Outlook's message gathering in Conversations

Conversations, calendaring: These are some of the new core features that Microsoft brings to the Mac community in late October with the Business Edition of Office for Mac 2011. These features show up in Outlook for the Mac, a version of the popular Windows mail client that’s making its debut on Apple products.

Outlook is included in two versions of the Office for Mac release: a Home and Business Edition priced at $199 and an Academic release at $99. Outlook has a mixed reputation among the Windows community, in part because it was wired into the PC environments so closely that hackers exploited its integration.

Microsoft doesn’t expect that to be an issue with Outlook for the Mac; the computer’s environment doesn’t offer the same sort of back doors for malware to muck up your business files. The Business Edition also includes familiar apps reworked for improved productivity: Word, Excel, PowerPoint and even Messenger. Buying a copy of Office 2008 until November 30 will earn you a free upgrade to the new release. Read the rest of this entry »