Microsoft Office 365 review

[Editor's Note: What immediately follows is a rundown of the latest developments and features Microsoft has added to Office 365 since this review was first written.]

The Secure Productive Enterprise offering was revealed, bundling Office 365, Windows 10 Enterprise (in its new E3/E5 cloud-based form) and Enterprise Mobility + Security suite.
Redmond released a free videoconferencing tool for SMBs, noting that Office 365 business subscribers get similar facilities on a much grander scale via Skype for Business.
Microsoft revealed that later in 2016, Office 365 users will get a preview of an automatic live translation caption service for Skype Meeting Broadcast supporting 40 languages.

Microsoft Planner was rolled out to Office 365 users worldwide, an app which lets you tackle project management in a fresh and user-friendly fashion.
Microsoft made a number of tweaks to Sway, its 'digital storytelling' app, including upping content limits so you can use more photos, videos and so forth in your Sways.
Outlook received some new features to help users better manage their travel plans and track the status of package deliveries.
Excel got a new set of Power Query features designed to make working with and getting the most out of your data easier.
A new Office 365 admin app was pushed out with a more slickly designed interface that makes important information easy to spot at a glance.
A new SharePoint mobile app was also launched for iOS offering quick and easy access to your company's portals, sites and resources when you're on the go.
The preview version of GigJam – a collaboration app inbound for Office 365 that allows users to easily share all manner of content – was made available to all comers.
Office 365 was struck by a major ransomware attack that exposed some 57% of its 18.2 million subscribers to phishing attempts.

Office 365 Business was enhanced to allow co-editors to chat in real-time when collaborating on documents stored in OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online.
Accessibility improvements, including a new high contrast theme, were applied to Office 365 to make it easier for the visually impaired to work with the apps.
Microsoft tweaked security for Office 365, with Exchange Online Protection getting safety tips that give warnings about suspicious emails.

Office 365 received a front-end facelift with a new welcome page designed to be more helpful and intuitive.
Redmond bolstered the capabilities of Microsoft Graph, meaning that going forward developers can build better and smarter apps powered by data drawn from Office 365.

A new admin centre arrived on Office 365 boasting powerful search functionality and enabling easy access to in-depth reports.
Office 365 Connectors were introduced, allowing apps and services to be hooked up to Office 365 Groups, so notifications from said apps automatically get sent to the Groups shared inbox.
Office 365 became the only non-Apple accessory offered to those purchasing iPads online.
Google expanded its Identity Platform, which is made up of a number of solutions including Google Sign-In, to cover Office 365.
And as March ended, we discovered that according to one study, Office 365 is the king of all business web apps.

A ton of improvements were applied to Excel including new functions to make building common calculations an easier process, and deeper integration with Power BI.
Outlook also got some attention with a new system that lets users easily archive messages, and a new Groups section was added to the ribbon.
We saw a leaked pilot web page that indicated Redmond's incoming premium email service, Outlook.com Premium, will be free for Office 365 users

Microsoft extended its Office Insider preview program, which allows the curious to test early builds, to include Mac users.
Redmond introduced new inking features for the Office for iPad apps, allowing for scribbling on documents with a stylus or your finger.

If you want to see older news and developments pertaining to Office 365, then check out the Archives page at the end of this review.

Otherwise, now move on to Page 2 for our full review and detailed look at what Office 365 offers, and how it can help you become more productive.