[Gomi]

It's coming... apparently Microsoft thinks 2007 is 2008

Microsoft Corp.’s Macintosh Business Unit (Mac BU, that doesn't sound right) today revealed at Macworld Conference & Expo 2007 the news Mac fans have been waiting to hear: A new version of Office for Mac is on its way. The Mac BU announced its intent to deliver the first Universal version of Office for Mac for PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs — Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac. Scheduled to be available in the second half of 2007, Office 2008 for Mac will allow Mac users to work smarter and more efficiently with new and enhanced tools that are simple, intuitive and easily discovered.

Read more here...

Some mac-only features:

•Publishing Layout View lets users create incredibly layout-rich documents such as newsletters, fliers and brochures by uncovering desktop publishing layout tools and providing text box entry.

•Ledger Sheets enable anyone to use Excel to handle common financial management tasks. Home and small-business users can balance checkbooks, track accounts or manage investment portfolios more easily than ever.

•My Day allows users to track priorities and stay on top of daily activities no matter what application they’re currently working in. My Day is a stand-alone application that doesn’t take up much screen space, offers at-a-glance schedule and task viewing without launching Entourage, and lets users color-code everything for visualizing daily priorities.

[Odysseus]

Now, this is good news, of course.

I've test-driven the new Microsoft Office for Windows and I must say that it really looks a lot cooler than its predecessor. It is also very intuitive and (in my experience) loads and processes commands faster than the previous version.

[booblanco]

MS Office 2008 for Mac looks very interesting and will have features not found in MS Office 2007 for the PC:

- will not offer Office 2007 for Windows' "Ribbon" function but will feature elements gallery - a context-sensitive horizontal button bar that resides at a prominent level in all of the Office 2008 applications

- an objects palette that allows access to iPhoto libraries and other standard Mac OS X media reference folders

- an entirely new graphics layer dubbed "Office art 2.0": smart Art, collections of graphic templates that can have colors, shapes and other properties applied automatically. These include cycle-type flowcharts, hierarchy elements and more.

- publishing layout view: turns any Word document into a free-form canvas for laying out graphics and text elements, i.e. automatically resize, rotate and add modifications to images that are dragged and dropped into documents.

- rollover previews of drag and drop graphics: drags an image over a designated template spot, the image will automatically show as it would in the document (modifications, rotation, etc. applied) before actually being dropped.

- text overflow function: click a button and you can automatically move text that overflows from one text box into another text box placed where you desire.

- pixel-for-pixel document compatibility with the Windows version of Office 2007

- a keystroke-accessible tool called My day, a widget that and has to-do lists, tasks and other information that can be manipulated and will synchronize live with the Entourage database.

- Excel's elements gallery includes "Sheets" -- smart templates for balances, budgets, reports, invoices, etc.

Color me excited.

[esm]

i just got my Mac Office 2004 last December. I hope the upgrade is available at a small price when it comes out.

[PatrickGaerlan]

Originally Posted by Gomi

It's coming... apparently Microsoft thinks 2007 is 2008

I guess they're following the lead of the auto industry

[koppee1]

is this the same as the new office for the pc where it uses a new file format? I read it uses xml instead of .doc and older version of Office won't be able to read it.....unless they download a huge update from microsoft....i think many people won't know they need to download the update...so many people won't be able to read the new format...assuming most people don't upgrade to the new office of course...

[johnj2803]

i've tried using the windows version and it surely is a great SW! i was wondering when the mac's version will come out... true enought it comes out even better!

[JaYrUs]

The fact that the new version will be universal is already a big improvement in my opinion.

[berniej]

It will be a good upgrade as long at it support the XDOC format of the Windows-based MS Office and the "standard" DOC format of the older MS Office versions.

[koppee1]

i have this for windows...i think it's an improvement definitely. But as to whether the price is worth upgrading from the previous...probably not. They just basically changed the interface which confused my wife a lot at first.....but i think it's an improvement.

Regarding the file compatibility, you can still save it as .doc. but whenever you open a .doc file it will say "compatibility mode" on top and some of the features like (effects for images) are off.

Haven't really tried the others (excel, powerpoint, etc)..hehe.