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Office 2008 for Mac will share a new graphics engine with Office for Windows. Office Art 2.0 provides users with the ability to add professionally designed graphics with a click of a button. Like the Windows version, with its new user interface, Office 2008 has its own new UI that introduces Elements Gallery. This gives users quick access to tools and Mac-specific features while retaining a Mac-like look and feel.

Included in the Elements Gallery is a tool called Document Parts that simplifies and automates some of the most common, but often difficult and tedious, document tasks - such as adding a table of contents or headers and footers.

Mac-Only features include: a Publishing Layout View that lets users create layout-rich documents, such as newsletters, fliers and brochures using desktop publishing layout tools and text box entry; and Ledger Sheets that employ Excel to handle common financial management tasks.

Office will also include My Day, a compact standalone application that offers at-a-glance schedule and task viewing without launching Entourage.

Microsoft has also worked on cross-platform compatibility collaboration - Office 2008 for Mac will use the Office Open XML Formats introduced in Office 2007 for Windows. The Mac Business Unit (Mac BU) confirmed that it plans to release a public

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beta of file format converters for the current version, Office 2004 for Mac, so that users can read and write the new formats, with the final versions shipping six to eight weeks after Office 2008 for Mac is released.

'For more than two decades, Microsoft has been committed to delivering quality and innovation on the Macintosh platform while retaining unparalleled compatibility with PCs,' said Roz Ho, general manager of the Mac BU at Microsoft. 'Office 2008 is, by far, the most comprehensive, Mac-complementary productivity suite we've developed to date. I've witnessed firsthand the progression of this product, and am excited to think about the possibilities that soon will be available to our customers when Office 2008 launches later this year.'

Ho explained that the Mac BU could not release converters until the 2007 Office system bits and the new file format itself were locked down and complete.

'We spent the last year and a half preparing and planning for our own development of file format converters for Office for Mac, she said. 'This process included support work of a rich and compatible XML parser, code to understand the new package structure, and beginning work on reading and writing early development versions of the file format.'

Some third-party developers have been able to beat Microsoft and release their own converters. Ho welcomed this, but said that it did not show that the Mac BU's own development has been sluggish, but demonstrated that it wants to ensure that its own converters are totally reliable and accurate.

'We have a different mandate when it comes to compatibility with the 2007 Microsoft Office system, and file fidelity is paramount,' she said. 'For instance, when we ship a Word converter, our customers expect us to make sure page layout is preserved for every Word document, which requires a lot more engineering effort than just importing the text.'