Microsoft has taken the lid off the new pricing details and packaging options for Office 2008 for Mac. Apple Expo in Paris was the stage where the Macintosh Business Unit (Mac BU) at Microsoft stepped into the limelight with the Office 2008 for Mac upcoming product lineup. Microsoft's productivity suite for Apple's Mac will come in no less than three flavors, and is planned for general availability in early 2008. Initially, Microsoft promised that Office 2008 for Mac would be delivered in the second half of 2007, but the company then changed its tune. It is possible that Microsoft wanted to deliver Office 2008 for Mac fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, scheduled for release in October.

"We built Office 2008 with the unifying goal of making it easier for Mac users to access the tools they need to get the job done - whether it's creating a brochure for their business, managing their family schedule and finances, or finalizing a presentation to share between Macs and PCs," said Craig Eisler, general manager of the Mac BU at Microsoft. "And, of course, Office 2008 for Mac will provide the document fidelity with the 2007 Microsoft Office system that our users need to stay connected with their friends and co-workers on PCs."

Microsoft revealed that there will be three distinct versions of the product: Office 2008 for Mac ($399.95 full retail; $239.95 upgrade); Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition ($149.95 full retail) and Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition, ($499.95 full retail; $299.95 upgrade). All the versions will come in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, Finnish and Norwegian. Microsoft informed that Office 2008 for Mac is a Universal Binary application, and as such, will integrate seamlessly on both Power PC- and Intel-based Macs. With Office 2008 for Mac, Microsoft will also deliver native support for its Open XML standard.

"We've worked closely with Microsoft since it launched the first version of Office for Mac more than 20 years ago," said Ron Okamoto, vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations at Apple. "Office delivers tremendous compatibility across platforms for Mac and PC customers, and we look forward to another great user experience with Office 2008 for Mac."

With the productivity suite for Mac, Apple users will be getting all the core products of the Office system, such as Word 2008, Excel 2008, PowerPoint 2008, Entourage 2008 and Microsoft Messenger for Mac. Additionally, the Special Media Edition will also offer access to the Microsoft Expression Media digital asset management system, delivering support for Exchange Server and Automator utilities.