Office for Mac to integrate Outlook in 2010 update
updated 11:50 am EDT, Thu August 13, 2009
New Office for Mac planned
Microsoft on Thursday announced plans to release a new version of Office for Mac sometime late in 2010. The update will feature a new application, Outlook for Mac, that will serve as a replacement for Entourage. The company is also set to include Visual Basic support once again, after the feature was removed from the Office 2008 release.
The new Outlook component will utilize an improved database compared to Entourage. MacBU general manager Eric Wilfrid claims it will provide "incredible reliability, better performance and better integration with technologies such as Time Machine for backup and Spotlight for search."
Wilfrid noted that the Mac version of Outlook will differ in many ways from its Windows counterpart. The two applications will, however, "work great together" and enable cross-platform management of sensitive and confidential materials.
Apple's upcoming Snow Leopard operating system promises expanded Exchange support. Microsoft declined to comment on how Outlook for Mac will compare, as the OS X update has not yet been released.
Rumors suggested Microsoft's press conference might involve an announcement regarding Office for the iPhone, as the company on Wednesday announced a new alliance with Nokia to bring the software suite to the Symbian platform. Wilfrid admitted the idea has been a "popular question," but the company did not have any announcements to make regarding Office on the iPhone. He did not explicitly deny the company was working on such a project, however.
The Office for Mac update is allegedly "on track" for release sometime near the holiday season in 2010.
Well, we know one thing
08/13, 01:18pm reply
for sure. Outlook for Mac will be some crippled version without feature parity. This is a given. It's just a matter of how crippled Microsoft decides to make it, how much it will kinda, almost work like Outlook for Windows.
lkrupp
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: May 2001
make sense
08/13, 01:38pm reply
This is great for PC to Mac switchers. Many of them have no idea Entourage = Outlook.
coffeetime
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2006
@coffeetime
08/13, 02:10pm reply
If only Entourage=Outlook. It is so crippled in its Exchange server support, you are better off with Evolution or some other open source project.
leamanc
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 2003
FUD
08/13, 02:25pm reply
Pre-Announced over a year ahead because they are scared shitless of Snow Leopard's Exchange features.
Funny that that's what it took for the MacBU to think of getting their a** in gear -- bear in mind, December 2010 for a version 1.0 product. It will take another year to be usable - at best.
ZinkDifferent
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2005
ChuckC
08/13, 02:35pm reply
Will I finally be able to open .ost and .pst files on my Mac?
ccoulson
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2008
Late 2010?
08/13, 02:52pm reply
What have they been doing for the past two years?
Jaddie
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2000
like always
08/13, 03:05pm reply
Works best on Windows.
nowwhatareyoulookingat
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2009
About 10 years too late
08/13, 03:58pm reply
This should have been announced 10 years ago, and shipped with Office X. Or at least Office 2004. The fact that they are only now shipping this is really, really sad.
apple4ever
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2001
Wow, that only took...
08/13, 05:31pm reply
...what, 5 or 6 years of bitching at the Mac BU, before they finally decided to give us a full-fledged (hopefully!) Outlook client for the Mac.
What's a shame is, other than the awful Exchange features, I love Entourage as a mail program (as I loved its granddaddy, Claris Emailer). I hope they don't s**** up the rest now that they're gonna (again, hopefully!) make the Exchange connectivity not suck.
phillymjs
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2000