Windows users are expecting to find the new Microsoft Office 2007 software in stores by the end of this month. But Mac users will have to wait until the second half of the year to get the new Word, PowerPoint and Excel, which won't look much like their Windows-only counterparts. Microsoft is calling the new set of software Office 2008 for Mac.
As shown in these early screenshots from Microsoft, Office 2008 for Mac lacks the new Ribbon toolbar that's laced throughout Office 2007 for Windows. However, that might be good news for Mac users who don't want to confront a steep learning curve when running the new software.
Among the highlights of Office 2008 for Mac is the new, widget-like My Day application. It displays a schedule and lets you track and colour-code items in a list without requiring Microsoft's Entourage personal information manager.
Word's new Publishing Layout offers basic desktop publishing tools for designing newsletters and business brochures. Microsoft says that Word will better display previews of work in progress. Office 2008's Office Art 2.0 will use the new graphics engine found in Office 2007 as well as Mac's graphics abilities. With household account balancing in mind, Excel's new Ledger Sheets is built to crunch numbers without requiring that you rely on memorised formulas.
Unfortunately, as with the new, Office 2007 file formats, you'll need to take extra steps to open and edit documents between the old and new Mac versions of Office. Tools to allow older Office software to read the new 2008 files are not expected to become available until a few months after the public release of the software package. Beta tests of the file-conversion download may become available this spring.
Will Apple loyalists buy Microsoft software for their Macs? There are plenty of alternatives to Office. In the meantime, rumours abound that iWork '07 will include a new spreadsheet application, making the package a stronger foil to Microsoft Office.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs did not announce expected updates to the popular iWork and iLife suites during his Macworld keynote address. Nor did he mention the Mac OS X 10.5 'Leopard' operating system.
