsoft Office Forms Server

Microsoft Office Forms Server 2007 allows InfoPath forms to be accessed and filled out using any browser,
including mobile phone browsers. Forms Server 2007 also supports using a database or other data source as
the back-end for the form. Additionally, it allows centralized deployment and management of forms. Forms
Server 2007 hosted forms also support data validation and conditional formatting, as does their InfoPath
counterpart. It also supports advanced controls like Repeating section and Repeating table. However, some
InfoPath controls cannot be used if it has to be hosted on a Forms server.

[edit]Groove Server 2007

Main article: Microsoft Office Groove Server

Microsoft Office Groove Server 2007 is for centrally managing all deployments of Microsoft Office Groove 2007
in the enterprise. It enables using Active Directory for Groove user accounts, and create Groove Domains, with
individual policy settings. It allows Groove workspaces to be hosted at the server, and the files in the
workspaces made available for collaborative editing via the Groove client. It also includes theGroove Server
Data Bridge component to allow communication between data stored at both Groove clients and servers and
external applications.
[edit]Project Server 2007
Main article: Microsoft Office Project Server

Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 allows one to centrally manage and coordinate projects. It allows budget
and resource tracking, and activity plan management. The project data and reports can also be further
analyzed using Cube Building Service. The project management data can be accessed from a browser as well.

[edit]Project Portfolio Server 2007

Main article: Microsoft Office Project Portfolio Server

Microsoft Office Project Portfolio Server 2007 allows creation of a project portfolio, including workflows, hosted
centrally, so that the information is available throughout the enterprise, even from a browser. It also aids in
centralized data aggregation regarding the project planning and execution, and in visualizing and analyzing the
data to optimize the project plan. It can also support multiple portfolios per project, to track different aspects of
it. It also includes reporting tools to create consolidated reports out of the project data.

[edit]PerformancePoint Server 2007

Main article: Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server

Microsoft PerformancePoint Server allows users to monitor, analyze, and plan their business as well as drive
alignment, accountability, and actionable insight across the entire organization. It includes features for
scorecards, dashboards, reporting, analytics, budgeting and forecasting, among others.

[edit]Criticism

Even though the ribbon can be hidden, PC World wrote that the new "ribbon" interface crowds the Office work
area, especially for notebook users.[55] Others have called its large icons distracting.[56] Essentially, the GUI-type
interface of the ribbon contrasts sharply with the older menus that were organized according to the typical
functions undertaken in paper-based offices: for instance, the old "File" menu dealt with opening, (re-)naming,
saving, and printing a file, and the old "Edit" menu dealt with making changes to the content of the file. As a
result, users who were more familiar with the logic of the old menus would feel some frustration with the new,
more visually-oriented ribbon. PC World has stated that upgrading to Office 2007 presents dangers to certain
data, such as templates, macros, and mail messages.[57] The ribbon cannot be moved from the top to the side
of the page, as floating toolbars could be; so notebooks with smaller screens show a short horizontal slice of
the document with lots of wasted space on both sides.

In general, the new navigation requires more clicks for repetitive tasks, and it is more complex to visualize a
path to a tool from fixed points in the screen. With the previous user interface you could, depending on the task,
dock the relevant toolbars to the top, sides or bottom of the page and have the relevant tools a click away,
always in the same position. With the new design you need to click back and forth tabs, which takes the
attention from the content to finding the tools. There is no way to dock ribbons, re-arrange the order of the tabs,
or have more than one ribbon visible at a time.

Additionally, it seems that the new design is intended only for new users to locate tools more easily, with little
consideration on repetitive tasks since it makes work slower and more cumbersome since the tools are not
placed in a logical order. The old toolbars had a strict order and size for each tool allowing for a simple visual
scanning from one side to the other. With the new ribbons some “areas ” of the ribbon might be arranged in one
line of tools, two or three in the same ribbon, which may change when the window is resized, allowing for no
common pattern of visual scanning, and thus complicating the memorization of visual paths to tools for
repetitive tasks.

