14 DAY TRIAL // A beta version of the Microsoft Open XML file converters for the Mac platform provides little consolation in the absence of Office 2008 for Mac, but that is all that Apple users will be getting from the Redmond company. Craig Eisler, who took the lead of Microsoft's Mac Business Unit in June, as General Manager, informed that the company's initial plans have shifted, and that Office 2008 for Mac will be made available in January of next year. In this context, Microsoft has changed its tune, until this point having planed to release the next version of the Office system for Mac by the end of 2007.
Roz Ho, the former General Manager of the Mac BU at Microsoft, revealed at the beginning of January, during the Macworld Conference & Expo 2007, that the Office 2008 for Mac universal binary was scheduled for the second half of this year. Roz Ho also mentioned the Redmond company's commitment to compatibility with the delivery of the final version of the file converters six to eight weeks after Office 2008 for Mac, and a beta this year. Eisler indicated that the current stage of the Office 2008 for Mac was put under review and that it failed to meet the necessary quality standards.
Eisler went on to blame the delay on a variety of factors including the need to provide an Universal Binary for both the PowerPC- and Intel-based Macintosh computers and the new Open XML file format introduced with the availability of the Office 2007 System. Still, while Office 2008 for Mac was postponed until early January 2008, Microsoft is offering for download the Office Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 0.2 (Beta).
"With the Office Open XML Converter, you can convert Office Open XML files to a format that is compatible with Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac and Microsoft Office v. X for Mac. You can choose to convert and open one file, or convert a large number of files. This version of the converter improves conversion of Word documents that contain XML content, inline graphics, hyperlinked graphics, WMF/EMF graphics, SmartArt graphics, tracked changes in the document header and footer, Unicode characters, and Japanese Rubi fields. In addition, this version succeeds when converting Word documents that contain bibliography fields, citation fields, and complex tables. This version of the converter can convert the following Office Open XML file formats: Word Document (.docx); Word Macro-Enabled Document (.docm); PowerPoint Presentation (.pptx); PowerPoint Show (.ppsx) and PowerPoint Template (.potx)," reads the converter's description.