Microsoft to launch Office for Mac 2011 on Oct. 26
Microsoft on Tuesday announced that it will launch Office for Mac 2011, the latest version of its top-selling software suite, on Oct. 26, with preorders now being taken.
All versions of Office for Mac 2011 are now available for preorder from Amazon. They include the Home and Student Edition, Home and Business, and separate purchases of PowerPoint for Mac, Word for Mac and Excel for Mac.
On the official Office for Mac 2011 blog, the company also released its last behind-the-scenes look at the development of the latest version of Office. The company highlighted the new "Dynamic Reorder" feature, which gives users the ability to interactively reorder all layers in a document or presentation.
Office for Mac 2011 also includes a new "Full Screen" view that offers two perspectives optimized for writing and another for reading.
Microsoft also said that the newest Office for Mac was developed with performance improvements a top priority. The team said they hope users appreciate the effort that went into it when they experience the launch speed of each application, as well as the overall speed of the suite.
Office for Mac 2011 was sent to manufacturing earlier this month, and Amazon had previously listed the Oct. 26 date. However, Tuesday's announcement is the official confirmation of when it will launch.
Customers who purchase Office 2008 for Mac between Aug. 1, 2010 and Nov. 30, 2010 are eligible for a free upgrade. All other users will have to purchase the standalone versions. Prices start at $119 for the Home and Student version, which lacks Outlook, and $199 for the Home and Business version. An Academic version will also be offered to qualifying students and educators for $99.
For more, see AppleInsider's previous coverage of Office for Mac 2011:
Microsoft showcases co-authoring capabilities of Office 2011 for Mac
Office for Mac 2011 to feature co-authoring, ribbon interface
Road to Office 2011 for Mac: A New Hope
Road to Office 2011: New looks, support for Exchange, VBA
Microsoft officially unveils key Office 2011 for Mac features
All versions of Office for Mac 2011 are now available for preorder from Amazon. They include the Home and Student Edition, Home and Business, and separate purchases of PowerPoint for Mac, Word for Mac and Excel for Mac.
On the official Office for Mac 2011 blog, the company also released its last behind-the-scenes look at the development of the latest version of Office. The company highlighted the new "Dynamic Reorder" feature, which gives users the ability to interactively reorder all layers in a document or presentation.
Office for Mac 2011 also includes a new "Full Screen" view that offers two perspectives optimized for writing and another for reading.
Microsoft also said that the newest Office for Mac was developed with performance improvements a top priority. The team said they hope users appreciate the effort that went into it when they experience the launch speed of each application, as well as the overall speed of the suite.
Office for Mac 2011 was sent to manufacturing earlier this month, and Amazon had previously listed the Oct. 26 date. However, Tuesday's announcement is the official confirmation of when it will launch.
Customers who purchase Office 2008 for Mac between Aug. 1, 2010 and Nov. 30, 2010 are eligible for a free upgrade. All other users will have to purchase the standalone versions. Prices start at $119 for the Home and Student version, which lacks Outlook, and $199 for the Home and Business version. An Academic version will also be offered to qualifying students and educators for $99.
For more, see AppleInsider's previous coverage of Office for Mac 2011:
Microsoft showcases co-authoring capabilities of Office 2011 for Mac
Office for Mac 2011 to feature co-authoring, ribbon interface
Road to Office 2011 for Mac: A New Hope
Road to Office 2011: New looks, support for Exchange, VBA
Microsoft officially unveils key Office 2011 for Mac features
Comments
Until I can get Access for Mac, I'm not really interested. I use Office as a last resort for compatibility sake only. Plus I have a PC sitting side by side with my Mac so I just use Windows whenever the need arises.
access? What on earth for?
Microsoft also said that the newest Office for Mac was developed with performance improvements a top priority. The team said they hope users appreciate the effort that went into it when they experience the launch speed of each application, as well as the overall speed of the suite.
Using Office 2011 Beta 6 (system with Snow Leopard and 2 GB RAM), I can say that Office is very slow. Now, I remember using a trial of Office 2008 and that wasn't very fast at all either, and launch time for Office 2011 seems fine, but actual usage is extremely slow when I compare it to Pages. Opening long documents takes forever, and doing a word count is not instant by a long shot. I mean, other than that it works fine (and unlike Pages has auto save), but I mean, performance is not something they can yet brag about.
access? What on earth for?
It is a an SQL compliant DB. I need it because I write a lot of Access scripts/code for my Windows co-workers. Why do you care anyway? It is part of Office Pro for Windows so I think it would be nice to have on the Mac version.
