The Macintosh Business Unit (Mac BU) at Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Office 2004 for Mac via Microsoft AutoUpdate. Customers are encouraged to download SP1; it addresses potential security issues and bugs that their feedback played an important role in identifying. New to Office 2004, Microsoft Error Reporting Protocol (MERP) allows customers to communicate bug data anonymously to Microsoft, enabling efficient fixes and helping increase the overall stability of Office 2004.
“Our customers who use Office for Mac every day are a valuable resource because they put the product to the test in real-life scenarios that expand on our experiences in the lab,” said Scott Erickson, group product manager for the Mac BU at Microsoft in the press release. “We strive to deliver the best possible product experience through extensive testing and by gathering customer feedback. This helps us determine issues to address within a service pack and prioritize which improvements will make the most difference.”
When an issue occurs, MERP gives customers the choice to anonymously communicate data to Microsoft so developers can pinpoint and solve issues that affect users. While Microsoft proactively worked to improve Office 2004 through thousands of its own tests, new tools such as MERP played a large part after the product shipped in determining fixes included in SP1.
A service pack is a tested, cumulative set of security and critical updates following an initial product release, along with fixes for problems found by Microsoft or through MERP data provided by customers and through customer support calls. Customers will be notified and can download Office
2004 for Mac SP1 via Microsoft AutoUpdate. In addition, customers can download SP1 for Office 2004 from http://www.microsoft.com/mac ; Office X and 2001 users may also visit the Web site to receive new security updates and bug fixes specific to their product versions.
Related MacDailyNews article:
Mac users should not buy Microsoft software – May 16, 2003
Oh come on you anti-Microsoft trolls. Have you no clue? Word and Excel were on Macs first! You idiots need to get your heads out of your nether parts. Some people have to do their jobs.
Yeah, jobs. Not all of us can live in mommy and daddy’s basements and frag losers like yourselves in Quake 3 games all day and night. We like to drive cars, and meet girls and do cool stuff. That means you have to have money!
Losers. Shut up and get lives why don’t you? It’s not a perfect world where we have to have Microsoft products on our Macs, but it’s a sight lot better than losers like yourselves who don’t have anything to do all day long but frag and sit around whining about the “evil empire.”
I’ll tell you what the real evil empire is. It’s people who think that the only thing that counts is what’s good for themselves. That the rest of the world can go curl up and die. That’s the real evil. And if you want to do something about it, get rid of the status quo! Think different! And use the best tool for the job at hand, no matter who makes it. Apple, Microsoft, Glock, whatever.
Mac zealot,
I recall reading somewhere about free upgrades for those that have Office X (I believe). Is that what you are referring to? If so, can you provide a link to that?
Thanks
You go Steve Jobs, if that’s your “real” name.
I wish people here would stop being such radical bigots. Didn’t the real Steve Jobs say there was no “Church of Mac”? Perhaps he hasn’t been to MDN lately.
I enjoy this site for what it provides but in the name of Steve, quit being so bigoted. You are doing Apple no favors by being so biased. It turns people off. It makes the rest of us more experienced Mac users embarassed.