May 7 - 4:40pm EDT   Microsoft is reportedly strengthening its relationship with Parallels, and will offer Parallels Desktop for Mac for users who purchase a Microsoft Expression Professional Subscription. According to InfoWorld, this allows customers to run the full studio suite, rather than just Expression Media 2, which ships mid-May, which is also bundled with future versions of Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Editions. A Microsoft Expression Professional Subscription will be available in June for $1000. [full story]

May 1 - 7:10pm EDT   Microsoft on Thursday unveiled Expression Studio 2, and with it, Expression Media 2 for the Mac platform. The digital asset management solution for photographers and other creative professionals adds support for the latest file formats including RAW, provides geotagging functionality; it will ship with Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition come mid-May. Expression Media allows users to create media databases containing pictures, movies, and audio files for over 100 supported media formats. Microsoft Expression Media 2 for Mac is currently in a 30-day trial, and will be available with Office for $500. [full story]

March 25 - 7:35pm EDT   In brief: Apple will open a store in Cherry Hill, NJ this weekend, Office 2008 "the missing manual" is now shipping, Sofa Control is one of the new applications on its way from Gravity, ... Apple will be opening its latest retail store in Cherry Hill, NJ this weekend. The Apple Store Cherry Hill will open to the public on Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. EDT. The last Apple retail store to open was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Thursday, March 6th. Apple is also planning to open four new stores in Europe, branching out with retail outlets in Monaco, Zurich, Geneva, and Ireland. Apple posted job listings for three of those stores, but refrained from specifying ... [full story]

March 25 - 12:20pm EDT   Microsoft is considering software development for the iPhone, writes Fortune. The financial magazine notes that for over a week, a team based in Silicon Valley has been experimenting with Apple's beta SDK, which come June will let developers publish and sell native iPhone applications. Microsoft executives explain that they are not sure whether any apps will actually be put into production, but are deeply interested in the possibility. "It's really important for us to understand what we can bring to the iPhone,” says Tom Gibbons, corporate VP of the Specialized Devices and Applications Group. [full story]

March 11 - 5:15pm EDT   Microsoft has released Office 2008 12.0.1 for Mac OS X, a new update to the productivity suite that fixes vulnerabilities in Office 2008 that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code. The new release also fixes an issue that could give a local user who does not have administrator permissions access Office 2008 program files. This issue occurs when the non-administrative user account was assigned User ID (uid) 502. This issue affects only computers that have more than one local user account, and primarily affects environments, such as public computer labs and workplace networks, where access to program files is restricted. [full story]

February 22 - 6:10pm EST   Default Folder X 4.0.2 ($15) makes it easier for you to manage files by adding features and correcting flaws in the file dialogs of all Mac OS X applications. Default Folder X 4.0.2 corrects problems that occur when using Mac OS 10.5.2, Microsoft Office 2008, and Fetch Softworks' Fetch file transfer application. It also fixes a problem with its preview window failing to appear in Mac OS 10.4 and adds an additional option in its Finder-click feature. [Download - 8.4MB] Sound Byte 3.4.6 ($40) turns your Mac into a" cart machine" for playing sound recordings, such as music and special effects. The latest version of Sound Byte includes these changes: adds an option to allow carts to ... [full story]

February 14 - 5:55pm EST   Organizers of the Macworld Expo have posted numerous videos of special sessions held at the conference. Featured videos include Microsoft Office 2008, Digital Photography Safari, and iPhone Super-Session. Other videos are categorized under Mac OS X, Applications, Photography, Design, iPod, and Technology. Various videos include Best of Leopard OS X Hints, Mac OS X Features You Don't Use but Should, Real World Mac Troubleshooting, and Running Your Mac Clean and Mean. [full story]

February 7 - 10:00am EST   Recosoft has released the fourth edition of PDF2Office Professional, its flagship conversion utility. The program primarily converts PDF documents into Microsoft Office formats such as Word or PowerPoint, but also outputs to more generic formats such as RTF. As much of a document's original layout is preserved as possible, including paragraphs, styles, graphic elements and tables. [full story]

February 4 - 7:55pm EST   The Mac Business Unit (Mac BU) today announced that Office 2008 for Mac will be available for Volume License (VL) customers on February 1st. Office 2008 for Mac is currently available in English, French, and Japanese for VL customers. Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, and Nordic languages are slated for VL availability on March 1st, according to the Mac BU. [full story]

January 26 - 11:30pm EST   Microsoft has acknowledged a security flaw in its recently released Office 2008 suite and has promised an update to fix the issue. The installer flaw, reported earlier this week, incorrectly grants ownership of the files to a particular local user as it installs them, allowing a second local user -- without administrative access -- to modify the Office 2008 install. According to the company, the issue, however, does not expose the Office 2008 install to modifications by any networked user account or to any local account other than the second one created on your Mac. The Mac BU says that it is working on an update to Office 2008 that will automatically fix the file ownership ... [full story]

January 25 - 2:00pm EST   Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac allegedly ships with improper permissions handling, installing files under user 502, which is a common user ID, rather than the 501 administrator account. According to blogger Brunerd, this issue makes it easier for large-scale deployments to occur, but can be a huge hassle for IT specialists, and a security risk for users. In large office environment, an IT team usually handles software installs and modifications of software, so by placing control over file integrity in the hands of a standard user account, the software could easily be removed or broken by an ignorant user. [full story]

November 27 - 5:40pm EST   Microsoft's Mac Business Unit has updaed the Office 2008 Sneak Peek site, unveiling a few new features from PowerPoint and Word. PowerPoint 2008 now allows users to export slideshows directly to iPhoto in either PNG or JPEG format, which the company intends for users to be able to upload to their iPods so they can bring their presentations with them, without requiring a computer. Apple Remote support has also been introduced, allowing presenters to make use of the small six-button remote in PowerPoint. Word 2008's Notebook Layout View has been improved, providing greater flexibility for idea management. Users can customize their workspace background with different images, ... [full story]