Microsoft’s Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) has
shared details about the next version of
Microsoft Office for Mac, announcing that a new
application, Outlook for Mac, will replace
Entourage for Mac.

MacBU is providing this early information to meet
the planning needs of enterprise customers,
according to Eric Wilfrid, general manager for
the MacBU at Microsoft. For current Entourage
users, Microsoft Entourage 2008 for Mac, Web
Services Edition is available today, providing
performance and reliability improvements and
enabling users to sync Tasks, Notes and
Categories, he adds.

MacBU also announced a simplified SKU lineup to
help make product selection more intuitive for
customers. The new lineup introduces Microsoft
Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition in addition
to the current offering of Microsoft Office 2008
for Mac Home and Student Edition.

“It is an exciting time for the MacBU with
updates to our current products and the first
public announcement about the next version of
Office for Mac,” says Wilfrid. “For several years
we have focused on providing the best Microsoft
Exchange client for the Mac, and the Web Services
Edition delivers that today for Entourage users.
Outlook for Mac will bring features our customers
have long requested — such as Rights Management
— that make working across platforms even
easier. I think people will see that this move to
Outlook for Mac is more than just a name change.”

He says the infrastructure changes in Entourage
2008, Web Services Edition, provide more agility
in development for the future — marking the
first step in delivering Outlook for Mac. Web
Services Edition provides faster data
synchronization so current Entourage users on
Exchange will experience improved e-mail and
calendaring support.

The beta was launched earlier this year and has
since been used by several large enterprise
customers including NASA and Wesleyan University.
Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition is available
to current Entourage users on Office 2008 for Mac
SP2, with all updates applied, on Exchange 2007
SP1 RU4 or later. More information can be found
at
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/itpros/entourage-ews.mspx

In a conference call today, the MacBU today
shared a few of the features that will be in
Outlook for Mac, including

° Cocoa. Built from the ground up using Cocoa
providing users with improved integration with
Mac OS X;

° New database. A high-speed file-based database
with support for backing up files with Time
Machine and Spotlight searching;

° Information Rights Management. Helps prevent
sensitive information from being distributed to
or read by people who do not have permission to
access the content
Based on customer and partner feedback, the MacBU
identified the need for a refreshed product line.
The lineup now includes two Office 2008 editions:
Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition
(currently on store shelves), and the new Office
2008 for Mac Business Edition.

The new Office 2008 Business Edition includes
Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage, in
addition to new features designed to help users
manage their business, organize their data and
present a professional image. In addition, there
are Exchange Server support and compatibility
with Windows-based Office software. New features
in Office 2008 Business Edition include these: °
Entourage 2008 for Mac, Web Services Edition.
Improves performance, brings new features and
support for the latest version of Exchange Server;

° Microsoft Document Connection for Mac. Helps
improve access and browsing to documents on
SharePoint Products and Technologies and
Microsoft Office Live Workspace;

° New art. More than 200 business-related templates and professional clip art;

° lynda.com training. Training for beginning to advanced users by lynda.com.

Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition will launch
on Sept. 15, and will be available for pre-order
on Aug. 18 for the estimated retail price of
US$399.95 and $239.95 for customers eligible for
version upgrades. Office 2008 for Mac Home and
Student Edition is currently available for the
estimated retail price of $149.95 for the full
retail version. The free Entourage 2008 for Mac,
Web Services Edition, can be downloaded at
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx?link_name=downloads