Friday, February 1, 2013

Bing Rolls Out Apps For Office Subscription Service

Bing, the Internet search engine run by Microsoft, said Thursday that it has rolled out a number of apps, which help connect Office 365 Home Premium into its features. According to Bing, the apps--similar to Windows 8, Windows Phone, and Xbox apps its already provide--help user launch into everything ranging from maps, to iamge search, and more. The firm said the apps will help make Bing available directly in Office without having to leave those applications.

Microsoft said that there are currently five Bing Apps for Office, including a tool which lets you input stock symbols and pull data from Bing Finance directly into Excel; a news search tool which will auto-insert news and videos into Word documents; and a tool which connects Bing Map for Excel, allowing users to overlay data on things like state maps. Bing also has connected Office into its Bing Dictionary service to look up definitions and spellings of words, and connected Bing's Image Search into Office so that users can easily insert pictures into documents.

Microsoft rolled out Office 365 Home Premium this week as a subscription service, allowing users to subscription to Microsoft Office for $119 for an annual subscription, allowing users to use the software on up to five Windows machines or via the Internet.

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