Attendees Preview Microsoft Project 2010 at Phoenix Conference
1,300 plus attendees at the Microsoft Project 2009 Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, were treated to a preview of the next release of Microsoft Project. Chris Capossela, senior VP with the Microsoft Business Division, presented Wednesday morning’s keynote on Microsoft Project 2010 followed by an overview demonstration of the product line by Keshav Puttaswany, Group Program Manager of the Microsoft Project Business Unit.
Capossela discussed the four pillars of the new product line as:
- Simpler and intuitive user experience.
- Enhanced collaboration and reporting.
- Scalable and connected platform.
- Providing unified project and portfolio management.
Puttaswany’s demonstration was often greeted with applause as various features were showcased. A number of breakout sessions through the remainder of the conference highlighted many of the specific aspects of both MS Project Professional and MS Project Server 2010.
This release was by far the most significant upgrade to MS Project since its debut in 1987. Microsoft has consolidated Project Server and Portfolio Server into one application and has removed the word “Office” from the product line. The three applications under the 2010 product line will be:
- Microsoft Project Standard 2010
- Microsoft Project Professional 2010
- Microsoft Project Server 2010
The Beta version of the product will be available later this year and general release will occur in the first half of 2010.
In future posts, I will discuss some of the new features including:
- The “Ribbon” user interface.
- The “Team Planner”.
- The “Time Line” view.
- SharePoint “Sync”.
- And other improvements over existing features.
Tags: Microsoft Project 2010