Microsoft delays Office 2008 for Mac until mid-January
Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit (Mac BU) said Thursday that the release of Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac has been pushed back from the second half of 2007 until mid-January.
The Redmond-based firm now anticipates showing a final version of the software at the Macworld trade show and conference in January, with global availability to commence in the first quarter of 2008.
"This was a business decision based on the Mac BU?s commitment to deliver a high-quality product,? said Mac BU General Manager Craig Eisler. "Our number one priority is to deliver quality software to our customers and partners, and in order to achieve this we are shifting availability."
As part of the revised schedule, Eisler said the Mac BU is driving towards an internal goal of releasing a gold master copy of the software suite to manufacturing in mid-December. He added that, "customers will be very pleased with the finished product.?
Known for lengthy software delays, Microsoft had said as recently as June that the new version of Office remained on track for a release during the second half of 2007. Its decision to push out the release comes amid a rise in Apple's Mac market share and growing retail demand for Office for Mac.
Despite having released just two versions of the productivity suite since 2000, the Associated Press reports that Microsoft has seen sales of Office for Mac rise about 72 percent from 2001 to 2006, compared with an increase of about 18 percent for Windows versions.
The AP, citing NPD market research data, added that sales of the Mac versions made up about 20 percent of dollars spent on Office at U.S. retail stores and Web sites in 2006, up from 4 percent in 2001.
One of the highlights of Office for Mac 2008 (screenshots) is a new user interface for Word dubbed "Elements Gallery," which speeds up document creation by allowing users to drag-and-drop predefined templates for some of the most commonly used "Document Parts," such as headers, footers and tables of contents.
Microsoft Word, shipping in early 2008 as part of Office for Mac 2008
Another featured, called "My Day," is essentially a stand-alone widget application that allows users to track priorities and stay on top of daily activities no matter what Office application they happen to be working in at the time. It interfaces directly with Entourage -- another component of Office -- offering at-a-glance schedule and task viewing without having to launch Entourage.
Meanwhile, a new version of Excel will gain support for "Ledger Sheets," which will allow the spreadsheet application to handle common financial management tasks such as balancing checkbooks, tracking accounts or managing investment portfolios."
The Mac BU has promised to share more details about features and precise release timing as Office for Mac 2008 moves closer to launch.
The Redmond-based firm now anticipates showing a final version of the software at the Macworld trade show and conference in January, with global availability to commence in the first quarter of 2008.
"This was a business decision based on the Mac BU?s commitment to deliver a high-quality product,? said Mac BU General Manager Craig Eisler. "Our number one priority is to deliver quality software to our customers and partners, and in order to achieve this we are shifting availability."
As part of the revised schedule, Eisler said the Mac BU is driving towards an internal goal of releasing a gold master copy of the software suite to manufacturing in mid-December. He added that, "customers will be very pleased with the finished product.?
Known for lengthy software delays, Microsoft had said as recently as June that the new version of Office remained on track for a release during the second half of 2007. Its decision to push out the release comes amid a rise in Apple's Mac market share and growing retail demand for Office for Mac.
Despite having released just two versions of the productivity suite since 2000, the Associated Press reports that Microsoft has seen sales of Office for Mac rise about 72 percent from 2001 to 2006, compared with an increase of about 18 percent for Windows versions.
The AP, citing NPD market research data, added that sales of the Mac versions made up about 20 percent of dollars spent on Office at U.S. retail stores and Web sites in 2006, up from 4 percent in 2001.
One of the highlights of Office for Mac 2008 (screenshots) is a new user interface for Word dubbed "Elements Gallery," which speeds up document creation by allowing users to drag-and-drop predefined templates for some of the most commonly used "Document Parts," such as headers, footers and tables of contents.
Microsoft Word, shipping in early 2008 as part of Office for Mac 2008
Another featured, called "My Day," is essentially a stand-alone widget application that allows users to track priorities and stay on top of daily activities no matter what Office application they happen to be working in at the time. It interfaces directly with Entourage -- another component of Office -- offering at-a-glance schedule and task viewing without having to launch Entourage.
Meanwhile, a new version of Excel will gain support for "Ledger Sheets," which will allow the spreadsheet application to handle common financial management tasks such as balancing checkbooks, tracking accounts or managing investment portfolios."
The Mac BU has promised to share more details about features and precise release timing as Office for Mac 2008 moves closer to launch.
Comments
Another featured, called "My Day," is essentially a stand-alone widget application
Looks like Microsoft is trying to capitalize on "iDay" by turning it into a widget, I wonder how they pulled that one off.
Let's hope the Excel-compatible spreadsheet app will materialize.
(Ok, that one's unlikely, but Apple does really have to grow a spine and take on Microsoft Office eventually.)
I work in the corporate world and NO ONE is going to replace Office with iWork in the Corporate World. While us on the Mac's can read/write Office Docs no problem, the same can not be said in reverse about iWork and PeeCee's.
