Microsoft to unveil updated Office software suite

Lync, Exchange and SharePoint updates also expected

Microsoft is to unveil the latest version of its Office ‘cash cow', dubbed Office 15, in a major launch in San Francisco, California tonight.

When the company gave a ‘technical preview' of the software in January, it said that it would extend it to tablets and smartphones. At the time, many thought that meant versions for Android and Apple iOS operating systems, but the subsequent high-profile unveiling of the Microsoft Surface tablet in June suggests versions solely for the Windows Phone 8 operating system instead.

The company is also expected to unveil updates for the Exchange email client, Lync desktop communication software and SharePoint collaboration package.

"With Office 15, for the first time ever, we will simultaneously update our cloud services, servers, and mobile and PC clients for Office, Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Project and Visio," said PJ Hough, chief vice president of development at Microsoft's Office Division, at the time of the technical preview.

Reviews of the technical preview suggest a refined user interface to address vitriolic criticism of the ‘ribbon' interface introduced with Office 2007; easy saving to Skydrive, Microsoft's cloud storage service; and mandatory signing in to Microsoft ID, which also connects users to Flickr, My Office, Microsoft Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger, as well as SkyDrive.

Other rumoured features include the ability to edit Adobe PDF files - not just to save in PDF format.

Microsoft to unveil updated Office software suite

Lync, Exchange and SharePoint updates also expected

With the new version, Microsoft may need to address the rise of Android and Apple iOS, as well as the ‘bring your own device' (BYOD) phenomenon.

It has already successfully turned its Office ‘franchise' into a subscription-based cloud offering, with companies paying extra to integrate Office with Lync, SharePoint Server and Exchange to improve their collaborative capabilities.

The package, which bundles together Word, the Excel spreadsheet, PowerPoint presentation software and Outlook email client and organiser, continues to be popular despite the availability of fully featured free alternatives, such as LibreOffice, as well as Google Docs, Google's cloud-based package.

It also remains one of Microsoft's biggest revenue generators. Office accounted for $22.2bn (£14.28bn) of Microsoft's nearly $69.9bn (£44.98bn) in revenues in its fiscal year to the end of June 2012. Furthermore, at $14.1bn (£9.07bn) it accounted for more than half of the company's operating income of $27.16bn (£17.48bn).

It's full-year results for fiscal 2012 will be unveiled on Thursday 19 July.

Computing's Peter Gothard will bring the latest from the Office launch as and when it happens.