Microsoft Mac Office 2008 SP2 Released, Improves Speed, Adds New Features

Microsoft today announced the release of Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Service Pack 2 (SP2) billed as a midcycle free update designed to improve the user experience with speed, stability and compatibility enhancement while adding a few new features.

mac office 2008

New and improved features include:

  • PowerPoint 2008, including fonts, colour scheme and slide layouts. Increased speed in Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac – launch and scroll times – as well as Microsoft Excel 2008 for Mac with features such as calculation performance.
  • Custom Path Animation adds the ability to author motion-path animations in Microsoft PowerPoint 2008. Users previously could only play back motion paths. Default Theme lets users define their default theme in Microsoft.
  • PowerPoint – Default Theme lets users define their default theme, including fonts, color scheme and slide layouts.
  • SP2 also improves the SharePoint experience, while Mac Office users will be able to save documents to Office Live Workspace. The Web site expands its Mac browser support to include Safari 4, in addition to Firefox.

“There’s never been a better time to try Office 2008 for Mac – with SP2 we are not only delivering on top customer requests mid-cycle, but also taking a first step in bringing Microsoft software plus services to Mac users”, said Mike Tedesco, senior product manager for MacBU at Microsoft.

Unfortunately, those who are waiting for the return of Visual Basic for Applications will be disappointed. While the MacBU is planning on to restore VBA but that won’t be happening until the next release/update of Mac Office. No date has been announce though. Office 2008 for Mac was released in January of 2008. Service Pack 1 ws released in May of 2008. The next major release is expected with the next 12 to 18 months based on Microsoft’s standard 2-3 year release cycle.

You can download the update from Mactopia website.

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