Mac Software Promotions, Updates

In an effort to jumpstart slow sales of Office v. X on the Macintosh, Microsoft will offer a free, 30-day trial version on all new Macintoshes and a US$300 discount on the full product.

The Office v. X Test Drive is a fully functional version of Office, but lacks the ability to print documents and expires 30 days after first use. U.S. customers who purchase Office at the same time they purchase their Macintosh can get it for US$199, a US$300 discount from the retail US$499 price. Similar promotions are underway in Australia, Canada, and Japan. Microsoft indicated last fall that Office v. X sales on the Macintosh platform had not met the company’s expectations.

The company is also selling Entourage, a personal information manager that was previously bundled with Office v. X for Mac, as a separate product for US$99. The standalone version is identical to the bundled version; in particular, it does not provide support for Exchange features such as group scheduling, as does Microsoft’s OS 9-based Outlook 2001 for Mac.