New leadership hits Microsoft's Mac BU ahead of Office 2008 launch
Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit (Mac BU), which is preparing to launch Office 2008 for Mac in the second half of this year, has announced that Craig Eisler has taken over daily operations as the division's general manager.
Eisler replaces Roz Ho, who after seven successful years of leadership in the Mac BU transitioned to a new role within Robbie BachÂ?s Entertainment & Devices Division at the Redmond, Wash.-based software mammoth.
"As an Office for Mac user, I already knew we had a terrific set of products, and as I dug in, I discovered there was a terrific team of passionate people dedicated to innovation and excellence," Eisler wrote in a blog posting following his appointment. "Furthermore, Apple and Microsoft are great partners (have been for over 20 years), and there is still more we and Apple can do together."
"When I put all of that stuff together, it presented a very compelling opportunity," he continued.Â*"But the icing on the cake - the thing that I love - is the chance to work on Mac products and to get to work with Apple."
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In a company statement, Microsoft vice president Tom Gibbons welcomed Eisler, commenting that his "deep background in technology and product development" and "his demonstrated business leadership, and his respect for Apple," will help drive a productive relationship between the two companies, reinforcing the Macintosh Business UnitÂ?s "tradition of delivering outstanding native Mac productivity software."Â*Â*Â*
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Eisler arrives at the Mac BU with a long history in technology, ranging from his time at Microsoft as development manager for DirectX to forming AOL Wireless in 2005. Under his new position, he'll work closely with a staff of 180 engineers within the Mac BU to deliver Office 2008 for Mac as well as work on future versions of this award-winning productivity suite, Microsoft said in a statement to AppleInsider.
The software maker has maintained that it will ship the Intel native Office 2008 for Mac during the second half of the year. A summary of new features and screenshots were published during this year's Macworld Expo.
Eisler replaces Roz Ho, who after seven successful years of leadership in the Mac BU transitioned to a new role within Robbie BachÂ?s Entertainment & Devices Division at the Redmond, Wash.-based software mammoth.
"As an Office for Mac user, I already knew we had a terrific set of products, and as I dug in, I discovered there was a terrific team of passionate people dedicated to innovation and excellence," Eisler wrote in a blog posting following his appointment. "Furthermore, Apple and Microsoft are great partners (have been for over 20 years), and there is still more we and Apple can do together."
"When I put all of that stuff together, it presented a very compelling opportunity," he continued.Â*"But the icing on the cake - the thing that I love - is the chance to work on Mac products and to get to work with Apple."
Â*
In a company statement, Microsoft vice president Tom Gibbons welcomed Eisler, commenting that his "deep background in technology and product development" and "his demonstrated business leadership, and his respect for Apple," will help drive a productive relationship between the two companies, reinforcing the Macintosh Business UnitÂ?s "tradition of delivering outstanding native Mac productivity software."Â*Â*Â*
Â*
Eisler arrives at the Mac BU with a long history in technology, ranging from his time at Microsoft as development manager for DirectX to forming AOL Wireless in 2005. Under his new position, he'll work closely with a staff of 180 engineers within the Mac BU to deliver Office 2008 for Mac as well as work on future versions of this award-winning productivity suite, Microsoft said in a statement to AppleInsider.
The software maker has maintained that it will ship the Intel native Office 2008 for Mac during the second half of the year. A summary of new features and screenshots were published during this year's Macworld Expo.
Comments
Yes, some people hate Adium. Yes, some people don't know anyone who uses AIM/iChat/Jabber. Those people would be me.
Once apple come out with a spreadsheet and makes Pages a decent word program, there will no longer be a need for MS Office. Keynote is already light years ahead of Powerpoint.
If there's no need for office, schools and office will find no need for Macs.
If there's no need for office, schools and office will find no need for Macs.
That makes no sense at all.
As for the Mac BU, do they work on anything besides office these days? Is the Mac version of Silverlight being done by them? Will we ever see a new version of Internet Explorer or WMP? Is Messenger going to disappear into the same hole that Outlook went into? What about Access, Project and all those other Office spin-offs?
As for the Mac BU, do they work on anything besides office these days? Is the Mac version of Silverlight being done by them? Will we ever see a new version of Internet Explorer or WMP? Is Messenger going to disappear into the same hole that Outlook went into? What about Access, Project and all those other Office spin-offs?
It may well be just Office now. VirtualPC, IE:Mac, WMP for Mac are all gone as far as I know, officially discontinued. I thought that there was a recent update to their IM program, but I don't know. I don't know about Silverlight, though IIRC, they were almost exclusively demonstrating it on Macs.
Will we ever see a new version of Internet Explorer or WMP?
Are you expecting new versions of IE and WMP, even after Microsoft publicly announced that they had stopped development on both products for the Mac?
Roz Ho always seemed to be lying through her teeth and she knew it, too.
Perhaps they can assign some more people to get Mac Messenger up to feature parity with the Windows version.
Yes, some people hate Adium. Yes, some people don't know anyone who uses AIM/iChat/Jabber. Those people would be me.
and me. its sucks, it really does, doesnt it?
Are you expecting new versions of IE and WMP, even after Microsoft publicly announced that they had stopped development on both products for the Mac?
No, that was the whole point of my rant. That doesn't mean that they could start again sometime.
Seriously though, I was only mentioning them as an example of how Microsoft has been systematically reducing the number of Mac ports they produce over the years.
Oh and thanks JeffDM for reminding me of VirtualPC as well. The Windows version has now been free for the last two versions
and me. its sucks, it really does, doesnt it?
That makes us three. but ichat compatibility with msn would be uber cool
Are you expecting new versions of IE and WMP, even after Microsoft publicly announced that they had stopped development on both products for the Mac?
ooooo, so THATS why windows media player is utter bollocks for the mac. ive been thinking for ages 'shouldnt there be a new version out soon?' lol
are there any alternatives? other than converting into mp4 or whatever?
That makes no sense at all.
100% compatibility with office is required that means higher functions as well.
That makes us three. but ichat compatibility with msn would be uber cool
X2
I'd really love a decent looking MSN client with webcam support...
X2
I'd really love a decent looking MSN client with webcam support...
as would we all.. aMSN is halfway there, but for some reason i cant get the webcam to work, something to do with a firewall. damn pc's..
Perhaps they can assign some more people to get Mac Messenger up to feature parity with the Windows version.
Yes, some people hate Adium. Yes, some people don't know anyone who uses AIM/iChat/Jabber. Those people would be me.
I'll seventh that! ..or howevermany have commented
bottom line "GIMMIE"
are there any alternatives? other than converting into mp4 or whatever?
The flip4mac WMV QuickTime components are the official replacement of Microsoft's OS X Media Player.
Once apple come out with a spreadsheet and makes Pages a decent word program, there will no longer be a need for MS Office. Keynote is already light years ahead of Powerpoint.
You are forgetting about support for macros in Word and Excel documents. Full feature parity with Outlook client in an Exchange server environment is also critical. So instead of their weak attempts to reverse engineer Exchange server support in Entourage, Microsoft should be updating Outlook for Mac.