Microsoft’s Macintosh business unit is sweetening the pot for Apple users interested in its Office v. X for Mac word processing
software suite.
In a deal with Apple, Microsoft gets to pre-install a
30-day trial version of Office v. X for Mac on all new systems. It is the
first time Apple has preinstalled an Office Test Drive on its computers.
The marketing push, dubbed ‘Office Test Drive,’ gives Mac users all the
functionality of the software, except the ability to print.
The Redmond, Wash.-based firm also introduced Entourage X as a standalone
product retailing for $99. Entourage X is a personal information manager
(PIM) for the Mac platform that integrates e-mail, address book, calendar
and task management functionality in a single software.
The promotion campaign, announced Tuesday at the Macworld Conference and
Expo in San Francisco, means North American Mac buyers gets the Office v. X
for Mac — featuring Word X, Excel X, PowerPoint X and
Entourage X — for $199.
Microsoft’s Macintosh business unit was launched in 1997 to develop
software and online products for the Mac operating system. The unit’s
products include Microsoft Office v. X for Mac, Internet Explorer 5.2 for
Mac; and MSN Messenger Service 3.0 for Mac.