Group releases Service Pack 1, announces the return of Visual Basic for
Applications in next version.
REDMOND, Wash., May 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft Corp.'s
Macintosh Business Unit (Mac BU) today announced details about the success
of Office 2008 for Mac and reaffirms its commitment to future products for
the Mac. Office 2008 launched at Macworld Expo 2008, and sales for the
productivity suite continue to soar, selling faster than any previous
version of Office for Mac in the past 19 years. The Mac BU developed Office
2008 to help Mac users simplify their work with a Mac-like interface, tools
to easily create professional documents, and, most notably, the most
cross-platform compatible suite on the market for the Mac. The Mac BU today
is releasing Service Pack 1 (SP1) that provides increased stability,
security and performance enhancements to the suite. The group also is
providing a glimpse at the road map of Office for Mac by announcing the
return of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) in the next version.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO)
"The response has been amazing -- since we launched in January, the
velocity of sales for Office 2008 is nearly three times what we saw after
the launch of Office 2004," said Craig Eisler, general manager of the Mac
BU at Microsoft. "As we set our course for future versions, we are working
closely with customers and will also expand our staff to ensure that Office
for Mac remains the most powerful and compatible productivity suite for Mac
customers."
Office 2008 for Mac Gets Updates Requested by Users
The Mac BU consistently seeks and uses customer feedback to identify,
prioritize and then improve its products through beta programs in
pre-release stages. The team looks to user forums and tools such as the
Microsoft Error Reporting Protocol (MERP), which allows customers to
anonymously communicate issue reports, once a product is launched. With the
launch of SP1, the Mac BU is addressing the top issues as reported by
customers via MERP and other feedback channels. Office 2008 for Mac SP1
features key suitewide updates for increased stability, increased security
and overall performance improvements. Users also will find
application-specific updates, including the following:
Microsoft Office Excel
-- Compatibility. Improved compatibility with files exchanged between
Excel 2008 for Mac and Excel 2003 and Excel 2007 for Windows
-- Custom Error Bars. Restored formatting option on the Error Bars panel
for data series
-- Printing. More reliable printing for elements on Excel 2008 workbooks
Microsoft Entourage
-- Calendar. Significant enhancements to improve calendar view and all-day
reminders with reoccurrence
-- Exchange Server support. Overall improvement to synchronization
support, including removing attachments from Exchange Server messages
and synchronizing to the server, as well as support for editing the
contents of Exchange Server messages via AppleScript and synchronizing
the changes to the server
-- E-mail images. Ability to send and view images in Entourage from
third-party tools
Microsoft Office Word
-- Printing. Improved accuracy when orienting tables with cell shading
-- Document map. Improved reliability and responsiveness to select items
-- Notebook layout. Updated formatting, recording status and a variety of
display options
Microsoft Office PowerPoint
-- Printing. Improvements to eliminate crashing when printing documents to
high-dpi printers and increased overall printing speed by 10 times on
some large presentations
-- Mobile viewing. Ability to view Mac .PPTX files on Windows Mobile
phones
-- AppleScript. Ability to use the PowerPoint selection object in
AppleScript to implement custom scripts that operate on the current
selection in PowerPoint
Customers can download the update for free at
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx (1), and it will be also
available from Microsoft Auto Update.
VBA Returns to Future Versions of Office for Mac
The Mac BU also announced it is bringing VBA-language support back to
the next version of Office for Mac. Sharing information with customers as
early as possible continues to be a priority for the Mac BU to allow
customers to plan for their software needs.(2) Although the Mac BU
increased support in Office 2008 with alternate scripting tools such as
Automator and AppleScript -- and also worked with MacTech Magazine to
create a reference guide, available at
http://www.mactech.com/vba-transition-guide -- the team recognizes that
VBA-language support is important to a select group of customers who rely
on sharing macros across platforms. The Mac BU is always working to meet
customers' needs and already is hard at work on the next version of Office
for Mac.
About Microsoft Macintosh Business Unit
The Macintosh Business Unit at Microsoft is a leading developer of
software and online products for the Macintosh platform. The group of more
than 200 full-time Mac product experts is dedicated to creating innovative
software for Mac customers worldwide. For almost 25 years, Microsoft has
developed award-winning software for the Mac. In January 2008, the Mac BU
released Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, a productivity suite that includes
the e-mail application and personal information manager Entourage 2008,
Word 2008, Excel 2008, PowerPoint 2008 and Messenger for Mac 7.0. More
information about the Mac BU and Microsoft Macintosh products is available
at http://www.microsoft.com/mac.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize
their full potential.
(1) The download for SP1 will be live by noon PDT.
(2) The Mac BU announced that Office 2008 for Mac would not have
VBA-language support in August 2006 at the Apple Worldwide Developers
Conference -- a year and a half before the product's launch.
SOURCE Microsoft Corp.
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Related links:
http://www.microsoft.com
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CONTACT:
pr.mspx./ /CONTACT: Tara Mulcahy,
+1-206-268-2212, tara.mulcahy@edelman.com, or Aimee Martin,
+1-206-268-2253, aimee.martin@edelman.com, both of Edelman, for
Microsoft Corp.
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