Filed under: Software, Universal Binary
Office 12 for the Mac not delayed
I'm as anxious about a Universal version of Office as you are (plus, I'm really looking forward to some of the new features in Office 2007 that might make it into the Mac version) but I thought it quite odd when I kept reading, 'OMG!!11!!, Office is totally delayed! Smooth move, Microsoft!' I hadn't heard an official launch date, so how could Office be delayed?Luckily, those kooky folks over at the MacBU (you know, the people that are actually coding Office for the Mac) have a blog. They just posted the news that Office isn't delayed. Hurrah! Though, sadly, there is still no release date. They mention that Office for the Mac ships 6 - 8 months after Office for Windows and they are on track for that goal. Let's all wait until the new Windows version ships to start rumors that Office for the Mac is delayed, or even better, that old chestnut that Office for the Mac will be discontinued.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
zman said 11:42PM on 10-11-2006
although i read tuaw every day, i dont normally comment on any of the posts. actually, i never do. but today something made me chuckle so uncontrollably that i had to represent. for some reason, "that old chestnut" is totally hilarious.
bravo.
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Angel said 12:09AM on 10-12-2006
I think the confusion came from people in the "blogosphere" confusing the Universal Binary version of Office 2004 with the release date of Office 2007.
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Fraser Drew said 11:35AM on 10-12-2006
There won't be a UB 2004 will there? Isn't it just scheduled to be a 2007 feature?
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Dave M. said 3:37AM on 10-12-2006
"They just posted the news that Office isn't delayed. Hurrah! Though, sadly, there is still no release date. They mention that Office for the Mac ships 6 - 8 months after Office for Windows and they are on track for that goal."
OK, I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but if Office 2007 for Windows is "delayed" and Office for Mac is 6-8 after Office for Windows. Then it is logical to say that Office for Mac is also delayed! How could it not be?
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B Daily said 6:26AM on 10-12-2006
Honestly, who cares? I mean, it's only MS Office...
Office 2004 is not at all slow with Rosetta and all the functionality I'll ever need is already in there.
Words and spreadsheets, spreadsheets and words, numbers and letters... letters and numbers... yawn...
This is not exciting news.
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epplegacks said 7:01AM on 10-12-2006
It's only boring until you suddenly can't open all those word and excel sheets. MS Office is an important app for mac users, even if I don't use it myself I've switched many people for who MS Office was the deal breaker, and therefore a delay is almost as bad as a delay in the release of a universal Photoshop would be.
Getting back to the matter at hand though, with the insane delays of Office 2007, I'll bet we'll see the Mac version released at the latest six month after, possibly even earlier. The MacBU hasn't had to worry about an OS that is continually delayed while dropping promised features.
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jason said 7:12AM on 10-12-2006
while it may not be exciting... office rarely is, it is news. I mean, the newest version of office is almost 3 years old now (unless their yearly dating scheme is wrong) but still, using software from 2004 doesn't sound impressive. you know?
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Rafael said 7:15AM on 10-20-2006
Excellent. I'm happy to see a large company come out to quickly and clearly put false rumors out of our misery. The internet echo chamber (especially when it comes to Mac rumors) can be a destructive thing, and I'm glad to see such stupidity stopped in its tracks.
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Supertoph said 9:13PM on 10-12-2006
To heck with office, use the Neo.
http://www.neooffice.org
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David Chartier said 1:01AM on 10-13-2006
#7: Right. Unfortunately, due to the extensive code rewriting they have to go through to get up to snuff, porting the 2004 version would probably make the MacBU building on Microsoft's campus asplode. Adobe's going through the same thing right now, and that's why they're so late to the party too. Both of these suites are basically suffering from the Windows syndrome - they both have so much old, duct-taped, hacked, patched, finaggled and tweaked code in them that they're this complete mess of code, some of which extends back a decade or more. So both MS and Adobe are basically re-building these suites from the ground up.
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Dave M. said 6:09AM on 10-13-2006
#4, I really don't. I use NeoOffice on my Mac Pro. I stay as far away from MS software as I can on my Mac.
I took a peek at Office 2007 and I really think they are making a huge mistake by changing the UI to the ribbon system. At least with IE and Windows Media Player, they have a way of bringing up a menubar for folks that are slow at learning the new interface. For some strange reason, Office 2007 has no retro menubar. It's going to be very frustrating for upgraders. I see a lot of training in the future for offices all over the world that upgrade to the new Office.
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Masa said 12:30PM on 10-15-2006
"It's going to be very frustrating for upgraders."
Switching to OpenOffice might be less of a hassle... At lest when it comes to UI.
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