Microsoft plans to push an Apple Silicon-compatible Universal build of Office for Mac to its beta channel by the end of Wednesday.
Erik Schwiebert, the Principal Software Engineer for Apple products at Microsoft's Office division made the announcement on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon. Apple began accepting Universal app submissions on Tuesday.
Schwiebert said there's no official word on a public release date or Universal Office version for final release. Instead, the beta issuance is simply an "initial peek for customers to test on hardware they may be acquiring this week."
MSFT plans to push a Universal build of Mac Office 2019 to the Beta Channel (formerly "Insider Fast") by the end of today.
— Erik Schwiebert (@Schwieb) November 11, 2020
We don't have a public date or version for a final release; this is an initial peek for customers to test on hardware they may be acquiring this week... :)
Apple on Tuesday announced new MacBook Air, 13-inch Macbook Pro, and Mac mini models equipped with an M1 chipset, its first piece of Apple Silicon. All three devices are available to pre-order and will start shipping the week of Nov. 16.
Earlier in November, Microsoft issued a beta build of Excel that introduced Apple Silicon support for SQL Server connectivity settings.
20 Comments
In June, during the presentation for the DC, Apple clearly stated that Office would be available when the first new Macs came out, so this is a disappointment.
Maybe Apple or Microsoft will find it in their heart to tell us whether Rosetta 2 will run Office.
I'll be watching the free https://www.collaboraoffice.com/collabora-office-android-ios-release-notes/ and perhaps libreoffice to break away from proprietary software moving forward... I've had more issues with MS Office than just about any other software, including the orphaning upgrades every few years - I know some swear by it however I simply don't get it...?