Microsoft announced a preview of Office 2016 for IT pros and developers for Windows desktop on 16th March 2015. With this move, they have allowed Office 365 customers, developers and technology geeks to test the release and explore the new features. The Microsoft team is planning to be ready for a final release by this year end, a release that can be used by end users. While the enhancements are yet to be seen and tested, some of the key features that the team has added is the Data Loss Protection or DLP for short, improved Outlook and Click-to-run deployment.
Data Loss Protection
The DLP feature was available for MS Outlook, Exchange and OneDrive, and also for SharePoint users. Now, the facility is being extended to Word, PowerPoint and Excel. What this means is that an IT administrator can now have control on the creation and sharing rights of the documents. The users will get a notification if a security policy is breached.
Improved Outlook
There are a number of technical improvement in MS Outlook. These features include introduction to Internet-friendly protocol, ensuring that Outlook is responsive on unreliable network, enhanced authentication with integration of Active Directory Authentication Library (ADAL), faster downloading of messages and shorter time to show new messages after hibernation, better storage management and improved search facilities.
Click-to-Run deployment
The team has introduced Background Intelligence Transfer Service (BITS) that will help to prevent congestion on the network. There also has been integration with System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) for better and faster office updates. Additionally, the admins will now be able to manage the rate at which they receive updates and fixes. Office 365 Admin will also be able to take care of user device activation.
So as an IT pro or developer if you wish to try Office 2016, you can be a part of Office 2016 Preview Program on the Microsoft Connect site.