Microsoft releases Office for Mac 2011, drops Entourage

[Jos]

Microsoft has announced the official release of Office for Mac 2011, the latest version of its office productivity suite which dumps Entourage for Outlook and includes integration with the Office Web apps — the browser-based edition of Office that lets you work with online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote applications. Among other things, Office for Mac 2011 also brings better cross-platform compatibility, speed and performance improvements, as well as the debut of the "Ribbon" menu interface which has been a part of the Windows version since 2007.

Office 2011 comes in three different versions: Home and Student, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Messenger and costs $150 (licensed for up to 3 computers in the same household); Home and Business, which also includes the new Mac version of Outlook and retails for $280 (single user, two installs and one year tech support); and the Academic version with all four suite applications for a discounted price of $100 with a limited academic license. The suite is available to purchase today from Apple, Amazon, Best Buy, MacMall, or directly as a download from Microsoft.

Interestingly, Microsoft decided to forego upgrade pricing this time, charging everyone the same regardless of whether they have a previous version or not. Check out some reviews at Mashable and PCWorld to help you decide if the new features and additions are worth the cost of buying the latest Office version for Mac.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/40872-microsoft-releases-office-for-mac-2011-drops-entourage.html

 

[Yoda8232]

It's a good thing Microsoft makes it for the Mac, even if it is there biggest competitor they are large cash flow from Office because everyone uses it. Other than that nothing special with the Mac version vs Windows.

 

[mattfrompa]

Thank God they dropped Entourage. The more seamless it is for someone to go from Office on a PC to MAC (and vice versa) the better.

 

[jjbeard926]

All I have to say is: OpenOffice, er sorry, LibreOffice.

 

[frodough]

wow no Entourage.. that's all we use here in my company.. maybe our IT will eventually give us access to gmail lol.

 

[dmoore44]

Wow - I just purchased Office Mac 2008 through the MS HUP program... I wonder if they'll take pity on me and give me an upgrade to Office 2011?

 

[treeski]

In the Mac version, are you really forced to have that "file, edt, view, etc" bar and the one directly below it open/visible at all times?
Gosh that would be terrible. It takes up so much screen real estate space...

 

[63Jax]

this is heresy!!!

 

[SNGX1275]

wow no Entourage.. that's all we use here in my company.. maybe our IT will eventually give us access to gmail lol.

I never used Entourage, but to me it doesn't seem like a big deal. Lose Entourage, gain Outlook. Was there something Entourage could do that Outlook can't?

 

[Rick]

Was there something Entourage could do that Outlook can't?

Yes, it was very good at confusing the f@#% out of people and giving you problems connecting to exchange servers.

 

[tacobfm]

This is pretty sweet especially for mac

 

[ColdFusion1990]

Sounds intriguing...

 

[Cryptopsy]

Good stuff, my girlfriend has a Mac and she learns Office from a PC at school which was preventing her from practicing correctly with her Mac since the older mac version doesn't include the "ribbon" menu style. Now she will be able to practice what she actually learn

 

[jetkami]

They should make office for mac just as slow and buggy as itunes is for the pc! Thank God for mediamonkey.

 

[brianmsu]

^haha jet, genius. itunes isn't buggy for mac at all, is it

 

[zinzan8]

mattfrompa said:
Thank God they dropped Entourage. The more seamless it is for someone to go from Office on a PC to MAC (and vice versa) the better.

Agreed. Such a pain when I leave a job and want to archive off some of my email files from Outlook to my home Mac.

 

[ilidiankid]

I have been using the beta version of Office 2011 and IMO it's pretty sweet, especially the recording feature of Word Notebook Layout.

 

[onzfeat]

i'm pretty sure for one thing, steve jobs going to mad

 

[peteyhawkins]

Tried office 2011 out, looks good and the ribbon has been improved, however i still prefer iWork.

 

[xcelofjkl]

ilidiankid said:
I have been using the beta version of Office 2011 and IMO it's pretty sweet, especially the recording feature of Word Notebook Layout.

I have been too and I totally agree. The aesthetics and functionally of the latest Offices have been very good. I remember how buggy Office 97, albeit revolutionary.

 

[SSaywell]

I can't wait to buy it, slight problem, need to buy my Mac first but the first thing I will buy when I get it is Office 2011. I used 2008 and the 2011 beta at work, 2011 is so much better .

 

[jazboy]

Does it comes with Trial version too. I want to try it if possible before purchasing it.

 

[SNGX1275]

I've used both, and actually currently have both 2008 and 2011 installed on my Mac. I like the idea of a unified Ribbon between OS X and Windows, but I actually really like the more modular workings of 2008. But 2008 was a big fail for the few people that used VBA Macros in Excel...

 

[turbotank84]

Mac wouldn't be Mac if Microsoft doesn't throw them a bone to chew on. If microsoft didn't provide any Mac version no one would ever be using Mac. It wouldn't be useful after all other than the pretty white plastic shell. Lol

 

[Guest]

I could just as easily use IWork. One extra step to save docs.