It was one of the more dramatic U-turns that Microsoft had ever made: undoing the error that was Office Web Apps and providing well-provisioned, fully functional and free versions of the major Office suite applications, first on iPad and later on Android. 

In fact, Microsoft rolled out the new Office look and feel first on those foreign platforms before dealing with the domestic issue of making Office at home on Windows once again.

Microsoft took the hit for it, waiting until just last February to produce the touchscreen version of Office for tablets that the company had promised back in 2011 for Windows 8. Now that these preview apps are freely downloadable from the Windows Store, desktop PC users everywhere have been wondering how long they have to be stuck driving, if you will, an outdated vehicle.

There is still no final release date, but during the Build 2015 keynote in San Francisco yesterday, developers got their first glimpses of Office 16 (version No. 16 and also, quite likely, 2016) for the classic Win32 desktop platform.

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