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<p>Microsoft Mac BU Delivers Strongest Launch in History of Office for Mac</p>
<p>Group releases Service Pack 1, announces the return of Visual Basic for<br />
Applications in next version.</p>
<p>REDMOND, Wash. - May 13, 2008 - Microsoft Corp.'s Macintosh Business Unit<br />
(Mac BU) today announced details about the success of Office 2008 for Mac<br />
and reaffirms its commitment to future products for the Mac. Office 2008<br />
launched at Macworld Expo 2008, and sales for the productivity suite<br />
continue to soar, selling faster than any previous version of Office for<br />
Mac in the past 19 years. The Mac BU developed Office 2008 to help Mac<br />
users simplify their work with a Mac-like interface, tools to easily create<br />
professional documents, and, most notably, the most cross-platform<br />
compatible suite on the market for the Mac. The Mac BU today is releasing<br />
Service Pack 1 (SP1) that provides increased stability, security and<br />
performance enhancements to the suite. The group also is providing a<br />
glimpse at the road map of Office for Mac by announcing the return of<br />
Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) in the next version.</p>
<p>"The response has been amazing - since we launched in January, the velocity<br />
of sales for Office 2008 is nearly three times what we saw after the launch<br />
of Office 2004," said Craig Eisler, general manager of the Mac BU at<br />
Microsoft. "As we set our course for future versions, we are working<br />
closely with customers and will also expand our staff to ensure that Office<br />
for Mac remains the most powerful and compatible productivity suite for Mac<br />
customers."</p>
<p>Office 2008 for Mac Gets Updates Requested by Users<br />
The Mac BU consistently seeks and uses customer feedback to identify,<br />
prioritize and then improve its products through beta programs in<br />
pre-release stages. The team looks to user forums and tools such as the<br />
Microsoft Error Reporting Protocol (MERP), which allows customers to<br />
anonymously communicate issue reports, once a product is launched. With the<br />
launch of SP1, the Mac BU is addressing the top issues as reported by<br />
customers via MERP and other feedback channels. Office 2008 for Mac SP1<br />
features key suitewide updates for increased stability, increased security<br />
and overall performance improvements. Users also will find<br />
application-specific updates, including the following:</p>
<p>Microsoft Office Excel</p>
<p>* Compatibility. Improved compatibility with files exchanged between Excel<br />
2008 for Mac and Excel 2003 and Excel 2007 for Windows<br />
* Custom Error Bars. Restored formatting option on the Error Bars panel for<br />
data series<br />
* Printing. More reliable printing for elements on Excel 2008 workbooks</p>
<p>Microsoft Entourage</p>
<p>* Calendar. Significant enhancements to improve calendar view and all-day<br />
reminders with reoccurrence<br />
* Exchange Server support. Overall improvement to synchronization support,<br />
including removing attachments from Exchange Server messages and<br />
synchronizing to the server, as well as support for editing the contents of<br />
Exchange Server messages via AppleScript and synchronizing the changes to<br />
the server<br />
* E-mail images. Ability to send and view images in Entourage from<br />
third-party tools</p>
<p>Microsoft Office Word</p>
<p>* Printing. Improved accuracy when orienting tables with cell shading<br />
* Document map. Improved reliability and responsiveness to select items<br />
* Notebook layout. Updated formatting, recording status and a variety of<br />
display options</p>
<p>Microsoft Office PowerPoint</p>
<p>* Printing. Improvements to eliminate crashing when printing documents to<br />
high-dpi printers and increased overall printing speed by 10 times on some<br />
large presentations<br />
* Mobile viewing. Ability to view Mac .PPTX files on Windows Mobile phones<br />
* AppleScript. Ability to use the PowerPoint selection object in<br />
AppleScript to implement custom scripts that operate on the current<br />
selection in PowerPoint<br />
Customers can download the update for free at<br />
<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx" title="http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx">http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx</a> (1), and it will be also<br />
available from Microsoft Auto Update.</p>
<p>VBA Returns to Future Versions of Office for Mac</p>
<p>The Mac BU also announced it is bringing VBA-language support back to the<br />
next version of Office for Mac. Sharing information with customers as early<br />
as possible continues to be a priority for the Mac BU to allow customers to<br />
plan for their software needs.(2) Although the Mac BU increased support in<br />
Office 2008 with alternate scripting tools such as Automator and<br />
AppleScript - and also worked with MacTech Magazine to create a reference<br />
guide, available at <a href="http://www.mactech.com/vba-transition-guide" title="http://www.mactech.com/vba-transition-guide">http://www.mactech.com/vba-transition-guide</a> - the team<br />
recognizes that VBA-language support is important to a select group of<br />
customers who rely on sharing macros across platforms. The Mac BU is always<br />
working to meet customers' needs and already is hard at work on the next<br />
version of Office for Mac.</p>
<p>About Microsoft Macintosh Business Unit</p>
<p>The Macintosh Business Unit at Microsoft is a leading developer of software<br />
and online products for the Macintosh platform. The group of more than 200<br />
full-time Mac product experts is dedicated to creating innovative software<br />
for Mac customers worldwide. For almost 25 years, Microsoft has developed<br />
award-winning software for the Mac. In January 2008, the Mac BU released<br />
Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, a productivity suite that includes the<br />
e-mail application and personal information manager Entourage 2008, Word<br />
2008, Excel 2008, PowerPoint 2008 and Messenger for Mac 7.0. More<br />
information about the Mac BU and Microsoft Macintosh products is available<br />
at <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/mac" title="http://www.microsoft.com/mac">http://www.microsoft.com/mac</a>.</p>
<p>About Microsoft</p>
<p>Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in<br />
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize<br />
their full potential.</p>
<p>(1) The download for SP1 will be live by noon PDT.<br />
(2) The Mac BU announced that Office 2008 for Mac would not have<br />
VBA-language support in August 2006 at the Apple Worldwide Developers<br />
Conference - a year and a half before the product's launch.</p>
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