If MS drops MS Office, then I loose my ability to use my MacBook Pro at work, which would make me ENTIRELY not happy.
Yes, I still use Parallel's for my Outlook/Exchange connectivity, and yes, the current Entourage will connect to our Exchange server here, but I have found that Parallels is just about as fast if not faster than Rosetta.
Now I agree, iWork does what Mac's do exceptionally and that is to make "POPPING" documents. I use iWork for all of my wifes "Bulletin's" for her home based business and they look a million times better and are a heck-uv-a-lot easier to create than using Office.
However, doing my business stuff, I still prefer MS Office.
They both have their place and whether you like it or not, if you want Mac to continue to grow market share (and don't we all?), they still need to have entrenched business applications available.
I use Quickbooks Pro for the Mac and I struggle with the loss of functionality from the Windows side, but I still use and purchase it in the hopes that it will encourage them to make a better Mac version.
Because I think it's only the name. If Apple were to name the next version of Pages "Word" and Keynote "PowerPoint" the problem would be solved.
I am shocked to see a delay in a MS release.
What Word and Excel have that Apple cannot implement? Any special magic?
Because I think it's only the name. If Apple were to name the next version of Pages "Word" and Keynote "PowerPoint" the problem would be solved.
You're not familiar with the enterprise then, bub. Full compatability and outright superiority are trumped by an entrenched brand any day of the week. And business is the missing link in Apple's rise to dominance. This is one where MS are actually handy to have around. Office 2k8 isn't as much of a wait and see problem as CS3 was before release since Rosetta handles itself quite well in office apps. But the death of MS Office for Mac entirely would be a setback for Apple more than for Microsoft. Not you or I individual users, but in corporate sales and all the network effects they bring.
Let's hope the Excel-compatible spreadsheet app will materialize.
Yes, no more Appleworks for me!
Also, is this delay related to Leopard? Maybe msft has been messing around in the early builds and wants to make sure it releases something really good, since the next update won't be for another few years.
David
www.davidwogan.us
Perfect time for an iWork update... People buying macs for back to school are going to want office software, hopefully there will be something better than office 2004. Its not bad, runs great but people expect more when they buy a mac.
Yeah; Microsoft probably got wind of iWork 08 and needed to add a couple of features to keep it competitive.
So basically, Office is the only substantial program that still hasn't been optimized for Mac Intels. What are they, a minimum of a year behind every other company? Bravo Microsoft...
Yeah, they've given up on the Mac. No IE. No Windows Media Player. This may be the last version of Office for the mac.
Bravo Microsoft... that and the fact your stock hasn't moved this century! Think there is a correlation?
My neighborhood's bank's stock moves more than Microsoft's and its only local!
You're not familiar with the enterprise then, bub. Full compatability and outright superiority are trumped by an entrenched brand any day of the week. And business is the missing link in Apple's rise to dominance. This is one where MS are actually handy to have around. Office 2k8 isn't as much of a wait and see problem as CS3 was before release since Rosetta handles itself quite well in office apps. But the death of MS Office for Mac entirely would be a setback for Apple more than for Microsoft. Not you or I individual users, but in corporate sales and all the network effects they bring.
Oh, c'mon. The key to Office on the Mac has always been file and macro compatibility with Office for Windows. Office 2008 for Mac won't have macro compatibility.
So there's no advantage for buying Office compared to iWork. They both support the same file types. Office has ZERO advantage over iWork.
Office for the Mac is dead. Wake up. Microsoft is clearly abandoning it.
Unless there is a very compelling reason to use the new MS Office for Mac, I've completely absolved myself of Microsoft products on my HOME workstation (iMac).
Oh, c'mon. The key to Office on the Mac has always been file and macro compatibility with Office for Windows. Office 2008 for Mac won't have macro compatibility.
So there's no advantage for buying Office compared to iWork. They both support the same file types. Office has ZERO advantage over iWork.
Office for the Mac is dead. Wake up. Microsoft is clearly abandoning it.
The key has always been branding when it comes to business. There's a huge psychological barrier for management (the ones who make decisions and therefore actually count, alas) in working on "Word" files with anything other than "Word". Indeed, many of them are astounded there is even such a thing on the Mac: a platform the vast majority of management almost everywhere are dyed in the wool against.
I don't have any MS software on my home systems. Just tellin' it like it is.
Normally, this would have been big news to me, as I use these tools all the time, every day. However, I was royally disappointed with the previous version of Mac Office (sluggish performance, compatibility issues, and those absolutely unusable detached toolbars), and recently decided to switch to NeoOffice (an Open Office derivative). The NeoOffice suite has worked smashingly well, and I'm looking forward to the OS X-native port of Open Office this fall (they're already working on it).
Unless there is a very compelling reason to use the new MS Office for Mac, I've completely absolved myself of Microsoft products on my HOME workstation (iMac).
Ditto. But notice how Apple are already doing well in the home? Hint: the management chain tends to be shorter. Typically just a diagram with the user at the bottom and a line up to the wife.