EXCLUSIVE: first details of Office 2007 for Mac. All new UI.
David Flynn17 September 2006, 9:59 PM
Office 2007 for Mac will have an all-new UI that borrows from the Ribbon concept in Office 2007 for Windows, along with XML file formats and of course Universal Binary code. The bad news? It's not due for another year.
Microsoft's next-gen Office suite for the Mac is being given a top-to-toe refit in readiness for its debut in the third quarter of 2007.
On the surface is a revised interface which borrows ideas from the Office 2007 for Windows 'ribbon' and has already been radically changed due to user feedback. The new versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint will all adopt the native XML file formats of their Windows siblings.
And, the program is of course being rebuilt as an Intel-friendly Universal Binary application.
As is convention for the Office family, at this early stage the product is known only by its version number as 'Office 12'. "That won't be the name it goes to market with -- we'll have something brilliant, like the year it launches, as the name!" laughs Mary Starman, group product ma