Office Delay? Ya Don't Say.
No, seriously, you don't say (or shouldn't), because it isn't true. Over the last few days, some Mac sites have been reporting that the Universal Binary version of Office for Mac (officially unnamed, but currently code-named Office 12) has been delayed, but there is no delay or deviation from our development schedule. We're hitting our milestones, checking in our features, and making the move to Intel as planned. We've totally moved from Code Warrior to Xcode, so we've crested that hill. We usually ship 6 - 8 months after the availability of Office for Windows so we can do compatibility testing. This has been our shipping cycle for ages, and we're right on track. In fact, for Office 12, we've not even officially announced a launch date (but when we do, we should do it here first).
Comments
Anonymous
October 11, 2006
Important clarification...try to get it out to the sites. And looking forward to it, too.Anonymous
October 11, 2006
Important clarification...try to get it out to the sites. And looking forward to it, too.Anonymous
October 11, 2006
PingBack from http://www.aaronadams.net/2006/10/11/microsoft-mac-blog-sets-the-record-straight/Anonymous
October 11, 2006
Excellent. I'm happy to see a large company come out to quickly and clearly put false rumors out of our misery. The internet echo chamber (especially when it comes to Mac rumors) can be a destructive thing, and I'm glad to see such stupidity stopped in its tracks.Anonymous
October 11, 2006
So it's not the Mac version that is delayed. It's the Windows version that is delayed causing the 6-8 month delivery window to start later onthe Mac version.Anonymous
October 11, 2006
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October 11, 2006
Reassure us with some juicy tidbits - like the new features of a massively updated entourage, for instance! Thanks, Ted DenverAnonymous
October 11, 2006
When you guys get around to officially naming the product, please don't call it "Office 2007" even if it is released in 2007 - that will really be too confusing (ie because of the similarity to the win office product). Even if you get it out in mid 2007, I think that you should call it "Office 2008".Anonymous
October 11, 2006
Well done guys - nice to see that you both read the blogs and are open enough to give us an update.Anonymous
October 11, 2006
So the MacBU has to wait for its Windows counterpart before it ships a now downsized product two years after Apple announces the shift to Intel? And eons after Apple urged all developers to switch to XCode? Couldn't you ship it when it's ready, and if you need an update for compatibility with Big Brother just release a patch? And since cross-platform scripting has been tossed aside, why the renewed reverence for compatibility? This is marketing; your company as a whole want to sell Windows so Windows products get a priority release. Mac products are pushed to the back. Don't get me wrong, MacBU does a very good job under the management it's given. If given more independence, I think you'd do a lot better.Anonymous
October 11, 2006
I am glad to hear that Office 12 is still on schedule ;)Anonymous
October 11, 2006
I agree with Ted from Denver. I'd feel much better about waiting almost a year for such an important update from Microsoft, especially the upgrade to the Universal Binary capability, if I had more information, a few specifics. Also, the long wait poses a possible risk, I believe, to Microsoft. Until the Universal Binary versions come through, I'll be using Mellel II and Mariner Write, both of which are Universal Binary formats and both of which are excellent word processors. It's the first time I've ever used any word processor other than Word and I have to say I am really pleased with them, especially their clean functionality and their price. And who knows? I might just stick with them after a year’s worth of documents have been produced. I realize that mass defections to other word processors are highly unlikely, but it’s something to consider. Thank you. John, Hershey, PA.Anonymous
October 12, 2006
The only massive juicy piece of information is the complete neutering of the product, by the removal of VBA. All else is merely tinsel and window dressing Jon Contrib Editor PCProAnonymous
October 12, 2006
Once you're done with this, is there any chance of our getting a Word-lite with the user interface and feature set of Word 5.1 (adding only as-you-type spell checking)? Like others, fifteen years after it came out, it remains my favorite world processor. Word has far too many features for many users, particularly school kids and writers who want to focus on content rather than formatting.Anonymous
October 12, 2006
About compatibility between Windows and Mac version of Office, will this next version of Office for Mac (codenamed Office 12) will have a better, or even perfect, support of Windows Meta FIle importation, because as of now when a document have Windows MetaFile files in it, they, most of the time, get badly displayed.Anonymous
October 12, 2006
