Microsoft's definition

Vijay Kapoor, national technology officer, Microsoft, defines what open standards are as follows:[15]
"Let's look at what an open standard means: 'open' refers to it being royalty-free, while 'standard' means a technology approved
by formalised committees that are open to participation by all interested parties and operate on a consensus basis. An open
standard is publicly available, and developed, approved and maintained via a collaborative and consensus driven process."

History
Timeline
Release
Title/version Contents Notes
date
August 30, CD-ROM version: Word 2.0c,
Office 3.0 Repackaged as Office 92
1992 Excel 4.0a, PowerPoint 3.0, Mail
January 17, Word 6.0, Excel 4.0, PowerPoint
Office 4.0
1994 3.0.
This is the last 16-bit version. This is also the last version to
Word 6.0, Excel 5.0, PowerPoint
support Windows 3.x, Windows NT 3.1 and Windows NT 3.5
June 2, 1994 Office 4.3 4.0, Mail 3.2 and in the Pro
(Windows NT 3.51 was supported up to and including Office
version, Access 2.0.
97).
Word 6.0 and Excel 5.0 (both
32-bit, i386, MIPS, PowerPC,
July 3, 1994 Office for NT 4.2 and Alpha), PowerPoint 4.0 (16-
bit), "Microsoft Office
Manager".
Coincided with the Windows 95 operating system release.
Works only on Windows 95, NT 3.51 or higher. This is the first
August 30,
Office 95 (7.0) Word 7 for Windows 95, etc. Office version to have the same version number (7.0, inherited
1995
from Word 6.0) for all major component products (Word, Excel
and so on).
Was published on CD-ROM as well as on a set of 45 3½-inch
December
Office 97 (8.0) Word 97, etc. floppy disks), became Y2K safe with Service Release 2. Last
30, 1996
version to support Windows NT 3.51 on i386 and Alpha.
Was released only in Japanese and Korean editions. First version
Office 97
June 20, to contain Outlook 98 in all editions and Publisher 98 in the
Powered by The only way to get Word 98.
1998 Small Business Edition. And also the first version of Office 97
Word 98 (8.5)
to support Windows 98.
Last version to support Windows 95. Office 2000 is also the last
version which does not include Product Activation and is not
January 27,
Office 2000 (9.0) Word 2000, etc. covered by Office Genuine Advantage, although on individual
1999
installs, the Office Update website still required the presence of
original install media for updates to install.
Last version to support Windows 98/Me/NT 4.0. Improved
May 31,
Office XP (10.0) Word 2002, etc. support for working in restricted accounts under Windows
2001
2000/XP.
November Office 2003 First version to introduce Windows XP style icons. Last version
Word 2003, etc.
17, 2003 (11.0) to support Windows 2000.
January 30, Office 2007 Broadly released alongside Windows Vista, Microsoft's newest
Word 2007, etc.
2007 (12.0) operating system.
[1] Office 2010 There will be no Microsoft Office 13 due to superstition. This is
2010
(14.0) the first version to ship in 32- and 64-bits.[2]