Visio 2003 heads toward beta
crn.com | at | by Mike
Microsoft Visio 2003, available next month for beta testing, aims to broaden the diagramming product's appeal to nontechnical business users. Visio, acquired by Microsoft in January 2000, is used by engineers and technical types to create schematics and other technical drawings. Business professionals use it for org charts. The current Visio 2002 usage is split 50/50 between those groups, said Jason Bunge, product manager.
Microsoft is deepening XML support in this release in an attempt to make Visio less of a single-user product. "The perception is this is a desktop app; it's static, solid and rightfully so," Bunge said. "Part of the XML support will make it more dynamic and [tie it in tighter] with data centers and systems," Bunge said.