The best they can come up with is "well, it's faster", there's a nicer interface for reordering layers and there's a better read mode for Word"? THAT'S IT?? It had better be a lot more than that. I am looking forward to using Outlook on the Mac instead of Entourage. I'm hoping sync works better. In Word, I'm far less concerned about a fancy UI to reorder layers than I am with the fact that it's almost impossible to drop an image exactly where you want it. And that the built-in format defaults for such things as text boxes are absurd. And that while Styles was improved from previous versions, it's still convoluted and frequently does things you wouldn't expect.
The ribbon interface doesn't bother me (it did at first, but I got used to it) except that in Office 2007 for Windows, you can't add any functions to the toolbar. I used to add such things as crossout and lower caps formatting in Word and Excel and additional default borders in Excel.
It is a an SQL compliant DB. I need it because I write a lot of Access scripts/code for my Windows co-workers. Why do you care anyway? It is part of Office Pro for Windows so I think it would be nice to have on the Mac version.
I've just never heard of access being used except in legacy systems. I didn't think it was something MS was actively developing, but just keeping around for the sake of backwards compatibility.
Perhaps I've been working with MySQL and Oracle for too long
As my current version is VERY long in the tooth, I may go for it. We'll see.
access? What on earth for?
Small database tools like Microsoft Access and Filemaker Pro are great tools, but the problem is that the average person does not know how to structure a database properly. Just as non-designers frequently make really bad looking page layouts whether using Word or Adobe In-Design, people without good database skills make really poor database designs, that I like to say are "akin to ransom notes."
If the database is only for your own personal use, no biggie, but if this is a database that's used in a business environment, this can lead to big legacy issues that make it impossible to integrate that database with other applications and tools.
The average Office user doesn't need Access. They can use Excel for most of what they would use Access for. I have no problem with Access not being part of the basic Office package. But it would be nice if they would restore Macros. I had many reformatting Macros that worked quite well that I can no longer use in my current version of Mac Office.
#1 Speed - way faster startups, closes and just in general then 08.
#2 UI - finally we get ribbon and don't have to use the side-pane. I was never a huge fan of it (though it did have SOME good functionality).
#3 Outlook
#4 Full screen - yes it was lifted from iWorks and other less known programs before that, but it is very well implemented or well copied if you will.
That is all I can come up with right now, but will definitely be upgrading when it ships.
Sep 28, 2010 10:52 AM Arrived at FedEx location ANCHORAGE, AK
Really looking forward to this - well prepared having opted for iWork '09 instead on my last reinstall, as my Office 2008 installer wanted rosetta installed, lol. Trying to rely on iWork's 'compatibility' with Office is seriously painful. And the MBU seems to be really proud of what they've done with Office 2011. I know very well that still when I'll get it I will find bugs within minutes that will NEVER be fixed, but hey, I've been doing that since at least Tiger on OS X, so maybe one day all WILL be well
It is a an SQL compliant DB. I need it because I write a lot of Access scripts/code for my Windows co-workers. Why do you care anyway? It is part of Office Pro for Windows so I think it would be nice to have on the Mac version.
Lots of DBs on Mac or Windows are SQL compliant. But if you write it Access scripts for coworkers fine, but I don't think you'll ever see it on the Mac. There just isn't the demand with better solutions available.
Office stopped being anything more than an occasional use niche product for me after I installed Office 2008.
I understand that some people still are required to use it, and I pity them.
No one will cheer louder than I when Monopocrapsoft comes crashing down on itself.
Using Office 2011 Beta 6 (system with Snow Leopard and 2 GB RAM), I can say that Office is very slow. Now, I remember using a trial of Office 2008 and that wasn't very fast at all either, and launch time for Office 2011 seems fine, but actual usage is extremely slow when I compare it to Pages. Opening long documents takes forever, and doing a word count is not instant by a long shot. I mean, other than that it works fine (and unlike Pages has auto save), but I mean, performance is not something they can yet brag about.
It may be a RAM issue. I have Beta 6 and 8 gigs of RAM, and the whole office suite just zips along.
and why should I care?
Office stopped being anything more than an occasional use niche product for me after I installed Office 2008.
I understand that some people still are required to use it, and I pity them.
No one will cheer louder than I when Monopocrapsoft comes crashing down on itself.
Office is a fine product and millions of people use it daily on their Macs and PCs (I use both). Microsoft is NOT coming down crashing on itself anytime in the foreseeable future and Office is NOT "crap".
Your post is silly and childish.