“Velkommen, Tervetuloa, Velkommen” and “Bienvenue à Paris”
So the cat is out of the bag! This morning, as the doors to Apple Expo opened, we officially announced the availability of Office 2008 worldwide from January 15 (dates will vary by markets). As part of the announcement, we also announced a new “Nordic Pack” that will include localized version of Danish, Finnish and Norwegian. Actually, Office is not the first product we offer in these languages; some of you might have noticed that the Messenger 6.0.3 update silently included them!
This means that between Office 2004 and 2008 we will have added 5 new languages (with Italian and Dutch for 2004). The localization team in Dublin has been working really hard the last few months to bring you all these flavours of Office 2008 (taking into consideration all the different flavours in the different languages, we will be signing off on 45 variations). In between the release of Office 2004 and now, we have been improving our processes to be able to introduce new languages in a more efficient and timely manner. It’s great for our team to see new languages coming to Office (for one, it keeps us really busy!).
We are now truly embarking the “Road to Ship”! With the new Mac Office 2008 website launched last week revealing some new features, it also means we can start showing Office in public! This starts this week at Apple Expo! I’ll also be showing Office 2008 at Apple Expo in Paris “en français s’il-vous-plaît!” So if you are around and want to discover the power of Office, drop by the Microsoft stand – 3 demos a day (12h30, 15h30 and 17h). I am really excited of finally being able to show you a product I’ve been working on for nearly 3 years now!
The show starts today and I will post my first impressions as soon as I have a few more minutes!
À bientôt!
Eric
Comments
Anonymous
September 24, 2007
PingBack from http://www.artofbam.com/wordpress/?p=2712Anonymous
September 25, 2007
Will there also be an official Active Sync with this edition of Office for Mac? Would be great to get an official Sync with Entourage and Exchange.Anonymous
September 25, 2007
Will there not be a Swedish language pack?Anonymous
September 25, 2007
Is there any room for icelandic localization in the nordic pack? :)Anonymous
September 25, 2007
Any news about pre-ordering or pricing?Anonymous
September 25, 2007
Éric, thanks a MILLION for the news on localization. Does this mean that the apps have a chance to be a multi-langual "package" or will that be too much in term of resource size and Office will ship as "one language — one version"??Anonymous
September 25, 2007
any support for right to left languages (arabic and hebrew)?Anonymous
September 25, 2007
So what if I'm a student and our campus uses exchange server, I'm stuck with paying the full $399 retail price? Wow, that's harsh.Anonymous
September 25, 2007
I want to see more screenshots and I want to see Entourage 2008!Anonymous
September 25, 2007
What exactly does "Exchange Support" mean? I'm glad you've got your pricing done before you are willing to explain your features: Exactly how I would have done it.Anonymous
September 25, 2007
I must say the cheaper pricing for Home users is a surprise. Any details on what is considered to be the "automated workflows" missing from the Home and Student edition? I assume this means Exchange and Automator support aren't there, but can you still use the full Applescript dictionary otherwise? Wait, no Exchange in the Student version? Really?Anonymous
September 25, 2007
I don't understand why exchange support isn't in the student edition! I am a student and my university uses exchange server, but as a student I'll have to shell out an extra $100 just for exchange support plus use the ability to license it to 3 computers at the same time. i think this is a shortsighted idea, and I for one will not be purchasing the new edition, even though I earlier was very excited about it. Shame on you for bilking more dollars out of students.Anonymous
September 25, 2007
Will you be demo'ing the new Office at MacExpo in London in October?Anonymous
September 25, 2007
Will the Ultimate Steal promotion apply to this?Anonymous
September 25, 2007
No Russian?Anonymous
September 25, 2007
Since Swedish is the Nordic language spoken by most people it sounds weird if you do not have a version for it? I always install the American version but my family prefers to have it all in Swedish. Previous versions Im sure had localized versions for Swedish.Anonymous
September 25, 2007
There is no sound in the shown demos ?? Cool that Dutch has been added. Welkom !!Anonymous
September 25, 2007
Please tell me MacOffice has FIND ALL instead of just FIND NEXT. My solution is that I have to boot into Windows just so I can use FIND ALL or convert the worksheet into Filemaker format just to use FIND ALL.Anonymous
September 25, 2007
Thanks for the localization in Finnish. It makes it more approachable to many people, who are used to local version on PC.Anonymous
September 25, 2007
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September 25, 2007
More! Exclamation! Points! Please!Anonymous
September 25, 2007
So where are the new features/enhancement? As far I can see, the only innovation is the media iPhoto-like application that M$ bought (previously iView Multimedia) a while ago...Good but clearly not M$ innovation...ONCE AGAIN!!!Anonymous
September 25, 2007
Thanks for all the comments so far... Let me try to address a few of them:
- We are offering the same language lineup as 2004 and added Norwegian, Finnish and Danish. So don't worry Swedish is still there!
