Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 confirmed at MacWorld

Microsoft has announced it is launching Office 2011 for Mac later this year, the first of its Apple-based suites to serve up MIcrosoft Outlook and web-based co-authoring.

 

Showcasing the suite for the first time at the MacWorld expo in San Francisco, Microsoft gave T3 an in-depth peek at what to expect from the package that is likely to banish all notions that it purposely fails to give Mac-users the full Office experience.

 

- Best launches ever: Greatest tech debuts at CES

- Worst tech predictions: 10 Crystal ball clangers

 

Perhaps the biggest news for Apple users, who have been saddled with the inferior Entourage package, or have used the web-based Outlook client in order to receive their mail, is the arrival of a fully Mac-tailored version of Outlook that has been built from the ground up using Apple's Cocoa API.

 

Built into the new software will be .PTS support, allowing users to back up and open their emails outisde of the client . It also supports Information Rights Management, which will now allow Mac users to access documents with permissions settings for the first time. As well as that Mac users can back up new emails in Time Machine, unlike previous versions which  where any back-up would have stored the entire mailbox on an hourly basis, quickly filling the harddrive. It also supports OS X's Spotlight search.

 

Mac users will also have access to the Microsoft Office Web Apps suite, which will be fully integrated with the desktop package on launch. It will include co-author settings to allow numerous people to work on a document at the same time. If two people are editing a word document at the same time, Office will show the user which paragraph of a Word document their colleague is working on and lock that.

 

The Web Apps, which are likely to go head to head with the Google Chrome OS in the battle for the cloud in the next few years, will be lighter versions of the desktop counterparts. Documents can be saved onto the Skylight drive (using your Windows Live ID) for online access, but if the full version of the app is required, the document can be downloaded and edited using the full desktop version. In this department there seems to be no disparity with the PC experience.

 

The "Ribbon" UI has also graduated to Office 2011 for Mac, allowing users to easily format documents, but it retains a unique Mac-like feel.

 

No price point has been confirmed yet, but Microsoft are touting a global release in quarter four of this year, so expect it well in time for Christmas.

 

Link: Microsoft

Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 confirmed at MacWorld

Microsoft has announced it is launching Office 2011 for Mac later this year, the first of its Apple-based suites to serve up MIcrosoft Outlook and web-based co-authoring.

 

Showcasing the suite for the first time at the MacWorld expo in San Francisco, Microsoft gave T3 an in-depth peek at what to expect from the package that is likely to banish all notions that it purposely fails to give Mac-users the full Office experience.

 

Best launches ever: Greatest tech debuts at CES

Worst tech predictions: 10 Crystal ball clangers

 

Perhaps the biggest news for Apple users, who have been saddled with the inferior Entourage package, or have used the web-based Outlook client in order to receive their mail, is the arrival of a fully Mac-tailored version of Outlook that has been built from the ground up using Apple’s Cocoa API.

 

Built into the new software will be .PTS support, allowing users to back up and open their emails outisde of the client . It also supports Information Rights Management, which will now allow Mac users to access documents with permissions settings for the first time. As well as that Mac users can back up new emails in Time Machine, unlike previous versions which  where any back-up would have stored the entire mailbox on an hourly basis, quickly filling the harddrive. It also supports OS X’s Spotlight search.

 

Mac users will also have access to the Microsoft Office Web Apps suite, which will be fully integrated with the desktop package on launch. It will include co-author settings to allow numerous people to work on a document at the same time. If two people are editing a word document at the same time, Office will show the user which paragraph of a Word document their colleague is working on and lock that.

 

The Web Apps, which are likely to go head to head with the Google Chrome OS in the battle for the cloud in the next few years, will be lighter versions of the desktop counterparts. Documents can be saved onto the Skylight drive (using your Windows Live ID) for online access, but if the full version of the app is required, the document can be downloaded and edited using the full desktop version. In this department there seems to be no disparity with the PC experience.

 

The "Ribbon" UI has also graduated to Office 2011 for Mac, allowing users to easily format documents, but it retains a unique Mac-like feel.

 

No price point has been confirmed yet, but Microsoft are touting a global release in quarter four of this year, so expect it well in time for Christmas.

 

Link: Microsoft

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