Microsoft's latest Office for Mac (Office:Mac) has given Apple users another reason to feel smug, says freelance IT journalist Brett Haggard, who believes it is better than the PC equivalent released last year.
Haggard presented at the South African launch of Office:Mac 2008, last night in Cape Town, after he had been involved in the beta testing of the product for the past four months. Although he was talking as a tester at the Microsoft event, he emphasised he was doing so as an independent user.
"Office:Mac is where it should have been in 2004 (the last version). The look and feel is much cleaner, probably even more than Office 2007, the PC version launched last year, and a number of features that were hidden in the depths of the software have now been brought to the fore," he said.
Office:Mac 2004 has been described by users as "clunky" in terms of design and use. Haggard said the new version shows Apple's strict design imperatives for third-party software developers have paid off in Microsoft's new version.
"The design is not as 'wirey' as it was before. The design of the software is particularly important for Apple users," he said.
Among the good points of Office:Mac pointed out by Haggard is that documents comply with the Open XML format and it can integrate with other applications such as Apple's iTouch and iPhoto.
He points out that it can also synchronise with Apple's iCalendar and e-mail.
Haggard says Office:Mac has proven to be "remarkably bug-free" and, as far as he is aware, only three bugs were reported by various testers during the beta phase.
Office trounces iWord
Gaynor MacArthur, a director at Cape Town Apple centre Digicape, says Office:Mac is the most popular office-type package sold on Apple machines in this country.
"I estimate that it goes onto about 85% of the Apples that we sell and outsells Apple's iWord by a factor of 10 to one," she notes.
Cindy White, marketing head for entertainment and devices at Microsoft SA, who headed the launch, says the versions of Office:Mac are broadly comparable with those for Office 2007. There is a specific version for Apple that includes Microsoft's Expression Media digital asset management system.
White says the estimated resale price for the versions are R4 099 for Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, and R1 299 for the home and student edition. The Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition should retail for R5 099.
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