"The response has been amazing - since we launched in
January, the velocity of sales for Office 2008 is nearly three times what we
saw after the launch of Office 2004," said Craig Eisler, general manager
of the Mac BU at Microsoft, according to AppleInsider.
In order to further boost the sales, the company recently
released the Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Office for Mac 2008. Users can expect a
set of bug fixes, several performance enhancements and a few other minor
changes.
In particular, the update will present a noticeable
improvement on the printing accuracy and reliability in Word, Excel and
PowerPoint. The new Word add-ons include a better printing, a document map and
notebook layout. PowerPoint presents mobile viewing and AppleScript. Another
feature will offer an improved compatibility for exchanging files between Excel
2008 for Mac and Excel 2003/2007 for Windows.
Users will receive the file automatically from Microsoft’s
Auto Update program or will be able to download SP1 for free accessing
Microsoft’s Mactopia Website.
The next version is expected to include the return of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), which is a scripting language that allows users to automatic Microsoft Office applications, customize dialogs and more. The VBA was part of Office 2004, but was left out of Office 2008 because of the many issues surfacing from the PowerPC – Intel chips transition.
There are three
editions of Office 2008 for Mac, with two of them targeting specific users and
distinct needs. The first one is Microsoft Office for Mac 2008, which includes
Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage.
The second one is Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home and
Student Edition and it targets users with basic productivity needs. This version
includes three user licenses for use by consumers and students but does not
include connectivity to Microsoft Exchange Server or support for automated
workflows.
Finally, there is Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition, which includes Microsoft Expression Media design software.