Office for Mac 2011, the first release of the Mac-based suite to include Microsoft's controversial ribbon user interface (UI), is now slated to ship at the end of October in three editions, at pricing ranging from $99 to $279.
Positioned by Microsoft as the Mac-based counterpart to the Windows 7-enabled Office 2010, Office for Mac 2011 is also expected to bring new icons and splash screens, a Template Gallery, more proofing tools, and first-time support for languages such as Russian and Hebrew which read right-to-left rather than left-to-right.
In a statement this week, Microsoft said that Office for Mac 11 will also add two new languages - Russian and Polish - to the 11 supported by its predecessor, Office for Mac 2008.
Also in the statement, Microsoft set late October as the release date for "several regions" - without specifying those regions -- and provided US MSRPs for the three editions.
Microsoft did not pinpoint specific capabilities in its press release, but members of Microsoft's Office for Mac team have already previewed some of the new features in a series of posts to their Mac Mojo blog. Microsoft also released a video demo of the product on the blog last week.
Microsoft's Mac suite to add ‘MacRibbon' interface
"The most notable introduction to our new Office 2011 user interface is strikingly new, but readily familiar to Mac and PC users alike. It's called the ‘Office for Mac ribbon,' or as we refer to it internally, ‘MacRibbon,'" according to Han-yi Shaw, senior lead program manager at Microsoft responsible for Office User Experience (UX) and Word for Mac.
‘The ‘Mac' part tells you that it was designed for the Mac, with all of the recognizable attributes that Mac users have come to love; the ‘Ribbon' part signifies the shared lineage with the ribbon seen in Office 2007 and now Office 2010 for Windows," wrote Shaw, in a blog post in February.
Not everyone is thrilled with the ribbon interface. "It's cluttered, with huge icons and takes too much screen estate," wrote a user named Burst, in a comment posted to the MacStories blog over the past week.
The ribbon, though, will complement but not replace "signature Mac user interface elements such as the menu bar and standard tool bar," according to Shaw.
The "MacRibbon" will show up in Word, Excel and PowerPoint above the content display area but underneath the Mac menu bar. The standard tool bar will also remain. Users will be able to collapse both the ribbon and the standard tool bar.
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