06/09, 12:35pm
Posts updates for 2008, 2004
On the heels of releasing security updates for previous versions of Office, Microsoft on its blog Tuesday said that the 2011 version of the Office for Mac suite will be 32-bit only. The focus of development has been on improving compatibility between Mac and Windows platforms, according to product unit manager Jake Hoelter, and so Office has not been completely transitioned over to Cocoa. Unless the entire suite is written in Cocoa, it cannot take advantage of 64-bit processing.
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05/28, 2:15pm
Smartphone to add Wi-Fi and Office suite
HTC is reportedly preparing an updated version of its Smart handset, an unnamed source has told Cellpassion. The revision, expected to be named Smart2, is said to maintain the same overall form, but with the addition of Wi-Fi connectivity and Office applications for creating and editing documents.
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05/26, 3:20pm
Apple achieves symbolic financial win over MS
Apple passed a symbolic milestone today as its market cap passed Microsoft's for the first time. Beginning in the morning, the total value of Apple's shares was higher, reaching $225.7 billion at 3PM Wednesday afternoon where Microsoft had dropped to $223.4 billion. The two companies' share prices have headed in opposite directions since the year began, with Apple growing more than 17 percent while Microsoft's has dropped by an almost identical ratio.
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05/25, 7:15pm
Move to follow executive departures
As part of the shakeup within Microsoft, the company will be moving its Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) into the company's Business Division. The unit is currently part of Microsoft's Specialized Devices and Applications team, which also contains Embedded Auto, Surface and Hardware divisions.
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05/24, 3:40pm
Interest in Apple may see it pass MS in value
A combination of factors has led Apple's market cap to where it may pass Microsoft's in a matter of days or weeks. Thanks to a rush on the stock on Monday, the Mac maker now has a roughly $228 billion market cap where sell-offs have dropped Microsoft's own value has fallen to just over $232 billion. The $4 billion gap is just fraction of the $51 billion that existed between the two in March.
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05/24, 3:05pm
MS opens Outlook format with SDK
Microsoft on Monday acted on its promise to be open by posting official specs for Outlook's Personal Folders (PST) format. The combination of a Data Structure View Tool and a File Format SDK give developers an explanation of how to write and read to the format without having to have Outlook itself installed. Developers previously needed to have the e-mail app installed and could only use existing Windows-focused APIs.
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05/13, 7:10am
Microsoft Office Mobile 2010 launches for WM 6.5
Microsoft on Wednesday released Office Mobile 2010 for owners of smartphones running Windows Mobile 6.5. The app suite is ready for Windows Phone Marketplace for every smartphone with a previous version of Office Mobile. The new program will allow users to edit Office documents stored on their phone or as e-mail attachments and browse, edit and update documents hosted with SharePoint 2010.
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04/22, 6:05pm
Apple may be larger than Microsoft on stock index
Apple is flirting with the prospects of overtaking Microsoft in the S&P 500 stock index, an estimate found Thursday. Following another rapid climb to a record high share price of $266.47, Apple's market cap when float-adjusted has reached $241.5 billion, or just past Microsoft's $239.5 billion. The achievement puts Apple only behind oil giant Exxon Mobil on the index.
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04/21, 3:55pm
Microsoft launches beta Docs app for Facebook
Microsoft on Wednesday said that it has now brought a beta Docs app to Facebook. The app is built on Microsoft Office 2010 and lets Facebook users share Office documents within the social network. Created by FUSE Labs in less than four months, the app relies on an adaptation of Web Apps technology from Office 2010.
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04/02, 5:30pm
Company sees no threat from Google
Microsoft is not planning on bringing its Office productivity software onto the iPad platform in the near future. Business division president Stephen Elop claims the company is taking a "wait and see" stance before committing to projects aimed at the emerging platform, according to an interview with Bloomberg.
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04/01, 3:25pm
MS may be forced to pay i4i after failed appeal
Microsoft in a US federal court today was denied an appeal against the $290 million verdict against it following i4i's patent lawsuit. The decision forces Microsoft to either pay the promised damages or else take its case to the Supreme Court. Representatives haven't said if the company plans to follow this route.
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03/29, 4:05pm
Outlook shows streamlined interface
Some early screenshots of Microsoft's Office 2011 for Mac have been leaked, a report claims. Not the least because the updated software is only due late this year, the shots are said to represent early code, still in transition to a final Cocoa-based form. Of special note may be Outlook, which is replacing Entourage and employs a streamlined design paired with the ribbon interface first introduced for Office on Windows. Several of the screenshots can be seen below.
