Filed under: Software
Office 2008 for Mac versions and pricing announced
I'm becoming the Microsoft Office Maven here at TUAW it would seem (which isn't as cool as being TUAW's iPhone hacker, Erica, but I'll take what I can get). The latest news from our friends at Redmond concerns editions and price (Oh! Pricing!). There will be three different flavors of Office 2008 for the Mac, and they are as follows:
- Microsoft Office 2008 for the Mac: This is the core version of the productivity suite which includes Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Entourage. This version includes some Automator workflows, as well as Exchange support in Entourage (you'll see why I mention this in a moment). You can pick this version up for $399.95 (US) for the full retail version and $239.95 for an upgrade.
- Microsoft Office for the Mac Home and Student Edition: This is aimed at the segment of the market that needs to edit documents and such, but isn't in an Exchange environment. As such the version of Entourage included in Home and Student Edition does not support Exchange, nor do you get Automator workflows with this edition. This edition only comes in the full retail flavor for $149.95 (which isn't a bad price at all, though this one is a no go for me).
- Microsoft Office for Mac Special Media Edition: This one is interesting. It includes everything in the core suite (including Exchange support) as well as a full version of Microsoft Expression Media for Mac for $499.95 or $299.95 for the upgrade.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
uros said 12:11AM on 9-25-2007
Office 2008 is definitely an improvement over the creaky 4-year-old version still on sale today. But sadly, I think the MacBU was a little too late for me, and my heart belongs to iWork...
Ok, I haven't actually bought iWork '08, but to me, it looks like a very good substitute for Office, at half the price!
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Squirrels said 12:13AM on 9-25-2007
Wow...spendy.
Microsoft Office 2008 for the Mac: $399.95
Microsoft Office for the Mac Home and Student Edition: $149.95
Microsoft Office for Mac Special Media Edition: $499.95
Getting all of that productivity via torrents: priceless
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sandbaggerone said 12:22AM on 9-25-2007
As for the languages, are these localizations? Or will they be selling separate versions for each language?
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Davis Collins said 12:24AM on 9-25-2007
Those prices are absolutely outrageous. This is why Microsoft has such a bad reputation for not caring about their customers at all. This is why I am now totally against Microsoft and their products. (Except for Xbox)
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mlewis.bg said 12:26AM on 9-25-2007
could some one fill me on what is new in this version of office?
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Sam said 12:31AM on 9-25-2007
@ mlewis,
these are more 'Mac-like' and are universal. Office '04 is a powerpc application and requires rosetta for intel macs, so it runs slower. office 08 is also similar to office 07 for windows, it supports the ooxml based documents and includes new...stuff...too..
w/e my college is gonna buy this for me so i dont really care. its free ftw!
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webmacster87 said 12:32AM on 9-25-2007
iWork '08, ultimate edition: $79
Seriously, I think this will be the worst-selling version of MS Office for Mac ever, and Microsoft is going to really have to lower their prices without lowering their standards, for once.
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Rafe H. said 12:32AM on 9-25-2007
Ouch. Your employer decided to go with Exchange for email/contacts/calendar management, and that's gonna cost you an extra 90 bucks, eh? Bet you're bummin'.
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daviscollins said 12:36AM on 9-25-2007
With out a doubt iWork '08 is more efficient and usable than Office, and it's what? Four times cheaper?
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E. said 12:40AM on 9-25-2007
Well, I suppose it was inevitable that they'd do something to differentiate between the student and regular versions, as I and pretty much everyone else I know just bought the student versions of everything.
At least my home computer still runs Office v.X pretty decently. I guess I'll have to pony up the $400 when I need exchange support.
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Jon said 12:43AM on 9-25-2007
When I upgraded to an Intel Mac, I waited and waited for this...... and then eventually downloaded NeoOffice. NeoOffice does everything I need to do for free. The Home / Student Edition of MS Office sounds like it's designed for (relatively) basic stuff that NeoOffice can do for $150 cheaper.
And it has (experimental at this stage) support for the new Office XML formats.
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Paul S. said 12:55AM on 9-25-2007
Luckily, I can get this through my school for $80.
I'm not sure which version it will be (I assume the Home and Student Edition), but it will be cheaper nonetheless!
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Cycomachead said 1:12AM on 9-25-2007
While the price is similar to 04 its still way to much - especially for students. And Its nearly twice as much as the retail version of iWork or more than 2x the edu version which is $70. With an iWork NeoOffice combo its hard to pay for word.
Note: I own Office 2004 becuase my dad got it for $20 through his work - and honestly I'd never pay $150 for it. Though $20 -$40 is worth the templates and such.
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PK said 1:12AM on 9-25-2007
With these prices being so high, do you think MS is deliberately pricing themselves out of this market so that they can kill the Mac BU? Apple has worked hard to develop a viable Office alternative, as has the open source community, Google, and other vendors. With iWork, OpenOffice, Google Apps, Zoho, and other suites getting serious play from the Mac community might Microsoft decide to take its cards and leave the game? That would allow for them to focus all of their money and labor on the Windows/Web market and not have to support a whole different code and user base.
I dunno, here - I was just thinking that this high pricing could kill sales, which would then give MS cover for backing out of the Mac market - they'd then be able to quit supporting one of their competitor's top sales lines ("Switch to the Mac! Your Office documents will work just fine!") and focus all of their efforts on the Windows/Web market.
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coyotej said 1:19AM on 9-25-2007
MS is entirely too late with this one... I won't spend that kind of money on this. NeoOffice does the job for most of what I need. I own iWork '08, and while it is great in some respects (Keynote, Pages), though Numbers is very "1.0" and needs some updates (especially in terms of performance). I'm done paying the MS tax.
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Dannel said 1:23AM on 9-25-2007
I mean honestly, how do they expect to sell this again?
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Sam said 1:37AM on 9-25-2007
well, there is always gonna be a small slice of customers who want office on their mac (ie small business, education, professional) and want a stable platform to perform documents, slideshows and tables. iwork is a good altnerative, but its relatively new, and doesn't include alot of features that office has established. like steve jobs said, "its the productivity suite for the rest of us" . yeah, i know microsoft is slowly killing MacBU, but at least there...oh forget it, i dont care defending this right now.
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Audun said 1:54AM on 9-25-2007
Looking at the videos it looks really good. I would prefer this above the Windows version any day.. At my office I stick to WinXP with Office 2003. I have tried the newer version of both products, maybe I'm getting old or something, but they are not for me (yet).
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Alan said 1:56AM on 9-25-2007
Do we know when it is coming out?
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Adam said 2:08AM on 9-25-2007
Think the Ultimate Steal promotion for students will be available for the new Mac Office?
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