REDMOND, WASH., Sept. 19, 2001 — Microsoft Corp. today unveiled Microsoft®
Entourage (TM) X for Mac, the e-mail and personal information manager that is the fourth and final application in the officially named Office v. X for Mac. As the cornerstone of Office v. X, Entourage X boasts a refined, easier-to-use interface, improved support for Internet standards, and new features to help users manage e-mail and personal information. Entourage X will be available to customers as part of Office v. X this November in the United States (availability for international versions will follow shortly after).
As with each application in the Office v. X suite, Entourage X was Carbonized to run natively on Mac OS X and given a bold Aqua interface. Next, the user interface of Entourage X was redesigned to include six buttons to provide convenient access and easier navigation throughout the most commonly used areas of the application. Finally, drawing on extensive customer feedback, Microsoft updated and improved the main components in Entourage X to greatly improve the way users of Mac manage e-mail and store personal information.
Entourage X showcases several new and improved features. The personal Address Book offers improved international support, enabling users to customize and format addresses for any country or region in the world. The Calendar in Entourage X has been revamped to offer greater flexibility in managing schedules, particularly when meetings involve people in several time zones. Users of Entourage X also will appreciate enhancements such as improved Custom Views, new and improved Word editing tools and the ability to insert rich content, such as movies or photos, into the body of e-mail messages.
“Entourage X has been designed to deliver a world-class communication experience on Mac OS X,” said Kevin Browne, general manager of the Macintosh Business Unit at Microsoft. “As the cornerstone of Office v. X for Mac, Entourage X offers users many improvements and feature enhancements. In addition, Entourage X has received the same deep Mac OS X development work common to all the applications in Office v. X. Whether it’s for the improvements to Entourage X or the great Mac OS X features throughout the suite, come this November no Mac user should be without Office v. X.”
Other enhancements to Entourage X include improved support for the public Internet Message Access Protocol 4 (IMAP4) standard; new Mac OS Keychain Support, which allows users to store passwords in one easily accessible location; and new Office Notifications, which display appointments, tasks, reminders and Microsoft .NET Alerts in one convenient window even if Office programs are not running.
In addition, Entourage X offers the same flexible e-mail management tools found in Entourage 2001. Flag for Follow Up helps users organize their e-mail by enabling them to flag messages and set automated reminders. Categories make it easy to color code any e-mail message or personal information item in Entourage X so it is easily identifiable. And finally, the Links feature in Entourage X provides the ability to link a message, event, contact or task with any related files and information a user chooses.
MSN Messenger 2.1 for Mac Integrated With Office v. X
MSN® Messenger 2.1 for Mac, a new and improved instant-messaging application, is integrated with Office v. X through Office Notifications. Available on the Office v. X product CD, MSN Messenger 2.1 is powered by Microsoft .NET Messenger Service, and includes new emoticons, improved integration with the Hotmail®
Web-based e-mail service and enhancements to the overall instant messaging experience. MSN Messenger 2.1 will be fully localized into the international language versions of Office v. X, and it will support the double-byte character system in Japanese.
One-click integration with Passport profiles makes generic e-mail addresses valid Messenger IDs and keeps Buddy Lists and preferences intact with any e-mail address. It also enables users to log on with the same sign-in name and password they use across their favorite MSN sites and other sites that support Microsoft Passport.
Pricing
Office v. X will be available as an upgrade version for an estimated retail price (ERP) of $299 (U.S.) and as a standard version for $499 (ERP).* Customers that are licensed users of any Office 2001 for Mac application or Word + Entourage 2001 Special Edition can take advantage of a special limited time upgrade price of $149 fulfilled directly through Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/mac/ (when available).
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
* Reseller prices may vary.
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