Images: New looks for Vista, Office

With the next version of Office--currently dubbed Office 12--Microsoft plans to change the user interface to better fit the task a person is performing. The new look will apply to Word (shown here), PowerPoint, Excel, Access and parts of Outlook.

In the Office 12 version of PowerPoint, Microsoft is promising that users will see contextual tabs that present specialized features as needed.

Excel screen shot. The first test version of Office 12 is due in fall 2005, and the finished product in the second half of 2006.

Screen shot of the Access program in Office 12.

At its Professional Developers Conference, Microsoft demonstrated an updated test version of Windows Vista, including its "sidebar" feature.

Sync Center APIs (application programming interfaces) are intended to make synchronization work more consistent and more centralized. Microsoft notes that the icons are not yet finalized.

The Vista release of Windows isn't all about work.