The .docx etc converter for Mac users is delayed yet again — doesn’t Microsoft have any shame left?
It’s hard not to conclude that the managers in charge of Microsoft Office for Mac are quite shameless – at least when it comes to compatibility with Microsoft’s own document standards.
While Microsoft is trying to get the Open XML document formats (.docx etc) recognized as a global standard their own Mac division still can’t (or won’t) release a full set of compatibility tools.
On Thursday Microsoft announced an update for Office 2008 for Mac and buried in that message was a note that instead of making an Office 2004 compatibility pack being available:
- in late 2006 (when Office 2007 and the Open XML format went public )
- or 6-8 weeks after the release of Office 2008 (as promised until today)
- it is now due in ‘late June 2008’.
The stand-alone beta converter is still available but despite the title “Microsoft Office Open XML File Format Converter for Mac” it only handles Word 2007 and Powerpoint 2007 documents to a limited extent with Excel 2007 ignored altogether.
See Also
- Running Office for Windows on the Mac
- Office for Mac gets a .docx converter
- Office 2004 for Mac Service Pack 2 released
- The Office 12 XML document format – Part 3
- The Office 12 XML document format – Part 2
- The Office 12 XML document format – Part 1
- .docx support has some ways to go
