mac bu posts

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Enterprise, Software, Developer

Microsoft Mac BU gets a new GM

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Nov 1st, 2008

The Macintosh Business Unit of Microsoft, that company we love to hate, has announced that a new General Manager has taken over the group. Craig Eisler, the former Mac BU big cheese, has moved onwards and upwards into the bowels of the Redmond-based software giant in a position with the Entertainment & Devices division.

His new replacement is Eric Wilfrid, a 14-year veteran of the company who has been with the Mac BU since it was organized in 1997. Wilfred started with Microsoft in 1994, working on the Mac version of PowerPoint. He was also involved in all five releases of Office for Mac, the Mac versions of Internet Explorer and MSN, and Virtual PC.

Wilfred announced the change in a post to the Mac BU blog today. I don't know about you, but I'm hoping that Wilfred takes the Macintosh development team in a new direction -- preferably away from Steve Ballmer's recent comments about Mac users not getting "the full version" of Office.

If you had one thing to tell Mr. Wilfred as he takes over the helm of the Mac BU, what would it be? Leave us a comment!

Tags: mac bu, MacBu, management, microsoft

Filed under: Software, Developer

Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2.0 (Beta)

by Scott McNulty (RSS feed) on Jul 31st, 2007

Microsoft promised us some goodies this week, and they just delivered on that promise. The long awaited (at least by me) Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2.0 (Beta) is now available for download. This is a beta, but in my limited testing it is much, much faster (as one might expect). New in this Beta, which expires on March 31, 2008 are:

Universal Binary (hurrah!)
Works with Vista, and used the new Remote Desktop protocol
Multiple session support (this is a big deal, though I can't actually figure out how to connect to more than one machine at a time)
Better printer support, better UI

Overall, this looks to be a solid update to Microsoft's free Windows Remote Desktop Mac client.

Tags: mac bu, MacBu, microsoft, remote desktop, RemoteDesktop

Filed under: Software

Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.2 Update

by Laurie A. Duncan (RSS feed) on Dec 19th, 2006

After being punked on the Office 2004 11.3.1 update, I'm guessing there won't be a mad dash to grab the Office 2004 11.3.2 update, but just in case you have a change of heart -- the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.2 Update claims to offer "several improvements for PowerPoint and Entourage" and is recommended for all Office 2004 users. But it doesn't appear to address any of the security issues that 11.3.1 was supposed to address before 11.3.1 was disappeared.

Specific Improvements from the Read Me:

PowerPoint 2004
Stability is improved -- This update fixes an issue that causes PowerPoint to quit unexpectedly when you open a presentation.

Entourage 2004
Contact names that contain special characters are handled correctly -- This update fixes an issue that causes meeting requests to display incorrectly when sent to contacts with names that contain single quotation marks ('), double quotation marks ("), and parentheses.

Public folder messages are not duplicated -- This update fixes an issue that causes duplicate messages to appear in public folders.

Compatibility with Mirapoint Message Server is improved -- This update fixes an issue that causes Entourage to quit unexpectedly when accessing mail folders on a Mirapoint Message Server.

If you decide to proceed, make sure you're at Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.0 Update already, because 11.3.2 is not a "combo" updater. And since Office Updates change the version number on some Office apps, but not all Office apps, the best way confirm what version you actually have is to check the version number of the Microsoft Component Plugin file in the Microsoft Office 2004 folder, which is always updated even if other apps aren't.

Tags: mac bu, mac office, MacBu, MacOffice, microsoft, microsoft office, MicrosoftOffice, office 2004, office mac, Office2004, OfficeMac

Filed under: Software

Microsoft says file converter for Office 2007 in the works

by Scott McNulty (RSS feed) on Dec 5th, 2006

According to a post on Mac Mojo, the Mac BU's blog, Microsoft is committed to getting out a free file format converter so that Mac users can open Office 2007 Open XML formatted files with Office 2004 (Laurie posted about the problem earlier today). This converter is expected to be released late March/early April and will be free.

The next version of Office for the Mac will support the Open XML Format as its native format, and that is expected to ship 6 to 8 months from now.

Until then you can either use a hack, or ask your Windows using friends to save the documents they want to share with you as the older Word/Excel/PowerPoint 97-2003 Document (.doc, .xls, .ppt).

Tags: Mac BU, MacBu, office 2004, office 2007, office for the mac, Office2004, Office2007, OfficeForTheMac

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Blogging

Microsoft Mac BU launches blog

by Scott McNulty (RSS feed) on Aug 30th, 2006

I'm a blog booster (shocking, huh?) and I am all for open communications between gigantic faceless corporations and users. Microsoft has taken the lead with having its employees staff official, Microsoft hosted, blogs. It looks like the Mac Business Unit (the Mac BU) of Microsoft has thrown its hat into the blogging ring.

Remember that Microsoft is the second largest Mac developer in the world (who is number one? Apple), so before you bash 'em in the comments remember that lots of people use Office very happily on their Macs.

Tags: mac bu, mac mojo, MacBu, MacMojo, microsoft

Filed under: Software, Universal Binary

MacBU programmer talks Universal Binaries

by Scott McNulty (RSS feed) on Mar 25th, 2006

It is a good sign that some developers from Adobe and Microsoft are talking about why there aren't Universal versions of their products. I don't think anyone thought that this would be an easy thing to do for complicated applications like Office or Photoshop, but clearly there is demand and the companies know that.

Rick Schaut, of the Mac BU (Microsoft's Mac development team, and the largest Mac developer right after Apple) takes some time to dispel some myths about the transition. Folks, these apps are huge, complicated messes and in order to get them running natively on Intel Mac requires a change in the very way these applications are compiled. Not something anyone should rush into.

Tags: Mac BU, MacBu

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