Microsoft vows support for OS X
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Microsoft will fully support Apple Computer's new Mac OS X operating system revision by shipping an updated version of its Office suite for Macintosh in the fall of 2001, the company said yesterday.
In addition, a full-featured Macintosh version of Outlook 2001, Microsoft's e-mail and contact-management software, will ship this summer.
"We're investing enormous resources in bringing our products to OS X," said Kevin Browne, general manager of Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit. He made the announcement in a presentation at the Macworld Exposition in San Francisco. Browne explained the delay in releasing the Office product after OS X's March 24 introduction by referring several times to the poorly received 1994 release of the Macintosh suite, Office 4.2, which he said was "just bad."
The revised product will be made available for a limited time after release for $149 for registered Office:mac 2001 owners, half the cost of the typical upgrade price, Browne said.
Unlike Microsoft Outlook Express and Entourage Macintosh applications, which are single-user programs, Outlook 2001 for Macintosh will work with Microsoft's Exchange Server for e-mail, calendar and workgroup applications. Jensen Harris, the product manager for this release, said this version was "completely compatible with Outlook for Windows."
"We've finally made it possible to seamlessly share information," he said.
The beta version of Outlook 2001 for Macintosh is available today for free download from www.microsoft.com/mac. The final version is scheduled to ship in the summer, around the time that Apple expects the majority of applications to be updated and shipped for OS X. Apple chief executive Steve Jobs announced OS X's March release Tuesday, adding that computers with the major revision installed will begin shipping in July.
Although Microsoft was absent from Jobs' keynote presentation Tuesday, Browne repeatedly emphasized that Microsoft was committed to the Mac platform. He revealed some of the love/hate relationship between Apple and Microsoft before a demonstration of development versions of Word and Entourage.
"Microsoft loves OS X - at least our division does. Other people might be sweating a little," he said, referring to the Windows division of the company.