- No Icelandic or Russian... We always look at data that is available in the market and prioritize those with the highest demand.
- Office 2008 will not be offered as multi-language applications. Without going too much into technical details (will save this for a longer post), we moved part of our infrastructure to bundles (you will see lproj folders) but we are not multi-languages.
- There will be more screenshots and news soon in this blog and on http://www.macoffice2008.com very soon (including some on Entourage 2008). Keep coming back!
- Some colleagues and myself will be in London showing Office 2008. Drop by for a chat if you are around!
- No Exchange support in Home and Student. Universities usually get Volume Licensing and Exchange comes with a certain number of seats for Entourage. Talk to you university IT admin to see if you qualify for one.
- BiDi languages and Unicode support has not change since 2004.
Anonymous
September 25, 2007
Languages support... Italian and Dutch were done as part of Mac Excel 1.0 in 1985 (I know I was on the team that did them) so please don't claim you added them in 2004.Anonymous
September 26, 2007
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September 26, 2007
It's great to see new language versions coming! :) But it's also a little bit confusing... With the new Finnish localization, will the English version of Offce 2008 still have spell checking in Finnish (and other languages getting a version of their own)? I use Mac OS X in English and wouldn't really want to buy the Finnish version only for spell checking in Finnish...Anonymous
September 26, 2007
Eric, We've been hearing "more details coming soon on Entourage, come back soon" since spring of this year. It's now nearly October, and Office is going to be shipping - not RTM, but <i>shipping</i> - in just over 100 days. Given that Office 2007 (granted, a bigger launch) had two full months from RTM to the ship date, I find it hard to believe that Microsoft is still trying to sort out the feature list for Entourage. As it stands, we don't even know the extent of the "full Exchange support" that Microsoft plans to charge a $250 premium for. When is the MacBU going to give us the steak instead of the sizzle? ZachAnonymous
September 27, 2007
Eric wrote: "BiDi languages and Unicode support has not change since 2004." You have got to be kidding me! That's an absolute nail in the coffin for my use--or, I should now say, non-use--of Office 2008. It doesn't matter what other bells and whistles you include, even full Exchange integration in Entourage. If I can't have robust RTL support (like I can get in the $29 Mellel and $79 Nisus Writer Pro), or at least reasonably stable RTL support (like I can get in Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for $79 all together), there's no way that I'm going to drop $400 (or less, depending on my university's academic pricing structure) on Office '08. Mellel can do it; Nisus can do it; Apple can do it; Adobe can do it. Why can't Microsoft do it?Anonymous
September 29, 2007
I just don't get it. Microsoft Office on Windows had built in support for RTL scripts since Office XP. Even in the standard English version of it, not a specially localized version. Localized versions have been around for even longer. So why doesn't Office 2008 for Mac have support for RTL? Isn't it using the same rendering engine as Office 2007 for Windows? It does have solid support for RTL languages. I will be unable to use Office 2008 if it won't have RTL support :-( and so will many other users like me.Anonymous
September 29, 2007
I agree with eric, NO RTL support, wake up to the 21st century. if it is supported by the OS it should be supported by the program. Now there is no justification for upgrading to 2008. I am going to buy iwork or download neooffice.Anonymous
September 30, 2007
Even that office 2008 is not a multi language application, it should be possible to install more that one program language and run the program menus aligned to the selected system language. For global operating enterprises this is a must feature.Anonymous
September 30, 2007
Zach, its possible to the Office team, Entourage '08 is the jewel in this release, so they are saving the best for last. They toting Exchange support as a strong feature of this release and reason to acquire either Standard or Special SKU. Lets hope its as good as it sounds.Anonymous
September 30, 2007
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October 02, 2007
I am positively surprised to see Office 2008 in norwegian. This will make it easier to promote to customers.Anonymous
October 30, 2007
Does "Tervetuloa" imply that it will be possible to sync Entourage with a Nokia phone? "They say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one" - John Lennon