MS Office for Mac to hit shelves

SEATTLE: Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday said it is launching the latest and

greatest version of its Office software for Apple Computer Corp. machines, with

the two companies hailing the event as the dawn of a new era in cooperation

between the once bitter rivals.

Office 2001 for Apple's Macintosh operating system that powers computers like

the colorful iMac will hit store shelves on Wednesday with a sticker price of

$499 for the full version and $299 for an upgrade from an earlier version.

The new package, which includes Word, Excel for creating spreadsheets and

PowerPoint presentation software, is the first major update to the package in

two years.

Office 2001 also bears a more Mac-like look and feel as well as a Mac-only

application called Entourage that has e-mail, a calendar, a to-do list and

notepad.

"This is unmatched in terms of the collaboration between the two

companies," said Apple World Wide Developers division vice president Clent

Richardson.

"We are thrilled by it. This really is a must-have upgrade ... and if

you don't have Office 2001 you won't be able to enjoy a lot of the features

Microsoft has built into its products," Richardson said.

In an example of the closer collaboration between the two computing giants,

Apple, for the first time and with the blessing of chief executive Steve Jobs

himself, granted Microsoft a special license to use the "Mac"

trademark in its new marketing campaign for its Macintosh-based products.

Microsoft products for Macintosh systems will bear a ":mac" suffix.

So Office 2001 will actually be sold as "Office:mac".

"New era of partnership"



"You're seeing a new era of partnership between the two companies. In the
past we couldn't talk to each other without having lawyers in every room, and

today we're talking across every level of the business," said Microsoft Mac

business unit general manager Kevin Browne.

The rivalry between Apple and Microsoft dates back to the early days of

personal computing in the 1980s, when Jobs and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates

went head-to-head for control of the budding market.

By the mid-1990s, however, Microsoft was the clear leader, with its Windows

operating system having an estimated 90 per cent market share while Apple

teetered on the verge of collapse.

In 1997, Microsoft took a $150 million investment in its struggling

competitor and pledged to continue making Macintosh software, a commitment that

many analysts say helped to pull Apple back from the brink.

Browne said Microsoft was looking at making a version of Office for Apple's

upcoming upgrade to the Macintosh operating system, Mac OS X, which is

pronounced "OS-Ten".

"We are able to take our technical teams and put them full time looking

at OS X. We have nothing to announce at this point. It would be hard to call a

time when you can expect that," Browne said.

Browne's team was also looking at how to infuse upcoming Mac products with

elements of Microsoft's new .NET strategy that will build Internet features into

products like Office and start to sell them as a subscription service rather

than as boxed software.

"We want to be able to allow Mac customers to take advantage of

everything Microsoft has to offer," Browne said.

Shares in Microsoft rose 3/8 to $54-9/16 on Tuesday while those in Apple fell

7/8, or 4 per cent, to 20-15/16.

(C) Reuters Limited 2000.