The name should have served as a warning. Microsoft has announced the launch of its Office for Mac 2008 has been pushed back until January 2008. Despite the name, Office for Mac 2008, which will bring new versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint to OS X users, was originally scheduled for release in the second half of this year.
Microsoft hasn???t released a Mac Office update in four years. The company says problems with ???product quality??? caused the delay, but hopes to have its Mac office suite on the shelves in time for Macworld, which is scheduled for the third week of January 2008.
"Our number one priority is to deliver quality software, and in order to achieve this we are shifting availability
of Office 2008 for Mac to mid-January of 2008," said Mac BU General
Manager Craig Eisler.
Although Microsoft demoed preview versions of Office for Mac at this year???s Macworld, the company has held the software in a private beta phase for the last seven months.
The 2008 release will be the first Office for Mac version to be built for Intel-based Macs. However, Microsoft has already said that the Mac version of its Office suite will not feature the revamped interface, dubbed ???Ribbon,??? that its Windows counterpart now uses.
Other likely changes in the new version include the removal of Visual Basic scripting, for macros, which automate commonly used functions (and enable all sort of potential exploits). Microsoft hasn???t said one way or the other, but there is the possibility that Office for Mac 2008 could adopt AppleScript, OS X???s native scripting language.
The announcement about Office for Mac???s delay comes just two days after the Microsoft MacBU released new betas of its Office format converters, which improve compatibility with the PC version of Office 2007 in the existing version of Office for Mac.
Meanwhile, the rumor mills suggest that Apple may release the next revision of its own office suite, iWork, in the very near future. But, although iWork can replace Microsoft Office for the casual user, it still has some compatibility issues and lacks many of the features of Microsoft???s offering.
Pricing details for Office for Mac 2008 have not been announced. Microsoft Office for Mac 2004, the most recent version, costs $400.