Why is there a 6-8 month delay after the release of Windows office to begin with? Apple switched to Intel over six month ago. I do not get the compatibility argument. Can't Microsoft set up compatibility standards (file formats, etc.) and stick with it? This does not speak for MS. I've noticed that the number of MS products for the Mac has declined sharply over the last few years. First MSIE for Mac (it was getting old, but old MSIE 5 looked really good, much better than on windows), Media Player has been discontinued (there's flip4mac, but it doesn't support DRM or PlaysForSure) and Virtual PC 2007 is Windows-only.Anonymous
October 12, 2006
Just curious, are you guys going to end this misguided Entourage/Exchange experiment in Office 2007 and finally give Entourage some meaningful Exchange capabilites (read: MAPI support, .PST support, and full feature parity with the ancient Outlook 2001)? The current connectivity is, frankly, execrable. We (I know I speak for more than just myself here) have been hanging in there since Entourage 10.1.4, hoping things would improve-- but they have not. I support small Mac-based design departments in some large companies, and the internal IT people there are not in the least bit interested in changing the configuration of their Exchange servers so Entourage can be used. They are still stuck using Outlook 2001 in Classic, and that's going to become a real problem now that no shipping Mac can run Classic. Even my clients who do have their servers set up to play nice with Entourage feel frequent pain because of the way Entourage works. It's a real mess, and I'm very glad that I finally have a place to complain about it that might actually be seen by the people with the power to make things right. Please, for the love of all that is holy, give up on your current Exchange connectivity method in Entourage and give us a real Mac Outlook client. Michael Stango ACSA, MCPAnonymous
October 12, 2006
Look forward to it! Keep up the good work! -joshAnonymous
October 12, 2006
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October 12, 2006
It's nice to see important information like this put forward by the developers, stops a lot of rumours gathering speed and ending up spread all over the Mac community. It's good to see everything is on track - I appreciate the honesty and look forward to Office when its ready.Anonymous
October 12, 2006
Update 11.3.0 won't install...I get a message saying that "The installer cannot locate the correct version of this software" etc...any ideas?Anonymous
October 12, 2006
I hope Office 12 ships before Google Office, as you'll be saying goodbye to a lot of your customers....Anonymous
October 12, 2006
I hope the new interface is a little bit more mac-like/friendly. I feel it is very kludgly ( if I'm allowed to make up words ). As a recent "switcher", I'm quite disappointed with Office for Mac ( word more specifically ) and after using Office 2007 beta I feel extremely disappointed now. The UI is a dream to use! Can I suggest a notebook view more like OneNote? I miss the way I do not have to save EVERYthing I do. More integration with MAIL and not entourage. Thank you :)Anonymous
October 12, 2006
Well, it's better to work with macs than with windows pcs right ;-)Anonymous
October 12, 2006
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October 12, 2006
Chuck, the 6-8 month delay has everything to do with technical issues. WinOffice hasn't shipped yet -- they are still fixing issues and finalizing the actual code that implements the new file format. We have been porting it in stages all along, but have to port the last stage over to Mac Office and that can't happen until the WinOffice team is done. Once we port the code over, we have to actually make it run on the Mac, and that takes time. Tha's the same reason the file converters for Office 2004 aren't ready yet -- they too are based on the new code, which we don't have in its entirety yet.Anonymous
October 12, 2006
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October 12, 2006
Hopefully by the time it the MacBu is ready to release it, Apple will have made iWork into a capable alternative. With a spreadsheet mooted for early next year and some mods to Pages we may have a viable competitor of our own.Anonymous
October 12, 2006
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October 12, 2006
Does anyone really care anymore? As it currently stands, we're moving off from Mac Office for our Mac folks anyway because there are just enough current compatibility issues (scripting, some minor interoperability issues with files despite this file format compatibility between Office 2003 for Windows and Office 2004 for Mac, plus those certain missing apps available only on the Windows Office suite) which are only going to grow with this next version. Besides universal binary support, there are no other compelling reason for us to upgrade so your losing our Mac Office volume site licensing at least at our company.Anonymous
October 12, 2006
He folks, how about a Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word-, Excel- und PowerPoint 2007-files. There is a plugin for the windows version of office 2003 - but not for office 2004 for mac.Anonymous
October 13, 2006
Any word on developments in how inter-system graphics are handled? (this continues to be one of the banes of cross-platform compatibility between Office for windows and Office 2004 for mac; powerpoint worst of all, and word to a lesser extent)Anonymous
