Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac debuts at MacWorld Jan. 15
By Triston McIntyre
Though I wince every time I consider how dependent the free world is on Microsoft products, I must admit that Microsoft Office is most times a necessity for Mac users; with that in mind, it either gives me great pleasure or makes me slightly nauseous to announce that the newest iteration of Microsoft Office, 2008, for Mac will be coming out of its closet at MacWorld.
MacWorld writer Jim Dalrymple writes that the Office for Mac team at Microsoft has done their best to highlight some of the powerful productivity that was, admittedly, built into 2004; they feel that 2008’s version will bring some of that productivity power to Apple user’s hands (and honestly, if Microsoft doesn’t have productivity power, they don’t have much, do they?).
Though I’ll let you glean the finer points of his synopsis directly from his article, the gist seems to be that the Microsoft team for Mac Office really wants the software to feel more at home on Mac; this involves both aesthetic and functional integration, not to mention that the new productivity suite is designed to run natively on Intel Macs.
As many readers know by now, I disdain most things that come from Bill Gate’s creative womb; it isn’t that they aren’t good, it’s just that there is usually something better for less. You shouldn’t be surprised to hear that Office 2008 for Mac will come in 3 flavors: Office 2008 for Mac ($400 or $240 for the upgrade), the student version ($150), or the media edition ($500 or $300 for the upgrade). A word to students reading: don’t waste your money on the “student” version if you attend a university; most universities purchase licenses of Microsoft software and will sell you the software for less than $20.
Though we are locked into a Microsoft world, give iWorks a try; you can save your file types into Microsoft-compatible formats, and it’s substantially less expensive. OpenOffice is also a lovely alternative that doesn’t cost a penny. Viva la revolution!
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