Microsoft unveils new Office for Mac

Microsoft is running a campaign to outline the features of Office for Mac 2011

Microsoft has released more details about the next version of Office for Mac OS X systems.

The company has kicked off a campaign to outline the features of what will be known as Office for Mac 2011. Release of the productivity suite has been slated for later this year.

Chief among the new features will be the return of the 'ribbon' interface introduced in the PC version of Office 2007, and which has drawn mixed reviews.

Microsoft senior lead programme manager Han-yi Shaw said in a recent blog post that the Mac ribbon will be different to its PC counterpart.

"Given that this new user interface element is appropriately referred to as the Office for Mac ribbon, it represents a new user experience that has not yet dawned on any Mac or PC, and is making its first appearance today as a fusion of the best of both worlds," wrote Shaw.

The new ribbon interface will be used to store commonly accessed menus, and is designed to complement the standard Mac OS X menu bar and tool bar interfaces.

"When you launch Office 2011, the standard toolbar and ribbon collectively represent the top 80 per cent most commonly used features," said Shaw.

"And since the Office for Mac ribbon is a tab-based design, instead of showing you all of Office's depth all at once, you get to choose what you'd like to expose."

Microsoft will also offer users the option of reverting to the classic menu interface.