Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit (Mac BU) today announced it plans to release Office 2004 by mid-July. The major overhaul will add: a Project Center (for bringing all the data of a project together in a management interface); Word Layout View (which offers a note-taking mode in the word processor, including the ability to record audio from an interview); Excel Layout View (which lets you see exactly what an Excel document’s page layout looks like to simply and manage printing); the Toolbox (a collection of tools for project management that is implemented in all Office applications); and the Compatibility Report (a “pre-flight checklist” feature that lets you check the compatibility of Office 2004 against various Office versions on Mac and Windows systems). In addition, numerous new features in this release are only available on Macintosh.
