The Mac Observer

Skip navigational links

Choose text size: Select small text. Select medium text. Select large text.

Featured Article: Podcast - Mac Geek Gab #158: Bad RAM, iSights, Drive Speeds, and Startup Shortcuts

TMO at Macworld - Microsoft Announces Office 2008 for the Mac

by , 3:45 PM EST, January 9th, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO -- Microsoft announced on Tuesday that Office 2008 for the Mac is in development and should be available in the second half of 2007. The new version of the office productivity suite will include Universal Binary versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage - all capable of running natively on Intel and PowerPC-based Macs.

Roz Ho, general manager of the Mac Business Unit at Microsoft commented "Office 2008 is, by far, the most comprehensive, Mac-complementary productivity suite we've developed to date."

The suite shares the same "ribbon" interface found on the new version of Office for Windows, along with several Mac-only features including a Publishing Layout view in Word, Ledgers Sheets in Excel, and a My Day view for reviewing your schedule.

The Mac version of Office will switch to Microsoft's Open XML file formats to ensure cross platform file compatibility.

A major concern for many Mac Office users has been file compatibility with the new version of Office for Windows. The Mac BU plans to address those concerns by releasing a public beta of the file converters for Office 2004 this spring. The file converters will allow Office 2004 users to open and save Open XML-formatted documents.

Pricing and upgrade information is not yet available.

Digg!

Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
Close Name:Tiger Posts: 937 Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Tue Jan 09, 2007 10:21 pm Subject: Do us a favor

Skip the XML format and do something simple for a change. Office has gotten so bloated. Entourage (since the latest update) is crashing about every fifth time I use it. And once it goes, it locks up Word too. Something is amiss in the Office suite and I'm ready to dump it.


 Reply | Quote
Close Name:Zosterops Posts: 13 Joined: 30 Dec 2004
Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:55 am Subject:

Quote
Tiger wrote:
Office has gotten so bloated. Entourage...is crashing about every fifth time...it locks up Word too. Something is amiss in the Office suite and I'm ready to dump it.


Heck, I'm still using the original Microsoft Office X on OS 10.2.8 and it's been doing this ever since I first installed it about six years ago. People wonder why I don't upgrade and bug me about it to the point I think I should reconsider...and then I read something like this that shows that Office is STILL doing this umpteen updates, patches, and versions later.

For that matter, MS apps are still the ONLY apps that I have crash on my Mac. Others might get a little sluggish or wonky on rare occasions, but Entourage and Word routinely bail in the middle of an operation and tell me that they "unexpectedly quit." Hell, even Apple's little TextEdit works better than Word. A little ironic--I first got into Macs because of Windows crashing all the time, and I'm still stuck with MS buggy crap because the rest of the world won't get with it and actually embrace a stable standard.


 Reply | Quote
Comment on this Article

Show:   comments per page.   Save Settings
Guest Posts Hidden. View Them.
Back to top  Page 1 of 1    

You cannot edit your comments.   You cannot delete your comments.
Log in | Register | Having Problems? Reset TMO Cookies & Try Again
Username:   Password:   Log me on automatically each visit   

You are not logged in, and this post will appear as "Guest." Log in with your username and password from the TMO forums. If you do not have a username, you can register here.
Please note that guests are limited to including a maximum of two URLs per post.

Post A Comment
  Subject


  Your Comments



Please enter the word exactly as you see it in the image above. Registered users aren't prompted for this. Having trouble reading the image get a new one.

Recent Headlines - Updated Friday, July 4th, 2008

Fri., 7:30 AM
Happy Fourth of July!
Thu., 4:50 PM
Apple Slashes $400 from SSD Drive in MacBook Air
4:05 PM
It's Official - Firefox Sets Guinness Record for Downloads
3:30 PM
Apple Files Patent for a Multi-touch Gesture Language
2:20 PM
Editorial - Mac's Market Share and the Cascade Failure of Windows
1:35 PM
iPodObserver - Apple Slurps Up Samsung's NAND Flash for iPhone 3G
1:05 PM
WSJ: Tips for Switching from Windows to Mac
12:05 PM
iPodObserver - Google Intros Google Talk for iPhone
11:35 AM
iPO Just a Thought - iPod nano Versus iPhone: Decisons, Decisions...
10:55 AM
YouTube Ordered to Turn Over All User Records to Viacom
10:10 AM
Hot Forum Topic - Apple vs. Cell Carriers: Who's Winning the Game
9:25 AM
iPodObserver - Rumor: Best Buy, Radio Shack to Sell iPhone 3G
8:45 AM
.Mac Bookmark Sync Deadline Extended to July 6
8:10 AM
Adobe Reader 9 Hits the Streets
 

The Mac Observer Reader Specials
  • Special Report: WWDC 2008
  • Special Report: iPhone
  • __________
  • Help TMO Grow
  • Podcast: Mac Geek Gab
  • Podcast: Apple Weekly Report
  • TMO on Twitter!
  • New Media Expo 2008

Apple Stock Quote

  • AAPL: $170.12. Change Today: +1.94.
  • (Prices delayed up to 20 minutes.)
  • Discuss in our Apple Finance Board

Hot Topics

What's the buzz? These articles have TMO readers talking.

Top Deals From DealsOnTheWeb