Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac in SA
Microsoft launched Office for Mac 2011 in South Africa today at an event at the iStore in The Place on Sandton drive.
The latest version of Microsoft’s Office suite for Windows launched in June this year and was called Microsoft Office 2010.
According to Lance Thorp, head of entertainment & devices division at Microsoft, the company requested feedback from Mac users during the development of Office 2011.
Thorp said that based on this feedback Microsoft focused on three core areas during Office 2011’s development:
1. Compatibility with the Windows version of Office
2. Familiar interface
3. Professional applications and documents
According to Greg Hill, product marketing manager at Core Group, all the applications were rewritten in native Cocoa. Since there are no more apps based on Carbon, Office 2011 has seen a significant performance increase, he said.
In addition to enhancements and additional features in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Skydrive integration with Safari, major changes were made to the email client.
“Entourage is dead,” said Hill to cheers from the audience, referring to the mail client that shipped with Office for Mac 2008. Microsoft seem to have entirely abandoned the Mac-specific email client in Office 2011. The Home & Student version of the office suite doesn’t seem to include any email client now, however.
Office for Mac 2011 licenses are available in Home & Student, Home & Business and volume licensing packages.
According to Microsoft there is a free upgrade programme for users who purchased Office 2008 from around August. Customers need only pay a R100 shipping fee to have the software sent to them.
Unfortunately Mac and Windows licensing are still handled completely separately, whether they are normal user licenses or volume licenses. This means that users won’t be able to use their licenses for their Windows version of Office on their Mac or vice-versa.
Office 2011 for Mac is also not available on Microsoft’s partner programme yet.
The Home & Student edition of Office 2011 for Mac is set to carry a price tag of R999, or R1 299 for a “family pack” of three licenses.
The Home & Business version is set to retail for R2 499, or R2 699 for a pack of two licenses.
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