KEY POINTS:
A new version of Office for Mac will be released early in the new year.
It will finally be released to manufacturing in December, meaning mid-January it can be unveiled at the MacWorld conference.
Many commentators have rightly pointed out that Microsoft does have a tendency to drag the chain on release days.
Not surprisingly, Microsoft assure us all that it's a quality issue.
"We had hoped to deliver the product in the second half of 2007, and as you might imagine, this was a big slip for us," read a press release about Office 2008.
To meet the December deadline, Office 2008 will be released minus the full selection of file format converters and without Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) client, which will both ship after the product itself.
Following what has become standard marketing practice for Microsoft's Mac BU, there will be 'sneak peaks' and a likely beta release before the main package hits shop shelves in the US.
A bit of good news, though, it will be a universal package rather than separate PowerPC and Intel installers.
- NZ HERALD STAFF
