14 DAY TRIAL // Following the release of the Office 2007 System concomitantly with Windows Vista in November 2006, and in January 2007, a year later, Microsoft is making available Office: Mac 2008. Office 2008 for Mac is essentially to Mac OS X what Office 2007 is to the Windows operating system. And as the Macintosh Business Unit at Microsoft promised, the official launch of Office 2008 for Mac coincides with the debut of the Macworld 2008 conference in San Francisco. In this manner, January 15 2008 is the day when Office 2008 for Mac hits the shelves.
"Office 2008 is the first application from Microsoft that is released as a Universal binary meaning people don't have to worry about waiting to convert to all Intel Macs. It will work on G4s, G5s and Intel CPUs. Another big deal about this release is the official support of OpenXML as a document format. Support for OpenXML will allow people to finally interface with their Windows counterparts using Office 2007," revealed Viral Tarpara, Microsoft IT Pro Evangelist.
Office 2008 for Mac is designed to integrate seamlessly with both Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and the recently released Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard operating systems. Microsoft has in fact hammered away at the new graphical user interface of the suite in order to get it tailored to the look and feel of the two platforms. And to celebrate the launch of Office 2008 for Mac, the new Mactopia website has been completely redesigned. Office 2008 for Mac comes in three flavors: Office 2008 for Mac Home & Student Edition, Office 2008 for Mac and Office 2008 Special Media Edition, and will permit Mac users to work directly with Open XML file formats, the default standard of Office 2007.
"People will be impressed," promises a message from Microsoft on the new Mactopia. "Authors will create books more quickly; lawyers will build cases in less time; and students will design great-looking presentations with ease. Simplify your workday and unleash your creativity with the brand new Office 2008 for Mac and the newly redesigned Mactopia."