Next Mac Office, due by 2010's end, gets Outlook
Microsoft on Thursday said the next version of Office for Mac will arrive by the 2010 holiday buying season, and it added that the new version will include a version of Outlook.
Outlook for Mac will replace Entourage, the current e-mail and calendar program in the Mac Office suite. Although it will still differ from the Windows version of Outlook, it will add support for more Exchange features, such as public folders and rights management features.
Office for Mac had a version of Outlook in its pre-Mac OS X days, but Microsoft switched to the Entourage program with Office for Mac version X because that version lacked a good connection with Exchange.
The software maker has worked over the past several years to add better Exchange capabilities to the e-mail software.
Apple, too, has worked to support Exchange within its own mail program and has said it will add improved Exchange capabilities from within Mail as part of its forthcoming Snow Leopard operating system. Eric Wilfrid, general manager of Microsoft's Macintosh business unit, said on a conference call that he couldn't really talk about how Outlook for Mac will compare to Snow Leopard, in terms of Exchange support, since Apple hasn't yet released the new operating system or detailed how the Exchange support will work.
Wilfrid also said he had nothing to say about rumors that Microsoft might be working on mobile versions of Office for the iPhone.
"That's been a popular question," he said. "No, there is no news today about any iPhone work."
On Wednesday, Microsoft announced a partnership with Nokia that will see it creating mobile versions of the Office applications for Symbian phones.
Microsoft also plans to bring Visual Basic support back in the next version of Office for Mac, but it didn't share more about the features that will be part of Office for Mac. In addition, it said it will launch a new "business edition" of its Office for Mac product that adds improved connections to SharePoint and Exchange Server.
The new product is slated to join the existing Home and Student edition on retail shelves on September 15, reducing the number of versions Microsoft sells from three to two. The new business edition, which will sell for the same $399 as the standard edition of Office.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
Only if you are too lazy. Of course the rule would apply to someone trying to switch and identify icons in Windows quick launch as well. They both require mousing over the icon to get the name, but you can easily resize the dock to make those icons as big or as small as you want. I will agree with you on one thing though. Apple should try an integrated approach with Mail and Calender. It would make complete sense.
I would have to agree with @ckh1272 on this one. If you would have made the same comment for Windows users, I might have agreed. What I mean is, people using Mac do so by their own choice - shelling out alot more than what they would if the use a PC to do the same thing. So if they are spending that much money, they are not very likely to be complaining about this minor detail.
As far as Office being improved on the Mac this is nice to see. Other things that would be nice is to see Access ported and the feature to make a slide show from photo album in Powerpoint. I know Access will likely depend on MS porting VBA to Mac which isn't likely but one can hope...
BUT - I don't hate windows users, nor do I chide them for their decisions... just don't quote BS to me. The common 'comeback' is that macs are more expensive, but they just put out less cheap s**t than a Dell or others. I'm still using a mac laptop I bought in 2000 for daily use, and it has been beat to hell and back. How many laptops last 9 years? Mac towers are built like true workstations, not the plastic stuff you get from everything else. Yes, you pay for that, and Yes, you can build something cheaper with the same parts. I've done it, and would rather get down to working than tinkering anymore. Besides, Dell came up with a 'competitor' to the mac air and it's $500+ more, so 'apples-to-apples' comparisons aren't that clear cut when you take EVERYTHING into account.
And you mac fans need to knock it down a notch too. Apple has some pretty stupid corporate policies that show the bad side of the control-freak nature that are is beneficial with the design end of things. Like partnering with the worst wireless network possible for their iphone, byzantine policies for app acceptance on the app store, and on and on. Apple isn't god, there are plenty of holes in the armor and they aren't virus proof. Get over it, nothing will ever be.
So stop hating on each other and get back to work for a change.
Glad to see there are some REAL fellow technology enthusiasts on here. I guess it takes people of higher technology caliber to see outside the "Brand" box. The rest are just brand loyal followers.
This message was written on my Mac. I'm going back to my PC to manage VOIP, Network and Databases now...
A better mousetrap is always a good thing. As much as I'd love to get rid ouf outlook, it does what it does well. Better than anything else out there. That includes Mac's native approach.
I wouldn't be proud of your ability to use three applications where one will do. Nor would I tell you to change if what you are doing works for you.
While Macs cost more up front, over the life of the computer they are way cheaper. You don't have to spend lots of money on hardware & software upgrades with MACs like you do with PCs. My Powerbook is a 2002 model and it still works well, as well as any of my friend's new PC laptops. It's still going strong 7+ years later. That's value.
As much as I hate microsoft (and I do, I just don't bash people who use it, I bash microsoft), there isn't a mail program out there that competes with Outlook. It pains me to say that but I have looked and Outlook is the best. It has its problems still but it has more usable features than any others and it has a very intuitive interface. I don't think Apple having mail and calendar in separate apps is a problem cause their apps work well together. I just don' think either has the capabilities of Outlook. I wish they did.
And the only other Microsoft application I actually like is Visio but it could use a little improvement too. But for free or cheap drawing programs, anything short of truly professional stuff, Visio is the best. Funny, I don't think Microsoft made that one... They just bought it.
Why do I hate microsoft? Cause none of their products work as they are supposed to, especially windows. And they never will! Microsoft will never sell a product that works wonderfully cause they want you to run out and buy their latest version of everything as soon as it comes out. If windows 2000 worked well, would you have been in a hurry to get XP? No. If XP worked well, would you have been in a hurry to get Vista? No. Etc. Microsoft sells disappointment & frustration knowing most people will just keep buying & hoping the next product will be better. It won't, it will just have different problems and frustrations.
