AppleInsider StaffAll versions of Office for Mac 2011 are now available for preorder from Amazon. They include the Home and Student Edition, Home and Business, and separate purchases of PowerPoint for Mac, Word for Mac and Excel for Mac.
On the official Office for Mac 2011 blog, the company also released its last behind-the-scenes look at the development of the latest version of Office. The company highlighted the new "Dynamic Reorder" feature, which gives users the ability to interactively reorder all layers in a document or presentation.
Office for Mac 2011 also includes a new "Full Screen" view that offers two perspectives optimized for writing and another for reading.
Microsoft also said that the newest Office for Mac was developed with performance improvements a top priority. The team said they hope users appreciate the effort that went into it when they experience the launch speed of each application, as well as the overall speed of the suite.
Office for Mac 2011 was sent to manufacturing earlier this month, and Amazon had previously listed the Oct. 26 date. However, Tuesday's announcement is the official confirmation of when it will launch.
Customers who purchase Office 2008 for Mac between Aug. 1, 2010 and Nov. 30, 2010 are eligible for a free upgrade. All other users will have to purchase the standalone versions. Prices start at $119 for the Home and Student version, which lacks Outlook, and $199 for the Home and Business version. An Academic version will also be offered to qualifying students and educators for $99.
For more, see AppleInsider's previous coverage of Office for Mac 2011:
Microsoft showcases co-authoring capabilities of Office 2011 for Mac
Office for Mac 2011 to feature co-authoring, ribbon interface
Road to Office 2011 for Mac: A New Hope
Road to Office 2011: New looks, support for Exchange, VBA
Microsoft officially unveils key Office 2011 for Mac features
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69 Comments
Until I can get Access for Mac, I'm not really interested. I use Office as a last resort for compatibility sake only. Plus I have a PC sitting side by side with my Mac so I just use Windows whenever the need arises.
Until I can get Access for Mac, I'm not really interested. I use Office as a last resort for compatibility sake only. Plus I have a PC sitting side by side with my Mac so I just use Windows whenever the need arises.
access? What on earth for?
Microsoft also said that the newest Office for Mac was developed with performance improvements a top priority. The team said they hope users appreciate the effort that went into it when they experience the launch speed of each application, as well as the overall speed of the suite.
Using Office 2011 Beta 6 (system with Snow Leopard and 2 GB RAM), I can say that Office is very slow. Now, I remember using a trial of Office 2008 and that wasn't very fast at all either, and launch time for Office 2011 seems fine, but actual usage is extremely slow when I compare it to Pages. Opening long documents takes forever, and doing a word count is not instant by a long shot. I mean, other than that it works fine (and unlike Pages has auto save), but I mean, performance is not something they can yet brag about.
access? What on earth for?
It is a an SQL compliant DB. I need it because I write a lot of Access scripts/code for my Windows co-workers. Why do you care anyway? It is part of Office Pro for Windows so I think it would be nice to have on the Mac version.
Office 2011 ? It does not interest me. I already have it at the office, and I can tell you that the much touted "ribbon" is a pain in the bum, you just can't find the regular menus and have to relearn the short cuts. Plus the graphs are always the same boring stuff... No matrix charts, no waterfall, the bubbles charts are always difficult to get. The gallery ? What's so new ? Keynote does it very well. Office 2011 for Mac ? No thx !