October 13, 2006
"He folks, how about a Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word-, Excel- und PowerPoint 2007-files. There is a plugin for the windows version of office 2003 - but not for office 2004 for mac." The file converters that Schwieb mentions in his comment are exactly that. From our Press release(http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/jan06/01-10Macworld2006PR.mspx) "To ensure that Office for Mac customers receive the highest level of compatibility, the Mac BU will issue converters that let Office for Mac users read the new Microsoft Office Open XML Format. These downloadable converters will be released for current versions of Office for Mac following the availability of the next version of Office for Windows®."Anonymous
October 13, 2006
To further comment on Ep's excellent rebuttal of the "MAPI is Magic" myth, if you have to use MAPI over any kind of distance, say a couple thousand miles, not uncommon, it's performance falls apart, because it was never designed to be used on the Internet, thousands of miles and n intermediate hops from the server. The only reason anyone other than MS uses MAPI is for Outlook compatibility. If they'd wise up and use DAV, or OWA instead, they'd still have Outlook compatibility, along with Entourage and Evolution too, all running as happy groupware clients. The idea that a lack of MAPI is why Entourage's Exchange feature set is behind Outlook 2001's is ridiculous. As well, all Outlook 2001 could do was Exchange. Entourage is just a TAD more capable.Anonymous
October 13, 2006
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October 13, 2006
A proper fully functional outlook client would be a huge benefit to mac users. Entourage exchange support is simply terrible.Anonymous
October 14, 2006
No, Entourage v.X's support was terrible. 2004, especially with SR 2 is not horrible at all. It's not even close to terrible. It still needs improvement and i've no doubt that it will be improved, but it's far from "terrible"Anonymous
October 16, 2006
Our company has 270 Macs and 5 PCs. We run Entourage on every Mac linking to Exchange and it works brilliantly. Mail, Diary and Contacts all work, sync back when you come in from offline mode with no intervention, talks to WinMobile 5 devices, Sony Ericsson M600i and such like. It works far better than any other groupware system we have tried and users love it. I suspect a lot of people are suffering from "teriible" experience because setting up Exchange for Macs is a dark art and it took us and our hosting partner a few weeks to tweak it right so all the bits work. A lot of other sites I have visited have Exchnage Admins who just dont understand it outside Outlook Client on Windows and that is where the problem is. MacBU have been steadily improving Exchange support in Entourage since last August and for that they should be applauded. Dont just say "terrible" unless you can quantify the statement and certainly dont say it until you have see a setup that works as well as ours does.Anonymous
October 16, 2006
I'm praying for better Exchange integration and well as much deeper and richer support for SharePoint 2003/2007. We've fully deployed SharePoint in our enterprise and the Mac experience is very poor. Some of that is the IE-centric nature of SharePoint, but Office 2004 doesn't play that well either.Anonymous
October 16, 2006
You may have listened to nice news. I'm glad to hear the no delay working. I support you from Japan!Anonymous
October 18, 2006
Sorry, I had missed that thing about VBA going away. Where did that come from? What about compatibility with Windows? OpenOffice supports the same programming on both Windows and Mac (and Unix) as far as I know.Anonymous
October 18, 2006
Magnus, I wrote a long post about VB on my blog: http://www.schwieb.com/blog/2006/08/08/saying-goodbye-to-visual-basic/ http://www.schwieb.com/blog/2006/08/10/so-tell-us-what-you-want-what-you-really-really-want/Anonymous
October 23, 2006
Please just keep all of MS Office for MAC users posted at regular intervals, I can't keep up between the PC information I get and the MAC information I get. All I really want to know is when is the new version of Office going to be released? I am all ready to upgrade et al. my PC and I would really like to stay on schedule with my MAC as well. My business does actually depend on it.... Also I was recently asked what I would like to see in the new version of Corel WordPerfect and my answer was a BIG SWITCH BUTTON in the toolbar to instantly turn my documents into MAC/Word compatible documents instead of having to move them from Word to WordPerfect on PC and then into Word for MAC documents and back again, my port. hardrive is having difficulty keeping up! Maybe you guys could make a BIGGER SWITCH BUTTON to do the same for WordPerfect Docs??? Regards, DOTGAnonymous
October 30, 2006
I just read this "Office Accounting Express 2007 will also be included in the Small Business, Professional and Office Ultimate versions of Microsoft Office 2007." at CNet. So, I hope this means that the Mac version is included.Anonymous
July 09, 2007
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