SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 7, 2002 — Today at Macworld Conference & Expo, Microsoft Corp. announced two new easy ways to help Macintosh customers discover and acquire the most popular productivity suite designed exclusively for Mac OS X version 10.1. To discover the beauty and functionality of Microsoft®
Office v. X for Mac, users of Mac OS X can try out a free, limited-time Office v. X Test Drive. In addition, Microsoft and Apple are co-sponsoring a new rebate program with three options that give users the opportunity to acquire the suite at a discounted price.
For the first time ever, the Microsoft Macintosh Business Unit is offering a free* 30-day test drive of the Office v. X for Mac suite. The Office v. X Test Drive gives customers 30 days from the date of installation to experience the beauty, power and stability of all four Office v. X for Mac programs. The Office v. X Test Drive is available at http://www.microsoft.com/mac/ , where it can be downloaded or ordered on CD-ROM.
“We wanted to make it easy for customers to try the combined power of Office v. X and Mac OS X,” said Kevin Browne, general manager of the Macintosh Business Unit at Microsoft Corp. “The Office v. X Test Drive enables users to find out what all the buzz is about and try it with no risk. Once they take Office v. X for a spin, we know they’ll be thrilled with the experience.”
“Office v. X is an essential ingredient in transitioning to Mac OS X; the addition of this application suite allows all Mac users to work comfortably in Mac OS X full time,” said Ron Okamoto, vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations at Apple. “A visually stunning and fully compatible version of Office combined with three great rebate programs should attract even more users to Mac OS X.”
In addition to the Office v. X Test Drive, Microsoft and Apple are co-sponsoring a rebate program with three options that make it easier to move to Mac OS X and Office v. X. For a limited time, customers who acquire a Mac and the full version of Office v. X are eligible to receive $150 back by mail. Customers who acquire a Mac and the upgrade version of Office v. X are eligible to receive $75 back by mail. And customers who acquire the Mac OS X upgrade and the full or upgrade version of Office v. X are eligible to receive $50 back by mail. The Office v. X Test Drive is offered for a limited time; the rebate promotions are valid from Jan. 7 to March 31, 2002.
Fully compatible with previous versions of Office for Mac and Office for Windows® , Office v. X combines the power of word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, e-mail and personal information management programs with the stability and reliability of Mac OS X. Office v. X takes advantage of core Mac OS X technologies — including the Aqua interface, Sheets and the Quartz graphics engine — to deliver graphically compelling documents and the ease of use unique to the Mac. New feature enhancements in Office v. X include improvements made to Entourage (TM) X, the e-mail and personal information manager, as well as to Word X, Excel X and the PowerPoint®
X presentation graphics program.
Pricing
Office v. X for Mac is available as an upgrade version for an estimated retail price (ERP) of $299 (U.S.) and as a standard version for $499 ERP.** Users of Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition and Office 2001 for Mac qualify for the upgrade to Office v. X for Mac. More information can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/mac/ .
About Microsoft
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.
* Connect-time charges and shipping and handling fees may apply.
** Reseller prices may vary.
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