The new XML-based .docx file format for Word is incompatible with previous versions unless an addon is
installed for the older version.[58]

The Word 2007 equation editor is incompatible with that of Word 2003 and previous versions, and when
converting DOCX files to DOC files, equations are rendered as graphics. Consequently, Word 2007 cannot be
used for any publishing, file-sharing and collaborative endeavour in any mathematics-based fields, including
science and technology, in which users may have earlier versions of Word. For reasons unknown, Excel and
PowerPoint 2007 retain the old equation format, meaning that users cannot move equations between Word and
the other programs even though they are the same version. Many publishers do not accept submissions in
Word 2007; for example, academic publishers have informed Microsoft that this severely impairs Word 2007's
usability for scholarly publishing.[59] One workaround is to use the older version (3.0) of the equation editor,
which is still usable in Word 2007.

Equations can no longer be "recolored" in PowerPoint but must have black text—a major loss of functionality.
The 'recolor" button is still there, but it no longer works. This precludes dark backgrounds and renders some
presentation formats unusable for scientific presentations.

Some users with experience using previous versions of Microsoft Office have complained about having to find
features in the Ribbon. Others state that having learnt to use the new interface, it has improved the speed with
which "professional-looking" documents can be created.[60]Microsoft has released a series of small programs,
[61]
help sheets,[62] videos[63] and add-ins[64] to help users learn the new interface more quickly.

On some localizations heading style names (e.g. Russian "Заголовок 1" etc.) do not fit frames on primary
Ribbon panel causing them to truncate informative level number.

The new Word 2007 features for bibliographies only support a small number of fixed citation styles. Using
XSLT, new styles can be added. Some extra styles, such as the standard ACM publication format are made
freely available by third parties.[65]
[edit]Attempt to patent user interface elements
Further information: Ribbon (computing)#Controversy

Microsoft contractor Mike Gunderloy left Microsoft partially over his disagreement with the company's
"sweeping land grab" including its attempt to patent the Ribbon interface. He states: "Microsoft itself represents
a grave threat to the future of software development through its increasing inclination to stifle competition
through legal shenanigans."[66][67] He says that by leaving Microsoft, he is “no longer contributing to the eventual
death of programming.”[68]

[edit]ODF implementation in Service Pack 2

The ODF Alliance has released test results on ODF support of Office 2007 SP2,[69] concluding that Office ODF
support, both SP2 and other add-ons, have "serious shortcomings that, left unaddressed, would break the open
standards based interoperability that the marketplace, especially governments, is demanding". Particularly,
SP2 has no support for encrypted ODF files and has limited interoperability with other ODF spreadsheet
implementations.

The ISO/IEC 26300 OpenDocument standard specifies encryption of files, which is based on sha1, Blowfish,
and RFC 2898. Microsoft Office 2007 SP2 does not support reading and writing encrypted (password
protected) ODF files.[69][70][71] Users are presented with a message: “cannot use password protection using the
ODF format.”[69][71]

The ISO/IEC 26300 OpenDocument standard has no spreadsheet formula language included (or referenced) in
the standard specification. Office 2007 SP2 uses the spreadsheet formula language specified in the ISO/IEC
29500 Office Open XML open standard when creating ODF documents. According to the ODF Alliance report
"ODF spreadsheets created in Excel 2007 SP2 do not in fact conform to ODF 1.1 because Excel 2007
incorrectly encodes formulas with cell addresses. Section 8.3.1 of ODF 1.1 says that addresses in formulas
"start with a "[" and end with a "]"." In Excel 2007 cell addresses were not enclosed with the necessary square
brackets."[69] The ISO/IEC 26300 specification states that the semantics and the syntax is dependant on the
used namespace which is implementation dependent leaving the syntax implementation defined as well.[72]

Microsoft stated that they consider adding support for an official ODF formula language (OpenFormula), once a
future version of the ISO/IEC 26300 standard specification includes one.[73]

Microsoft's ODF spreadsheet support in SP2 is not fully inter-operable with other implementations of
OpenDocument, such as the IBM Symphony, which use the non-standardized OpenOffice.org 2.x formula
language, and OpenOffice.org 3.x, which uses a draft of OpenFormula.[74] The company had previously
reportedly stated that "where ODF 1.1 is ambiguous or incomplete, the Office implementation can be guided by
current practice in OpenOffice.org, mainly, and other implementations including KOffice and AbiWord. Peter
Amstein and the Microsoft Office team are reluctant to make liberal use of extension mechanisms, even though
provided in ODF 1.1. They want to avoid all appearance of an embrace-extend attempt."[75]