Microsoft provided the most extensive look yet into the next version of the Mac version of its popular Office suite on Thursday at Macworld 2010. The new product, Microsoft Office for Mac 2011, will arrive in time for the 2010 holiday season.
Macworld spoke with several representatives of the company’s MacBusiness Unit, who told us the company is focusing on three things with this new release: better compatibility across platforms, improved collaboration tools, and a more refined user interface. Also, as Microsoft announced last August, the suite will include Outlook for Mac, which replaces Entourage as Office’s Email client. And, in keeping with Microsoft’s 2008 promise, the new version of Office will offer renewed support for Visual Basic, which was dropped in the 2008 version of the productivity suite.
The new version of Office will incorporate document-collaboration features that take advantage of Microsoft's online storage features. With Office for Mac 2011, Mac users will be able to share files and collaborate on documents with other Mac and Windows users via Microsoft's SharePoint, SkyDrive, and Office Web Apps. Those online tools will allow users to collaborate on documents with other Windows and Mac Office users in real time, much as you can in Google Docs now. You could, for example, create a document in Word on your laptop, save it to SkyDrive, then share it with others. A pop-up in Word will show you who’s working on the document; click on that list, and you’ll be able to send them a message (as long as everyone is using Outlook or Microsoft’s Messenger IM application). The paragraphs your collaborators are working on will be locked out until they’re done.
The greatest new in Office 2011 is the demise of Entourage and the return of Outlook. The new Outlook will support PST imports (allowing you to move an Outlook installation, including all your old Emails, from a Windows PC to a Mac).
Oh That's Lovely !!! Thank you Office for Mac Team :)
The new Outlook for Mac Email and calendaring application, which replaces Microsoft Entourage, will include a scheduling assistant that lets users view their calendars alongside their mail, making it easier to, say, work out meeting details. Users of Microsoft Exchange will also be able to see details of calendars shared by co-workers and keep track of responses to meeting invitations they’ve sent.
That’s not the only competitive move that Microsoft has made, either. The company is also introducing companion Web apps that are compatible with Office 2010 (for Windows) and Office 2011. According to the video, users will be able to view documents and make “light edits” in their Web browsers, then continue editing in Office 2011 with the software’s full functionality.
Finally, PowerPoint for Mac 2011 will include a feature that debuted in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows: Broadcast Slideshows. It allows users to give presentations that can be viewed on any Web browser, regardless of platform.
The experience is surely going to be great both for the home users and office users.
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