by Microsoft on Tuesday released its new Office 2013 and Office 365 productivity software suites. Lost in the announcement, however, was what (if anything) those suites would mean to Mac users. Macworld spoke to Microsoft representatives to get some clarification.
MicrosoftOffice for Mac 2011
For starters, Office 2013 doesn’t mean anything to the Mac: it’s for Windows computers only. Office 365, on the other hand, does impact Mac users, but it doesn’t introduce any new features; rather, it’s essentially a new licensing model for Office for Mac.
A subscription to Office 365 ($10 per month, or $100 per year) gives you the right to download Office software to up to five computers. For Mac users, what you’ll download is Office for Mac 2011—it’s pretty much the same version of the suite that we’ve been using for a couple of years now, but it’s been updated to include activation for Office 365 Home Premium. Your subscription must be renewed monthly or annually in order to continue to use the software. (A four-year education version that runs on two computers is available for $80.)
If you currently own Office for Mac 2011, you must uninstall that software when you sign up for Office 365. You will then download and install Office for Mac 2011 through your Office 365 account—again, on up to five Macs.
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