The other thing I really hate about microsoft is how they take more & more control away from the user. Maybe most people like that but I hate it. It's harder & harder to find where things are set in windows and there are less & less ways to control your environment. I could probably live with that but why do their apps think they know what I want to do better than I do? Why when I change some formatting on part of a paragraph in Word why does Word then go and change other formatting options? If I wanted to do that, I would. And why do microsoft applications try to link themselves with every other application on my PC? That's what makes them so slow & such memory hogs. They should only provide interfaces and let the user control the data sharing.
But now that Intel Macs can run windows, I can have the best of both. I can have my reliable and durable MAC and switch to windows to do email & visio if I need it & to run they many work related programs that just aren't available on MAC. So I'll have all the functionality of windows, without all the headaches...
Uh oh, now you've done it! Here come the MicroWolves! How dare you speak the truth!?
Amen
I only have a problem with one of your words. You said macs are just as PRONE to a virus as Windows. If you had said they are SUSCEPTIBLE to a virus, I would agree. But they are not prone to them for the reason you stated among others; Virus writers haven't bothered to attack them. The fact remains, that unprotected Windows computers are many many more times more likely to get a virus than an unprotected Mac. Up to this point anyway.
Amen
My only problem is that I didn't say what you had quoted me as saying :)
Halleluja
If one word leads people to believe their Mac is as likely to get a virus than a PC, then it is worth mentioning. Having used a Mac for the past 15 years with no virus protection and no viruses, I think it is safe to say they are less prone. I really don't care if you like it. Actually, I hope you don't. Choosing a Mac means choosing an experience that is very likely to be free from viruses. It's a fact.
Having said that, I will admit I could get my first virus today. It might cause me to lose all my data and have to buy a new Mac. I would be okay with that. It would be a small price to pay for all the trouble free times I've enjoyed over the past 15 years. And I have a backup.
Amen
It doesn't fly.
While it is true there have been a couple MAC viruses, there are new PC viruses weekly. I don' t mind having to deal with a virus every year or two. I will not accept having to deal with a new virus every week. I use my computer to be productive, not to do maintanence and anti-virus.
And the reasons there are so few Mac viruses is not cause there aren't enough Macs, its because Macs aren't nearly as vunerable to viruses as windows are.
Whatever. You can talk hypotheticals all day long. Real world experience trumps. Sorry. Thanks for playing.
Amen
They took this out of Office 2008. It is still in Office 2007.
Are you listening Eric Wilfrid? Eric Wilfrid please bring back the Grammar check definitions/explanations that are in Office 2007!
by The_happy_switcher August 3, 2009 10:49 PM PDT
" Why do you feel the need to belittle everything about Microsoft?" Gee Dan, you sound like you might be in tears. To answer your question: 'Cause it's fun?!--DUH.
Amen
For all of your anti-Microsoft angst, you still don't realize that the bigger d-bag you are, the worse you make Apple products look. I would wager that there are a ton of people on the fence, unsatisfied with Windows, but not wanting to become what they see as a smug Apple user.
Just ignore him.. He's obviously trying to convince himself that he made the right product decision because if he was absolutely content he would actually enjoy it instead of sitting here trying to justify why his Mac is better than PC's
FINALLY! No more need to run Windows on Boot Camp for Outlook.
Okay Microsoft, I am starting to love you guys again. I think that my panties are wet!
:)
if you are fine with iWork, that means you don't need the extras that come with Office
but there are still many people who do
That sentence fragment, which is not a complete sentence...
I am on the latest patch and still see frequent crashes in Entourage and Word. For any non-trivial task I have to run Word 2007 under VMWare Fusion. Word 2008 crashes every five minutes when editing a non-trivial (250+ page) document. Microsoft support has proven useless.
Regards,
Tim Gage
Scattered approach. So explain how it is a scattered approach when you get an email through exchange from a Outlook colleague and you click the icon for the calendar appointment to accept it and it automatically sends an email of acceptance to the originator while at the same time entering the appointment into iCal? In addition the data is also automatically linked to any relevant data regarding a contact that would allow you access to that data with a point and click. Excellent separate applications can and are easily integrated without having them all in one user interface. If you ask me, I think it is much more advanced to have the application operate stand alone as well as integrated whereas with MS you have no choice.
To each their own.
Neal Saferstein
[CNET editors' note: Promotional link deleted]
Amen
Amen!
BTW, It's just a limited technical preview version (beta)
Next thing you know hordes of fanbois will be writing c# .net code.
As part of my job, I help Apple and Win people with internet issues. However, I never own any Apple products. Apple products are well design and they look nice. But ...I don't like to spend tons of $$ to own toys. Please don't ask me WHY!!
Any other words of wisdom?
- by shellcodes_coder August 13, 2009 11:35 PM PDT
- One of the best selling software for Apple iCraps is written by Microsoft LOL
- Like this Reply to this comment
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- by pairof9s--2008 August 14, 2009 1:42 AM PDT
- Ha! Ha! Ha!...good one!! Yeah...it's just like one of the most popular programs on a PC is Apple's iTunes! No, wait...
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- by lazycat202 August 14, 2009 5:00 AM PDT
- I just don't get it! Why is iTune the only way to purchase software and music? Do you have the choices or you don't?
- Like this
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