The Screenshots of Office 12 were showcased at PDC 2005 on September 13th, 2005. Microsoft has not announced their functionalities. They have disclosed the information of overall package Office 12 on what would be different from the earlier versions. This news says Drop down menus like File, Edit etc... are now changed by task-specific tabs. Here is a note that I would like to highlight what is mentioned in the news:
"You may be disappointed to hear that the Alt keyboard shortcuts will change; luckily, shortcuts using the Ctrl button will stay the same. Although the more visual and tabbed layout may reduce mouse clicks, it eats up more screen space than Office 2003 does. Visually, Office 12 will look dramatically different, although it's marginally more attractive than its predecessor. Icons and charts appear less flat, but our jaws didn't drop at first sight. In the past, Microsoft has sabotaged itself by unrolling too many new features to Office too fast. We're keeping a lookout for problems -- after all, Office 12 was in its storyboard stages just a few months ago." and at the end it says, "We'll withhold judgment on Office 12 until we start some real-world testing with the Beta 1 release, expected by the end of the year."
Here is a news on Microsoft-Watch which also gives a similar news. Here is what even they say:Microsoft officials continue to decline to discuss specifics about Office 12. Officials have said to expect the final version of Office 12 to ship in the latter half of 2006. They also have revealed that XML-based file formats will be the default in Office 12.
Here is an interview with Julie Larson-Green, group program manager for the Office User Experience at Microsoft with Press: Microsoft Showcases New User Interface for Office “12” Core Applications
Here are few videos of Speeches and Keynotes by Bill Gates: Bill Gates Webcasts
So just awaiting for the beta release soon.