“After a five-year gap, Microsoft has unveiled the first public beta of its forthcoming Office 2016 for Mac with the release of Microsoft Office for Mac 2016 Preview,” Nick Peers writes for BetaNews. “The new release is free for all Yosemite users during the remainder of the product’s pre-release phase, with the final version slated for release later this year.”
“Office for Mac 2016 Preview ships with five components: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote,” Peers writes. “The current preview version will function for 60 days, and can be installed alongside Office for Mac 2011 — users will need to keep updating to newer preview builds to extend this deadline.”
Peers writes, “Once Office for Mac 2016 is officially released — “later this summer” was the vague date provided on the Office blog — then the preview will expire within one month. Pricing for Office for Mac 2016 has yet to be confirmed, but it will be available as a free update to all Mac users with a valid Office 365 subscription.”
Read more in the full article here.
“Office for Mac, while still a beta, doesn’t feel near as sluggish as previous versions. It almost feels lightweight,” Gene Steinberg writes for The Tech Night Owl. “But it’s also clear Microsoft is running out of ideas, since there aren’t a whole lot of new features to consider.”
“If you’re an Office 365 subscriber, or you’re on a long-term Office contract, it won’t matter. You’ll get the new version free of charge,” Steinberg writes. “But those have to pay an upgrade fee after the public beta process is over should think twice whether it’s really worth it, and that is the biggest problem with Microsoft’s curious upgrade priorities that seem to favor form over substance.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We’ll pass. Let’s just let Microsoft die, okay?