“Earlier this year, rumors suggested that Microsoft was preparing to launch a new version of Office for Mac in 2014, and now images of what is said to be a new version of Outlook have surfaced on Chinese site cnBeta, suggesting Microsoft is drawing closer to releasing updated Mac Office software,” Juli Clover reports for MacRumors.
“Depicting ‘Outlook for Mac 16,’ the images show a new version of Outlook that’s been updated with a new OS X Yosemite-style look, adopting translucent menu elements and a flatter overall design,” Clover reports. “The interface takes on a ‘simple, modern style,’ according to cnBeta, which is “more intuitive” and it includes support for Retina displays much like Office 2011 for Mac.”
Clover reports, “Microsoft’s last major Office for Mac release came in October of 2010, more than four years ago, and there’s been little information about an updated version of the software since then.”
Read more and see the screenshots in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As always, we’ll pass.
Way too little, way to late. That ought to be Microsoft’s motto.
Mac mail is already so convenient, not to mention the new ability to securely transfer hugely enormous files with Yosemite.
I’ll take Postbox over Mac Mail 10x over.
I’m with MDN…Pass! 😛
A fine fantasy, moving off Office, except I need it for work. My company is standardized on it and if I want to continue using my Mac, I need a new Office. I hope they get one out soon.
Too many people still think that they must have MS Office in order to do business with Windows users. They will upgrade to the new Office suite without even bothering to explore alternatives. The current version of Outlook for the Mac is absolutely abysmal. It is the worst mail client I’ve ever had the displeasure of supporting. It’s crap. Hopefully this new version won’t be crap, but this is Microsoft we’re talking about.
Yea, but Outlook is still better than a lot of other mail clients. It’s not perfect, but Outlook does everything I need. More HTML support in email would be nice.
I like the Address Book and Calendar in Outlook. If you’re on Exchange through work, it’s a must have. I like how all the components are within one application. Apple has their suite broken into three separate applications (Mail, Contacts, and iCal), which I find annoying.
I am no fan of Microsoft, but Outlook is pretty good in my opinion. Maybe it’s because I’ve been using it since Windows NT5, I’m just used to it. I’d call myself an Entourage/Outlook power user. No other program offers better mail sharing features better then Outlook. As for the rest of Office, I much prefer Keynote, Numbers, and Pages.
You can keep Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. The latest version of Word for Mac is really horrible.
My company is called MacXperts, so don’t flame me because there happens to be one single Microsoft program I think isn’t too bad.
NT5? Don’t you mean Window 2000?
NT5 was out in 1997, before Windows 2000. Windows was for home users, NT was Windows for enterprise users. Eventually, it was just Windows. Yea, I’m old.
Your application my be outlook. And this is where you spend your day.
You said you don’t like Mail, iCal, Contacts in separate “windows” and you like them all in one window with “tabs”…
You will find quite a numbers of applications that have their windows in separate windows. This was a design pattern of many Mac applications.
I will just say, Mail, Contacts, iCal are in one application… It’s called Yosemite.
But many things are going to tabs. Perhaps a communication center is in the future.
Think different.
It really looks like five years of innovation has gone into this product. Either that or it’s just a reskinned version of 2011.
Or something in between by far the more likely.
One look at those screen shots tells us that whatever they have done these past 5 years it isn’t even a decent clean up job let alone innovative. Looks like a mess tha verage teenager leaves are a drug and drink filled party while the parents are away.
Next Office for Mac will probably come with a mandatory annual Office 365 subscription. No thanks. What sane person would subscribe to freakin’ Microsoft Office?
Jooop, you are absolutely right. I expect the next version of Office to be subscription only for $100+ per year per user. No boxed versions and no download versions. You pay annually, or you cease using Office.
That’s kind of like me paying my dog every day to continue crapping on my lawn.
I always tell people to “Get a Mac.” I also tell people, “Get a cat!”
Please do not insult dogs by using them in the same thought as M$.
Same thing with Adobe CC, my clients are overwhelmingly sticking with Adobe CS6. As long as CS6 keeps running on the latest Mac’s and Mac OS, my clients do not want to be on a subscription service. It’s extortion, plain and simple.
I’ll pass on Outlook. I’d purchase Word and Excel separately for a reasonable price if I could. As long as they don’t require a subscription.
Question:
Are any of you in Enterprise settings using Apple Mail and Calendar instead of Outlook? My workplace uses Exchange server, and is a mostly Windows environment, though the Mac population is steadily growing.
If my users can get the same functionality of Outlook with Apple’s apps, I’d be happy to switch.
Most people are not entwined in the world of outlook, it’s software I have never used and never will even if some of my PC clients do. Most of us are not so ensconced that we have to use it and I feel sorry for those who are.
Stick with Outlook. You have components like Global Address Book, mail sharing, OST, etc. that aren’t supported in Mail.
When I use Mail, it feels light, feature wise. Outlook allows critical customizations in corporate environments Mail just can’t offer.
I speak from 15 years experience. I was the Mac Guy, so Entourage was what I supported. It always seemed the Mac version of Outlook always lacked a few features only available in the Windows version. Finally when they changed Entourage to Outlook for Mac, they didn’t leave out any features. Hope this helps.
I would LOVE to be able to say No More Office! But, I truly need some of the things Office offers that are not in the Apple equivalents. No, I do not use PP, because Keynote is better. It is nice to be able to open PP files and see how the look though.
If Mail would do formatting and multiple Exchange mailboxes better, I would not look toward Outlook. But Outlook handles Exchange better and is the only client that allows real multiple Exchange mailboxes.
Do you think that Outlook “2016” will support iCloud? If so, it is a no brainer for me, especially since Mail in Yosemite is NOT better than the previous version….
Looks like the same cluttery mess of a UI that it’s always been.
My wife works for the sate, and they’ve migrated from Groupwise to Outlook. We are a Mac-only household. So, she may not be able to go Microsoft free.
People clamouring for Office 16 news. Adorable.
If I was CEO of Microsoft, I’d immediately cease all software development and turn the company into a patent mega-troll. It’s really the only way they’re going to survive the next ten years or so – if they’re lucky enough to make it past end of 2015 that is.
MDN Ed. Sorry to say but ignorance is bliss. I’m one of Apples biggest fans but they have nothing on even the old version of Outlook for Mac. If there’s one thing Microsoft is good at where Apple can’t compare it’s the Exchange Server/Outlook client package. Give them credit where credit is due.
If Outlook for Mac was available on the Mac APP Store as a purchase, I might consider if for my work MacBook Air. Mac Mail and my Company’s MS exchange server sometimes don’t play nice. I often have to nudge Mail to work properly.
Entourage used to be free to enterprise users. Microsoft changed that in 2008 and started charging for it. I think companies pay around $60/year per seat for Outlook.