Microsoft Unveils Project 2002 Product Family

This week, Microsoft announced that the next version of its project-planning and administration software, Project 2002, will become widely available in the first half of next year. Project 2002 significantly expands on the previous release, Project 2000, by adding a server version that will let administrators and project leaders manage a single, central pool of resources across all the projects in their enterprise. With its new enterprise bent, Project 2002 combines the intuitive project-management features of the past with new accessibility and collaboration capabilities, the company says.

"We've added an array of enterprise functionality to Microsoft Project 2002 that will appeal to all our users--everyone from the traditional project manager to team members working on specific tasks across projects, to executive stakeholders who need a birds-eye view of the status and costs of all the projects in their organization," said Chris Capossela, general manager of the Microsoft Project business unit. "Also, with Microsoft Project 2002 we're introducing a family of products, including a new version of the world's leading desktop project manager, Microsoft Project 2002 Standard, as well as a powerful new server product called Microsoft Project Server 2002."

The new Project 2002 family includes Microsoft Project Standard Edition, the core project-management desktop application that continues the tradition of previous versions; Project Professional Edition, which builds on the standard edition but works with the server product to provide collaboration and enterprisewide analysis and resource-management capabilities; Project Server 2002, a new .NET Server family product that provides team collaboration; and Project Web Access, a Web interface for users who don't need the full set of project-management features in the desktop editions.

If you're interested in Project, you can order a copy of the Microsoft Project Standard 2002 Marketing Beta Kit today from the Microsoft Web site.