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03/18, 10:05am
MS denial of WP7 copy-paste just stalling tactic
Despite claims to the contrary, Microsoft is still developing a way to use copy-and-paste text on Windows Phone 7, a "person close to the den" leaked today. He claimed that Microsoft has wanted it all along but had to cut it out of the initial version to make the late 2010 launch target. An update would come "soon" afterwards, veteran Microsoft follower and MIX10 attendee Long Zheng was told.
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03/09, 1:45pm
Several security vulnerabilities addressed
Microsoft has released updates to its Mac software, Entourage and Office 2008. Office v12.2.4 offers several improvements to overall stability and performance. The company has also included a number of fixes that address security vulnerabilities, helping to prevent an attacker from overwriting the computer's memory using malicious code.
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02/24, 1:20pm
Also adds full Snow Leopard compliance
Recosoft has released PDF2Office Personal 5.0 for the Mac platform. The program rebuilds the layout of PDF documents for Microsoft Word. It automatically reforms paragraphs, preserves styles and regroups independent graphic elements. It also creates tables, and processes headers and footers, endnotes and footnotes, and columns and sections. The software operates as a plug-in.
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02/11, 3:15pm
Update focuses on cross-platform collaboration
Following Microsoft's announcement of Office for Mac 2011, MacNN had a chance to speak with senior MacBU officials regarding the new software and the possibility of an iPad version. Microsoft has primarily focused on optimizing its Office suite for cross-platform use, extending file compatibility for collaboration across Windows and Mac machines.
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02/11, 12:20pm
To integrate Outlook, ribbon interface
Microsoft has formally unveiled Office for Mac 2011, the next version of its work suite. The software makes a variety of major changes, for instance incorporating the ribbon interface now standard in Windows versions of Office. On the Mac however the interface should still incorporate elements of the Office 2008 Elements Gallery, as well as the traditional Mac menu and the Standard Toolbar. Both the ribbon and the Toolbar are collapsible.
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01/27, 11:50am
Tentative leak has Windows 8 RTM July 2011
A new discovery of a recently-departed Microsoft employee's blog has revealed a rough version of Microsoft's roadmap for key software, including Windows 8 (PDF). If a reflection of Microsoft's tentative plans, it would have Windows 8 released to manufacturing (RTM) on July 1st, 2011, or just two years after Windows 7 was finished. Windows Server 2012 and Office 2012 would ship a year and a day later on July 2nd, 2012.
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01/15, 12:45pm
Software now supports Snow Leopard
Recosoft has updated its Mac-based PDF conversion tool for Microsoft Office, PDF2Office Professional. The software converts PDF documents into formats such as Excel, Word, PowerPoint and HTML. It automatically recreates the original layout of a document, detecting styles, forming paragraphs and regrouping graphics. It can also extract images, and supports tables, headers and footers, column formatting and endnotes and footnotes.
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01/12, 3:25pm
MS yet to offer i4i-cleared Office to public
Microsoft hasn't successfully shipped most if any retail versions of Office 2007 unaffected by the permanent injuction that took effect Monday, according to a quick check of Microsoft's online store. All boxed versions of the 2007 productivity suite, except for the $680 Ultimate package, are listed as "not available," and only downloadable copies are available today for most copies. Officially, Microsoft says just that the physical editions will be "available soon."
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01/11, 9:25am
Follows patch for Windows systems
Word for the Mac will soon be patched in order to comply with a recent court ruling, says Microsoft. In an unusual turn the update will actually remove functionality, specifically some custom XML support. "While Office for Mac products were not accused of infringement, we are changing the product to allay any potential concerns about compliance with the [court] injunction," explains Microsoft spokesman Kevin Kutz.
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12/30, 1:55pm
Amazon and ASUS trump Apple in charts
Amazon today revealed bestsellers across all its categories for 2009. The Internet retailer said that its own Kindle reader was not only the top-selling electronic device for the whole year but that it was also the top product wished for as well as given as a gift in the same category. In computers, the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA netbook achieved a similar effect as it led its respective bestseller, most wished for and most gifted charts.
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12/27, 12:10pm
Job listing hints full iWork web app
Apple may be expanding iWork to become a full web app, a job listing has revealed this past week. The company is looking for an Applications Engineer who would help develop a "scalable rich Internet application" and work on the very heart of the design. The new recruit would have to develop both presentation and word processing apps.
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12/23, 10:45am
MS requires new Office fix to obey ruling
Microsoft has acted quickly on its promise to keep Office on shelves by pushing an Office update to computer builders. The supplement, intended for an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) version of Office 2007 from October, removes the support for reading custom-generated XML within DOCX, DOCM and pure XML files. It should continue to open files with the code inside but will no longer show the code to comply with patent infringement claims.
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12/22, 6:35pm
Beta behind schedule but still coming
Microsoft has announced that Office for Mac is set to get beta support for A/V content in Messenger for personal users. The company's MacBU GM Eric Wilfrid admits that the project is running late, as the added functionality was originally expected to be offered as a beta by the end of 2009. The service is currently in the "dogfood" stage of internal testing.
