Until today, though prices and features of Office 365 have already been announced and covered in great depth, the service itself has been shrouded mostly in 'beta mystery'.
Many have signed up for the limited beta, to try out the services for their organisation before general release, but little has actually been seen of the suite of products, designed to 'cloudify' your business.
Office 365 comprises of three core cloud services: Exchange Online, for email, calendar and task management, SharePoint Online for shared collaborative workspaces and a company website, and evolved Lync Online which provides a voice and instant messaging communications platform.
But for so long, the secrets of what Office 365 comprises of actually looks like, we can now take a first hand, head first dive into the series of cloud applications in a series of screenshot and photo galleries.
Gallery 1: Exchange Online and the 'out of box' experience
This gallery walks you through the 'out of box' experience from the moment you receive your password through your email, to setting up and using your Exchange-based cloud inbox.
Gallery 2: SharePoint Online and the cloud-based website
A walkthrough the collaborative SharePoint Online experience, as well the Office Web Apps and the the editing and creation of your cloud-based corporate website.
Gallery 3: An in depth first look at Lync Online
Lync, the new cloud-based communications platform for voice and instant messaging, and how it integrates as part of your business. Includes a look at the web-based Lync Web App.
Gallery 4: The 'behind the scenes' administration console
Office 365 needs to be administered from somewhere, and here it is. This dashboard gives you a whole plethora of options to configure and manage your cloud-based organisation.
Office 365 is expected to be widely available later this year, and will replace the current Microsoft BPOS offering.
Related content:
- Microsoft's Office 365: A guide to the coming plans and prices
- Live@edu rebranded: Introducing Office 365 for Education
- Trying out Microsoft Office 365 beta
- Office 365: Sorry, folks. This is not Office in the cloud
- Microsoft details packaging, pricing for Office 365 for Education
- Why 'Office 365', and what do students get out of it?
- Ten more tidbits on Microsoft's new Office 365 cloud play
- First look at Microsoft's Office 365 (screenshots)
- Screenshots: Outlook Live gets new features ahead of Office 365 rollout
- Microsoft Office 365: Is there a plan and pricepoint that's right for you?
- All Office 365 coverage on ZDNet
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