The last major release of Microsoft Office for Mac was the 2011 edition. Due to Microsoft's naming and release timing, the release of Office 2011 actually took place in late 2010. While Microsoft has made updates to Office 2011 over the years, such as the addition of Retina display support in 2012, the applications in the software suite still look quite dated due to their use of pre-Yosemite OS X interface elements. Today, Microsoft is bringing Office for Mac visually and functionally up to par with the versions on other platforms with the release of Office 2016 for Mac.

Microsoft states that users who use Office on a Windows PC or an iPad will feel right at home with the new apps on OS X, and I'm inclined to agree. The interface doesn't try to fit in with other parts of OS X with transparency like the previous version did with older OS X design principles, but with Office being such a ubiquitous program I appreciate Microsoft keeping the interface mostly the same across all computers, tablets, and smartphones.

In addition to the new interfaces for core Office apps like Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint, Microsoft is now including OneNote as part of the application suite. Since there was such a long gap between the original release of Office 2011 and the release of OneNote for Mac, OneNote has been offered as a separate application up until this point.

Office 2016 for Mac is available now to Office 365 subscribers, and in September it will be available for purchase as a standalone product without the need for a subscription.

Source: Microsoft Office Blog

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  • kspirit - Thursday, July 9, 2015 - link

    I hope the W10 Office will also be available as a package without subscription. I hate those things. It's a pain to worry about them.

    Also, why are they releasing their stuff on Apple's devices before their own? :/ I know that we'll get it with W10, but really, they couldn't hold this off for a month or two? It gives a bad impression.
  • gdansk - Thursday, July 9, 2015 - link

    Mac needed a new version of Office more than Windows did. They've had more recent releases. Additionally, bugs in the Mac OS X version will be less important as it has many fewer users. The Windows version is an important product for Microsoft and it is best to have it thoroughly tested.
  • mdriftmeyer - Thursday, July 9, 2015 - link

    The hundreds of millions of Mac users make billions in MSOffice, for Microsoft.
  • testbug00 - Thursday, July 9, 2015 - link

    Hundreds of millions is a tad over the top. I would say tens of millions of OSX users who use office.
  • iWatchHogwash - Saturday, July 11, 2015 - link

    Other Apple news not mentioned here:

    Apple Watch sales fall by 90 per cent

    Apple has another lemon

    It is turning out exactly as we said – sales of Apple's latest cure for cancer have slumped to a shadow of their initial "glory."

    While the Tame Apple Press and a big chunk of analysts sung praises for the iWatch, claiming it would sell 70 million in its first year. We pointed out that the gizmo was nearly two years out of date and lacked most of the software which would make it moderately useful and if it succeed it was a triumph of user stupidity and marketing.

    Lately analysts have been slowly withdrawing the enthusiastic sales figures they gave the watch, and now a new survey has shown that sales have fallen by 90 per cent.

    Apple is selling fewer than 20,000 watches a day in the US since the initial surge in April, and on some days fewer than 10,000. This is not too bad, but it does suggest that most people who wanted an iWatch have one, and existing users are not managing to win many converts amongst their friends to make it take off. For the record to make the 70 million figure apple would have to sell 195,000 a day.

    Data collected by Slice Intelligence show that Two-thirds of the watches sold so far have been the lower-profit "Sport" version, whose price starts at $349, according to Slice, rather than the costlier and more advanced models that start at $549. Apple's gold "Edition" model priced at $10,000 or more has only sold 2,000 of them have been sold in the US.

    The figures are based on the electronic receipts sent to millions of email addresses following purchases. The company conducts market research on behalf of consumer-goods companies, among others, many of them in the Fortune 500.

    All up though these figures are not bad, but they are not the sort of numbers which Apple needs to convince its investors that it can make mega sales any more. With sales drying up in China, Jobs mob will not have a good bottom line this year.

    Source:
    http://www.fudzilla.com/news/wearables/38173-apple...
  • MacDaddy100 - Sunday, July 12, 2015 - link

    How about all the negative news for Samsung?
    How about all the negative news for Samsung?

    Oh Wait.... It doesn't fit your propaganda and agenda in these comments.
  • MacDaddy100 - Sunday, July 12, 2015 - link

    And Microsoft
  • WinterCharm - Friday, July 17, 2015 - link

    Exactly. What happened to samsung smartphone sales? They're flopping horribly, because people have realized their phones are shit.
  • Wardrop - Thursday, July 9, 2015 - link

    Don't worry, Office for Mac 2016 is just the Mac version of Office 2013, more or less. You're not missing out.
  • III-V - Thursday, July 9, 2015 - link

    About time. Was supposed to release last year.

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