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12/22, 2:40pm
MS must pay i4i and take Office off shelves
Microsoft on Tuesday lost its appeal against a $290 million infringement verdict that threatens to remove Word and the Office suite from the market. The US Court of Appeals has upheld a verdict that claims XML code in Word 2003 and 2007 violates patents developed by Toronto, Canada-based i4i for XML plugins. It also removes a temporary stay and would ban all sales of infringing copies of Word as of January 11th unless changes are made by Microsoft.
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12/16, 7:50am
EU approves Windows 7 browser ballot
The European Commission on Wednesday greenlit Microsoft's updated proposal for a browser ballot within Windows 7. Now referred to as a "choice screen," the ballot will give EU users what the Commission says is as neutral a choice as possible for their browser. Those first booting a Windows PC will get a neutral window to pick their browser and will see the browsers presented in a random order that gives equal weight to Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari.
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12/03, 5:30pm
PDF2Office Professional v5.0 released
Recosoft has announced PDF2Office Professional v5.0 for the Mac. The PDF converter tool can recreate PDF documents in Microsoft's Word as well as PowerPoint and RTF, retaining the construction and layout of the original. It retains paragraphs, applies styles and regroups graphic elements. It also extracts images and creates tables. All the formatting conversion is done automatically, requiring nothing of the user.
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11/25, 12:05pm
Includes apps like Office for Mac, SyncMate
Several companies have begun offering Black Friday software discounts, joining others promoting hardware deals. Microsoft has notably introduced discounts on Office for Mac 2008, cutting the prices of the Home and Student Edition by $20, and the Business Edition Upgrade by $40. The complete Business Edition is temporarily $50 cheaper.
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11/11, 11:35am
Also makes tweaks to specific features
Microsoft has posted a fresh update for Office 2008 for Mac, v12.2.3. The patch primarily addresses stability problems, such as one affecting the entire suite which could result in application crashes after a program was opened. Several unique crash scenarios have been fixed in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Document Connection. Security has also been upgraded, closing a hole which could be used to overwrite memory with malicious code.
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10/09, 5:35pm
Microsoft unveils free Office Starter 2010
Microsoft this week said that it would venture into free productivity apps with a Starter Edition of Office 2010 for Windows. The special version will be free to use but will have feature-reduced versions of Excel and Word as well as ads that run in a sidebar with the app window. It will only come with a new PC rather than come as a download, but it will have an option to download a more complete version such as Home & Student Edition.
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10/01, 11:00pm
App now enables editing of DOC and XLS files
DataViz has launched the latest version of its Documents To Go app for the iPhone and iPod touch. Following through with the company's earlier promises, v2.0 adds full support for creating and editing Excel documents. The previous release limited users to just viewing the spreadsheet content.
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09/15, 3:15pm
Part of simplified Office lineup
Microsoft has announced a reorganization of its Office 2008 for Mac product lineup. The software now comes in just two main editions: Home & Student, and Business. The latter is new, adding a series of differences on top of the regular releases of Word, Excel, Entourage and PowerPoint.
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09/03, 11:10pm
Court says MS can sell Word until appeal is done
The US federal Court of Appeals today granted Microsoft a temporary stay on an injunction that would have banned sales of Word until the conclusion of an appeal against the successful lawsuit filed by Canadian firm i4i. Originally, the developer would have had to stop sales on October 10th and would have forced Microsoft to shut down sales of virtually all copies of Office unless it could plead its case.
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09/03, 6:20pm
Samsung redesigns netbooks with new software
Along with its X series updates, Samsung at the IFA show launched two new netbook updates. The N130 and N140 have the same rounded aesthetic as the new full-size notebooks and also bring basic productivity apps to a category that normally comes with little software. Both have a stripped-down version of Microsoft Office and streamlined backups to Microsoft's SkyDrive service, which can hold as much as 25GB of data online for free.
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08/25, 6:00pm
Quickscript goes beta
Axiotron has released the public beta version of Quickscript, a handwriting recognition application which can convert handwritten text and characters into digital type. The application recognizes 26 different languages including English, Korean, Japanese, and Arabic and can detect both printed and cursive writing. The program enables users to write in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Pages, TextEdit and other applications that accept text input.
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08/19, 3:35pm
Microsoft Office on mobile
Although Microsoft has not disclosed any plans to bring its Office software to the iPhone as a native app, the company is working on a suite of Office Web applications that will support both desktop and mobile browsers, according to Ars Technica. The web-based tools will include Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote.
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08/13, 11:50am
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.
