Microsoft starts testing Office 2008 for Mac

Microsoft has started private testing of the next version of Office for the Macintosh, which is due out in the second half of the year.

Office 2008 for Mac, as the product is known, helps bring the desktop suite back into compatibility with two key technologies. First, the product is the first version of Office that runs natively on both Intel- and Power PC-based Macs. The new software also adds support for the XML file formats that Microsoft added to the Windows version of Office--Office 2007, which hit store shelves in January.

Microsoft did not say how many people are taking part in the private beta or whether it will have a public test version, but a representative said Friday that the company is still on track to have the final product out sometime in the second half of the year.

While the biggest changes in Office 2008 are the compatibility moves, Microsoft has detailed several new features. One is a program called My Day, which gives users quick access to calendar information without requiring them to first go into the Entourage e-mail program.

Also on tap are improved page layout controls in Word and new Excel templates, called ledger sheets, which allow users to handle tasks like producing invoices without having to create or understand the underlying formulas.

Microsoft has taken longer than its normal 18 to 24 months to come out with a new version of Office for the Mac. The current version, Office 2004 for Mac, debuted in April 2004.

[SLOCableTech]

I just can't wait...

To download a copy of it!

[felgercarbnaysay]

Me Too!

Me too, of course I'll need to develop a brain tumor first or start taking hallucinogens. <br /><br />Seriously, NeoOffice has pretty much eliminated the need for M$ Office as far as I'm concerned. <br /><br />Apple should start bundling NeoOffice with the Mac and really stick it to Ballmer &#38; Butthead.

[Macsaresafer]

Just so everybody's aware:

Neo Office is free, and it can read and write MS Office files.<br /><br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/15797/neooffice" target="_newWindow">http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/15797/neooffice</a>

[yacahuma]

Thank you for the link

I thought the only alternative was Open Office. But it seems to be a big pain to install on mac.

[suyts]

Question

Even the office 2007 formats? MS still supports the old formats but has changed the formats for 2007. Just curious.

[iZune]

Microsoft is GREAT for keeping Apple alive

Thank God Microsoft has kept Apple alive as a company by investing in it and making colorful software for the simple minds of Apple users. Microsoft is so great. Without Microsoft keeping Apple alive, we wouldn't have anything to compare the greatness of Windows against.<br /><br />Apple should put a big THANK YOU to Microsoft on it's home page and inside of it's OS Y or whatever it calls it's Unix OS.

[Lee in San Diego]

At least

At least it keeps the trolls alive.

[rmiecznik]

crack head

stop smoking crack

[Gunady]

I am PC, I am Mac Ads

Yes, at least, Apple still consider the existence of Microsoft, by producting variety of "I am PC, I am MAC" advertisement.

[imacpwr]

More troll postings from iZune

Microsoft wouldn't make Office for Mac if there wasn't a market for <br />it. Besides if you wanna think Microsoft is keeping Apple alive you <br />might be right, who else would MS have ripped off for Vista's look if <br />it wasn't for all the innovative ideas Apple created in Mac OS X. So <br />stop now with the 12 year old troll remarks..

[gavandtra]

office 2008

Don't really care, do not use Microsofts products on my Mac.<br />Cannot see the point as I changed to a Mac about 12 months ago <br />to specifically avoid the disaster that is Microsoft and their <br />products. Sooo glad I did, I finally have a computer that works <br />properly, straight out of the box as it says in the ads. And as a <br />bonus I can sit back and laugh at the disaster that is Windows <br />Vista. Ha Ha Ha Ha !!!

[shanx24]

What office suite do you use

Can you do advanced analytics such as ANOVA and regression? Can your spreadsheet download sheets from the web after a login menu added to it? Can your email store and quickly scan through 4GB of email from 7 years? Can your presentation software embed Flash and so on? <br /><br />I am not a big fan of MS Ofice but all my attempts to try OpenOffice's bloatware, or the online tools that are coming up, have just been utterly miserable. Email for instance. Euroda, Opera M2, and a bunch of others -- they lack one feature or the other, and none offers the handling of gigabytes of emails quite as reliably as Outlook. If they include Windows Desktop kind of search functionality right within Outlook, and the ability to edit the HTML that we creare in emails (as Outlook Express allows), I think it's a great software.

[ITprosupport]

really

And what office product do you use, or does your work not involve an office type environment..lol..by the way if MS product are so bad why does apple feverishly try to produce software like boot camp etc to allow their users to use MS products?

[mvokla2]

neo office uninstaller

Question: Does neo office include an uninstaller file?

[softweyr]

Uninstaller not needed

<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/download.php#uninstall" target="_newWindow">http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/download.php#uninstall</a><br /><br />Unninstalling NeoOffice 2.1<br /><br />To uninstall, just drag the NeoOffice application from the Finder <br />into the Mac OS X trash can.<br /><br />Uninstalling NeoOffice should have no effect on any <br />OpenOffice.org installation that you may have as NeoOffice and <br />OpenOffice.org have completely separate configuration and user <br />files.<br /><br /><br />But on a more philosphical note, why uninstall? This is a good <br />opportunity for you to compare the two and decide which is <br />better for your work. I have Office 2004 and Neo on my <br />machine, I used Word and Excel for documents from the office <br />where I have to edit documents that PC users read, edit, and <br />print. I use Neo for my own documents, rosters for my soccer <br />team, etc.