Microsoft Releases Word OOXML Converter for Office for Mac

As the Mac BU continues to forge ahead with completing development on
Office 2008 for Mac, Microsoft today announced the release of its
standalone, drag and drop Word converter for Office 2004 for Mac and v. X
users. To aid customers during the period of transition to the Office Open
XML file format, the standalone, drag and drop converter was developed as a
provisional solution until the final, integrated converter is available.

Details on today’s converter release include:

* The converter provides read-only access to Office Open XML files and
converts Word documents to a Rich Text Format (.rtf).

* The converter offers both individual and batch file conversion.

* PowerPoint and Excel drag and drop updates to the converter will be
released this summer.

* Upon the release of the final application update, the Mac BU will offer
the only free, suite-wide Office Open XML converter tool.

* The Word converter is available for download on the Mac BU Web site at
(http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx). PowerPoint and Excel updates
will be available via AutoUpdate.

* The final Office 2004 for Mac converter will be a fully integrated
solution providing both read and write functionality, and will be available
six to eight weeks after the release of Office 2008 for Mac.

For inside commentary from the Mac BU on this news and the state of the
business, visit the Mac BU’s Mac Mojo blog to read a post by Geoff Price,
product unit manager with the Mac BU – (http://blogs.msdn.com/macmojo/).