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Macintosh users running Microsoft Office 2004 for the Mac will be able to download the first service pack for that product via AutoUpdate on Tuesday. The service pack addresses potential security issues and bugs.
SP1 for Microsoft Office 2004 for the Mac is a cumulative set of security and critical updates that have been tested, along with fixes for problems found by Microsoft Corp. or through data provided by customers and through customer support calls.
Customers will be notified of the service pack Tuesday and can download Office 2004 for Mac SP1 via Microsoft AutoUpdate or from here. Office X and 2001 users will also be able to download new security updates and bug fixes specific to their product versions from that site, the Macintosh Business Unit (Mac BU) at Microsoft said late Monday.
Microsoft shipped Office 2004 for Mac this May. It is the second Mac OS X-native Office version, following the release of Office v. X for Mac in 2001.
The suite includes Word 2004 for word processing; Excel 2004 for spreadsheets; PowerPoint 2004 for presentations; Entourage 2004 for e-mail, contacts and calendaring; and MSN Messenger Version 4.0 for instant messaging.
However, an e-mail client that fully integrates with the Microsoft Exchange server is still missing, and while Microsoft officials have said that Exchange integration is a priority, they have not said when it will happen. Microsoft stopped developing its Outlook client for Mac with Outlook 2001.
Scott Erickson, group product manager for the Mac BU at Microsoft, said in a statement released late Monday that customers who use Office for Mac every day “are a valuable resource because they put the product to the test in real-life scenarios that expand on our experiences in the lab.”
“We strive to deliver the best possible product experience through extensive testing and by gathering customer feedback. This helps us determine issues to address within a service pack and prioritize which improvements will make the most difference,” he said. Other products from the Macintosh BU include MSN Messenger for Mac Version 4.0; Virtual PC for Mac Version 7; and Internet Explorer 5.2 for Mac.
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