Microsoft releases Office 2016 for Windows, Mac

Microsoft has released its latest Office 2016.

According to The Next Web, the new version focuses on collaboration deeply for the first time, to make Microsoft truly competitive with modern cloud-based document editing apps.

Microsoft has added real-time co-editing to its Web apps in 2013 and has now added it to the desktop app so the users can collaborate without opening their browser.

Skype for Business is now incorporated into the apps so the users can video chat, instant message or share files within documents themselves.

Also, Office 2016 has added search and integrates with Cortana to provide contextual results. The users can ask about their calendar for the day, search in documents and more.

Outlook now with a new Office 365 Groups feature allows the users to see shared inboxes, calendars and notebooks within the app and the app has received a big performance bump for 'live search' which is much faster.

In addition, a new app, Office 365 Planner is included with Office 2016 which is a task tracking style app for getting projects done on time. Planner provides visual dashboards, email notifications and helps keep the users team up to date with each other's process. The app will not be available till next quarter.

Office 2016 is optimized for Windows 10 and works with Microsoft's new 'Continuum' mode that allows Windows 10 phones to act as desktop PCs.

Office 2016 is released for both Windows and Mac. The users who have an Office 365 subscription can upgrade. The users can also buy it if they are a student or business, but Microsoft is pushing home customers toward the new Office 365 monthly plans, which receive continuous updates.