Stopped by the AMO stand at SAS Global Forum 2011 and had a quick look at the new features coming out.

Things that took my interest:

• AMO 5.1 will work with SAS 9.2 & 9.3, wahoo that will make upgrades easier
  (although any new feature that requires 9.3 will be grayed out if you are accessing a 9.2 backend)
• In excel you can make a excel cell the basis for a Stored Process prompt, so that means you can setup custom drop downs in the Excel sheet that drives what the STP brings back (i.e month, region etc).  Think about the flexibility that will allow in building excel frontends to SAS
• AMO 4.3 supports Microsoft Office 2003, 2007 & 2010, AMO 5.1 will only support Microsoft Office 2007 & 2010.  The main reason is the major use of ribbons in AMO 5.1.
  (and before you complain Office 2003 is over 8 years old remember!)

Bring on Q3 – 2011!