"First Look at Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac"

Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit (Mac BU) said Thursday that the release of Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac has been pushed back from the second half of 2007 until mid-January.

The Redmond-based firm now anticipates showing a final version of the software at the Macworld trade show and conference in January, with global availability to commence in the first quarter of 2008.

One of the highlights of Office for Mac 2008 is a new user interface for Word dubbed "Elements Gallery," which speeds up document creation by allowing users to drag-and-drop predefined templates for some of the most commonly used "Document Parts," such as headers, footers and tables of contents.

Another featured, called "My Day," is essentially a stand-alone widget application that allows users to track priorities and stay on top of daily activities no matter what Office application they happen to be working in at the time. It interfaces directly with Entourage -- another component of Office -- offering at-a-glance schedule and task viewing without having to launch Entourage.

Meanwhile, a new version of Excel will gain support for "Ledger Sheets," which will allow the spreadsheet application to handle common financial management tasks such as balancing checkbooks, tracking accounts or managing investment portfolios."

http://www.macoffice2008.com/