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08/11, 5:30pm
MS Nokia Office Tomorrow
Microsoft this evening said it and Nokia together would hold a conference call late tomorrow morning to unveil an "alliance" between the two firms. The two aren't specific about details. As the call will be led by Microsoft Business president Stephen Elop as well as Nokia's executive devices VP Kai Öistämö, however, it's the news may involve the addition of Office apps to Nokia's smartphones, especially its Eseries business models.
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08/06, 11:25pm
Microsoft Office update
Microsoft has released v12.2.1 of its Office application suite for Mac, aiming to fix an issue that prevents users from opening various types of documents. The bug affected programs such as Excel Workbook, PowerPoint Presentation, Word Document, Excel Template and PowerPoint Template. The latest version removes the bug, enabling users to open regular and macro-enabled XML documents and templates.
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07/28, 4:55pm
MS Office 2010 streaming
Microsoft recently announced the release of its Office 2010 Click-To-Run Technical Preview program for certain users with access to the office suite beta, allowing them to use Office programs while they are still downloading. The applications include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote and is meant for home, student and small business users, with Microsoft indicating it's a taste of things to come from the software giant. Office 2010 is still in the beta stage, and Microsoft is encouraging the limited number of testers to share their feedback after using the software.
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07/20, 10:20am
Office 2008 Service Pack 2
Microsoft has announced that Service Pack 2, a major cumulative update for Office 2008 for Mac, will go online at 10AM Pacific time, or 1PM Eastern. Aside from general reliability fixes, the software is said to bring a number of improvements, such as greater speed in Excel and Word. PowerPoint has gained two new features: a customizable default theme, and custom path animations.
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07/13, 11:10am
MS Office Web and 2010
Microsoft today used its Windows Partners Conference to expand the details of Office 2010, including its web version. Initially considered separate, Microsoft now says Office Web is a counterpart to 2010 but will make it freely available to anyone with a Windows Live account. It will also be free to use on the local network for companies that buy volume licenses of Office 2010, though companies that just want the web app component will also have the option of a subscription.
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07/09, 3:30pm
MS Office Web Apps Monday
Microsoft's Monday event should mark a more formal debut for the company's Office Web suite, tipsters said on Thursday. Although announced nine months ago, the suite is now said by Neowin to be getting a demonstration. It's not known if Microsoft will commit to a public release at the gathering.
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06/11, 4:15pm
Dell store gets Microsoft
Dell on Thursday announced users can now purchase and download Microsoft software from its Dell Download Store, and has thus become the first non-Microsoft site to offer authorized downloads of the software giant's products. Available to US clients only, users can choose from Microsoft Office programs such as Word, Excel and Outlook as well as Publisher, Access and OneNote, among others.
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06/09, 8:40pm
Office 08 update
Microsoft on Tuesday released updates to several of its Mac programs; Office 2008 and Open XML Converter. The Office 12.1.9 update focuses on improved security by addressing a vulnerability that can be used to overwrite the computer memory with malicious code. Users that intend to install Entourage 2008 Web Services Edition for Mac must also install the update for compatibility. The release applies to users of Office 2008, Home and Student Edition, Special Media Edition, Word 2008, Excel 2008, PowerPoint 2008 and Entourage 2008.
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05/25, 11:25am
Palm Pre Leaked Guide
A leak of Sprint's guide to the Palm Pre for business late yesterday has revealed key details about the launch of the smartphone, including Sprint's attitude towards both the iPhone and T-Mobile G1. In its comparison unearthed by Engadget, the carrier touts less direct features as an advantage, including the built-in camera flash, a hardware keyboard and the Synergy feature that merges multiple contacts and calendars. Sprint also boasts the least expensive unlimited service with a $100 plan compared to the $150 for an iPhone on AT&T and $125 for T-Mobile.
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05/15, 11:05am
Mac PowerPoint fix delay
Microsoft has drawn criticism over the timing of a new security patch, targeting the company's PowerPoint presentation software. Windows users can now download update MS09-017, which addresses a zero-day vulnerability known to have been used in real-world attacks. The patch is moreover said to reduce the vulnerability of Office and PowerPoint in general, by removing a mostly irrelevant PowerPoint 4 converter. The creation of PowerPoint 4 files has not been supported since Office XP.
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04/15, 8:45am
Office 2008/2004 updates
Microsoft has released updates to both its Office 2008 and 2004 suites for the Mac. The Office 2008 12.1.7 and Office 2004 11.5.4 patches address issues with security and performance; among these are vulnerabilities which could be exploited with malicious code in order to overwrite a computer’s memory.
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04/14, 3:55pm
Office 2008 Mac trial
Microsoft has released a trial edition of Office 2008 for Mac. The download is free, but operates only for 30 days before a paid registration key is required, at which point it can be converted into either a Standard or Home & Student edition. Included as part of the trial are versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Messenger and the Entourage mail client.
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