Time Magazineis online arm has published a quick look at the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac preview release that Microsoft is shopping around to the media. Microsoft Office for the Mac is developed by Microsoftis Mac Business Unit (MBU), the largest Mac development team outside of Apple. In her look, writer Anita Hamilton says that this new version of Office for the Mac is "clearly superior" to the version Microsoft makes for its own platform, Windows. From the article:

Because of their meager ranks (currently about 3% of the personal-computing universe), Macintosh users have long been given second-class status in the software world. Sure, Apple has created some nice products, such as iTunes, for its computers. But most third-party programs are written for Windows PCs and then adapted, sometimes poorly and often months later, for Apple machines.

A notable exception arrives later this month when Microsoft releases the latest version of its ubiquitous Microsoft Office package for the Mac. My verdict: Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac is clearly superior to its PC counterpart for most users. Last fall Microsoft put out a bloated update of Office for Windows that focused more on collaborating with other users than on making it easier for you to get your own work done. The streamlined Office for Mac puts individuals first.

Thereis more in the full article at Time Magazineis online site.