Microsoft – are they going soft in the head?

Its been 3 weeks since they launched Office 2011 for Mac but they took a little while to get it here to the Middle East. Turns out that this wait was not enough since they have still not got it ready for the Middle East! Reason: No Arabic Support!

Few things I noticed right off the shelf:

1. The interface is super cool – I like how it looks. Retaining the ribbon despite Mac OS‘ default menu bar staying there, is a good move. Adding Outlook to the scheme of things to replace Entourage as a business email solution is a stroke of genius. Making it compatible with Office for Windows. Now that is nice. (may consider getting myself a MacBook)

2. People using the MAC currently use either the inbuilt “Mail” program or MS Entourage for their office emails. Both of them are not compatible backwards to any version of Outlook. The translation from Mail to MS-Outlook for Windows (any version), and vice-versa,is a long and confusing ride. With MS-Office 2011 for Mac, they have not yet figured out a way for an Entourage user to migrate to Outlook – now why would they not think of this?

3. There is no Arabic support. Why is this important? Lets just say that Arabic is the language of the region. No pressure to understand this Microsoft!

I have no grudges against Microsoft. I mean despite their holier-than-thou attitude world-wide, they still have a good thing going with their products. They just don’t plan these things well enough.

I just thought it was funny that Microsoft sent a non Mac user to launch Office for Mac who did not even have a Mac to demo the unit!

The evening was not a total blow out though!! We won an X-Box – the new one, the slim one!

Anyway – with the new MS Office for Mac 2011, it looks like more people will prefer a Mac to a PC even for their business needs.

Cheers!

Posted via email from partha’s posterous