A new release of Office for the Mac OS X, called Office 2004 for the Mac, and support for Apple’s 64-bit platform in the next version of Virtual PC for Mac, signal Microsoft’s continuing support for Mac OS X. Yet, despite these announcements at Apple’s annual MacWorld San Francisco conference, some skeptics continue to wonder how long Microsoft will continue to invest in the Mac given its other priorities, including fending off Linux in the enterprise.

Office 2004 Includes Mac-First Features

After years of releasing Office products for the Mac that looked and functioned almost identically to their Windows counterparts (which did nothing to endear Microsoft to the Mac faithful), in 2001 Microsoft introduced Office v. X—a version of Office for the Mac that looked and behaved like a Mac application. Office 2004 for the Mac builds on that release and includes several "Mac firsts"—features that are appearing in the Mac product before the Windows version. Excel, for example, offers a new Page Layout View similar to that of Word, which allows users to see exactly how a spreadsheet will print, including headers, footers, and page breaks, and also allows users to edit the document while in that view.

Office 2004 for the Mac will also include a Scrapbook, which allows users to store frequently used text and graphics that can then be pasted into a document. The original Mac OS, introduced in 1984, included a Scrapbook that all applications could use, but the feature was later dropped.

Customers who purchase the current version of Office for the Mac between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2004, will receive a free upgrade to Office 2004, which is expected to ship in the first half of 2004.

Virtual PC Updated for G5

In addition, Microsoft announced it will ship Virtual PC for the Mac 7.0 in the first half of 2004. Although no specific features were announced, Virtual PC for Mac will now support Apple’s 64-bit processor (the PowerPC G5) and OS X.

The home page for Microsoft’s Mac products is www.microsoft.com/mac.