Microsoft to release Mac OS X Office

Microsoft announced it will release a version of Office 2007 download for Mac OS X in the fall, marking the first truly significant software developer to back Apple's next-generation operating system.

Analysts had warned that without a version of Office, or a similar productivity suite, running natively under Mac OS X, Apple would face problems getting businesses to switch to the new operating system.
"This is a very significant announcement for Apple," Gartner analyst Chris LeTocq said. "Frankly, this is the endorsement they needed."

Until Wednesday's announcement at Macworld Expo in San Francisco, Microsoft refused to reveal a timetable for a Mac OS X version of Office, with some analysts speculating the company would not deliver the product until early 2002.

Mary Becker, group product manager of Microsoft's Macintosh business unit, explained the change in the company's position with regard to Office for Mac OS X.

Becker said that when Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 unveiled Mac Office 2001 in July, "a lot of people in the industry were saying, 'What does OS X really look like? What does it really mean to the industry?' There was a lot of uncertainty."

But much has changed since the summer. "The difference between then and now is that Apple is further along" with OS X, Becker said. "If you take a train analoge, we didn't know where we were headed. We do now, and Microsoft's on the train."