Microsoft shows off Office for Mac 2011

by Parm Mann on 12 February 2010, 14:31

Tags: Office for Mac 2011, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

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2010's Macworld expo in San Francisco is underway, and although appearing subdued without Apple itself in attendance, the show has provided a closer look at Office for Mac 2011 courtesy of Microsoft.

The upcoming revision of the Office for Mac suite, expected to launch before the end of the year, will arrive as a long-awaited successor to Office for Mac 2008 and incorporates a number of significant changes.

Claiming to have used end-user feedback to build Office for Mac 2011, Microsoft has revamped the software's user interface with a design it calls the "Office for Mac Ribbon".

Residing at the core of all Office for Mac applications, the Ribbon interface takes elements of Microsoft's PC software and combines them with the classic Mac menu and Standard Toolbar. Microsoft believes that the familiarity of the interface will provide a "more consistent experience across platforms", cheekily adding that consistency is key as 75 per cent of Mac users also use a PC.

In addition to a refreshed interface, the software giant is introducing a number of new features to its suite - of which the most significant are arguably the addition of new co-authoring tools and built-in access to Microsoft Office Web Apps.

The latter will allow Mac users to tap into the web-based extension of Office, allowing users to continue to work from any system with a browser. Currently in Beta, Office Web Apps is expected to officially launch alongside the release of Microsoft Office 2010 for PC in June.

Microsoft also used its Macworld stage to reiterate that Outlook for Mac will be returning in Office 2011 as a replacement for the existing mail solution, Entourage. Designed from the ground-up as a new application, Outlook for Mac has been built using Apple's Cocoa programming environment and will offer extensive integration with Microsoft Exchange - including the added ability for Windows users to import .PST files.

Microsoft expects Office for Mac 2011 to be available late in 2010, and the company is believed to be introducing a limited beta in the coming months.



HEXUS Forums :: 6 Comments

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I suspect it'll be Intel only somehow. Office for Mac tends to be better I've found than the equiv. windows version.
What I don't understand is if they can make Office for Intel Mac, surely it's not a big leap to making Office for Linux on x86? Isn't OS-X closer to Linux than it is to Windows?

Maybe MS just don't think there is a big market, or don't want to give people the option to switch away from Windows and keep their apps - but if that's the case why make Office for Mac?
Re Office for Mac 2011
'Claiming to have used end-user feedback to build Office for Mac 2011, Microsoft has revamped the software's user interface with a design it calls the “Office for Mac Ribbon”.'
So Somebody has found a way to speak to Redmond.
Could that somebody ask if {in Word,} they are:-
1: Reinstating Macros;
2: Preventing repositioned toolbars from obscuring data in the Save As Window;
3: Reinstating Custom designed Headers and Footers;
{And those are only the disasters I found in Office 2008 in the first morning's use. I promptly uninstalled it!}
If the answer to any of these is ‘No’ I guess I'll be saving my money, having wasted so much on Office 2008.
:mad:
kingpotnoodle
What I don't understand is if they can make Office for Intel Mac, surely it's not a big leap to making Office for Linux on x86? Isn't OS-X closer to Linux than it is to Windows?

Maybe MS just don't think there is a big market, or don't want to give people the option to switch away from Windows and keep their apps - but if that's the case why make Office for Mac?

I believe it's because Microsoft own a number of non-voting shares in Apple, and hence it's somewhat within their interests to develop for Apple.
kingpotnoodle
What I don't understand is if they can make Office for Intel Mac, surely it's not a big leap to making Office for Linux on x86? Isn't OS-X closer to Linux than it is to Windows?

Maybe MS just don't think there is a big market, or don't want to give people the option to switch away from Windows and keep their apps - but if that's the case why make Office for Mac?

No market for it. If you're using a free OS, you're probably not going to pay for an office suite.