This is a Preview (née beta) release and, thus, this is not a review. The ribbon does a great job of unifying the Office experience across platforms. Which is to say that while the Preview is free, when the suite ships for real a little later this year, it will require an Office 365 subscription or the purchase of a standalone copy for anything more than read/print-only access to Office documents. No, “Our studies show that Mac users aren’t interested in those features.” Quite simply, Office 2016 is Office on the Mac, as it should be, without compromising Office’s features or requiring Mac users to conform to a Windows way of working.Ī Preview of Office is free for anyone starting today, but Microsoft is quick to note that Office 2016 will not follow the same model that Office for iOS has. Mac? Whatever…” way of thinking has now become, “All features, all platforms, all at once.” No half measures. What’s key about all of these releases is what seems to be a significant philosophical shift at Microsoft. Today? The preview release of Office 2016. Then, just a few weeks ago, Outlook for iOS, which may just be the best email app you’ll find for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. First with the introduction of Office for iPad in 2014, then the addition of OneNote for Mac and iOS and an updated and useful version of Office for iPhone. You may not have noticed, but of late there’s been a mind shift at Microsoft.
