Microsoft has announced the official release of Office for Mac 2011, the latest version of its office productivity suite which dumps Entourage for Outlook and includes integration with the Office Web apps — the browser-based edition of Office that lets you work with online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote applications. Among other things, Office for Mac 2011 also brings better cross-platform compatibility, speed and performance improvements, as well as the debut of the "Ribbon" menu interface which has been a part of the Windows version since 2007.
Office 2011 comes in three different versions: Home and Student, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Messenger and costs $150 (licensed for up to 3 computers in the same household); Home and Business, which also includes the new Mac version of Outlook and retails for $280 (single user, two installs and one year tech support); and the Academic version with all four suite applications for a discounted price of $100 with a limited academic license. The suite is available to purchase today from Apple, Amazon, Best Buy, MacMall, or directly as a download from Microsoft.
Interestingly, Microsoft decided to forego upgrade pricing this time, charging everyone the same regardless of whether they have a previous version or not. Check out some reviews at Mashable and PCWorld to help you decide if the new features and additions are worth the cost of buying the latest Office version for Mac.
