Microsoft working on Office 2007 plug-in for Mac

When Office 2007 was released at the end of last month, most folks reacted with either excitement, apathy or a mix of the two (if such a thing as "excited apathy" even exists). There is one group of Office users, however, for whom the launch was a reason for concern: users of Office 2004 for the Mac. You see, the newest iteration of Office isn't slated to hit the Mac for another six to eight months and as you're likely aware, Office 2007 uses Microsoft's new Office Open XML format. This means that for the first time in years, Mac users won't be able to open documents created by their Windows-using peers, unless they're saved using the older format. This, of course, led to a bout of griping from the Mac community that was apparently so loud, it could be heard over in Redmond. Microsoft has since decided to make its intentions clear: In a post made on Mac Mojo, the official blog of the Office for Mac team, group marketing manager Sheridan Jones assured Mac users that, "The Mac [business unit] WILL issue free, downloadable file format converters that allow users to read the new Microsoft Office Open XML Format." Unfortunately for Mac fans who were hoping for a converter sooner rather than later, the plug-in won't see the light of day until late April or early March. However, if the analysts are right, at that point you still won't know anyone who uses either Vista or Office 2007.

For more on the Office format converter:
- see this post on Mac Mojo

ALSO: Too impatient to wait for an official plug-in? Here's a workaround.