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mum's the word

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Last week, someone told me that I gave them a 'corporate answer' when they asked about the potential inclusion of a particular feature in one of our apps. And yeah, I did. I'm not trying to hide anything. It's that it's too early for me to say anything.

I know it seems odd to say that it's too early to talk about our software, given that Office:Mac 2004 has been available for a couple of years, you know that we're working on the next version, and the Windows Office team has begun to talk about their suite. We're on a different schedule than the Windows Office suite. Historically, we've released Office:Mac six to twelve months after the Windows version has shipped. They're at least a few months ahead of us, at least in terms of their ship date. This means that they're at a point where they can talk about what they've got coming up, and we're not quite there yet.

The reason that we don't talk about it when we're at this point in our cycle is that Stuff Happens. Remember, just a year ago, MacBU was happily tooling along, working on the next versions of our software, and then suddenly a whole new chip architecture was dropped on our heads. Some non-developers thought that this would be an overnight change, but that is not the case. (If you haven't yet, do read through Rick's entry on this subject.) This is an extreme example of a change, but it gives you an idea of what we face.

On a fundamental level, I think that Apple understands this, and thus plays their cards close to their chest. How many of you guys were awake at 5am so that you could see what was up Steve's sleeve at MWSF? I was. Would we have been willing to get up that early if it weren't for Apple's secrecy? But aside from raising excitement about what is to come, their secrecy also allows Apple to miss a deadline. If Stuff Happens to Apple, they miss a deadline, but the only guy who knows it is Steve Jobs. They don't have to worry about disappointing the public by not meeting a ship date or by having to remove something cool from one of their products.

For now, mum's the word. I'm excited about what we've got coming for you. I'm really looking forward to this release. Once we're at the right point to start talking about it, you won't be able to shut me up.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    May 22, 2006
    I really hope we will get proper SharePoint integration into the Mac:Office suite :)
  • Anonymous
    May 23, 2006
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    May 23, 2006
    I DO hope that there's going to be some opening of the kilts once the right time for that hits... but yeah, preannouncing when the feature set's in flux or dates might get tweaked due to the bumps you naturally experience as part of developing complicated software= bad.
  • Anonymous
    May 23, 2006
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    May 23, 2006
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    May 23, 2006
    We've already announced that the next version of Office:Mac will be a Universal Binary.  

    Hey, thanks for giving me a good lead-in to a feature that I can talk about. ;)
  • Anonymous
    May 24, 2006
    Oh Nadyne, if it's at ALL possible, PLEASE get Asam on the beta for the next version of Office:Mac...That would be more fun than the IE 5 betas!
  • Anonymous
    May 24, 2006
    John - What's in it for me?  ;)
  • Anonymous
    May 24, 2006
    I'd give you an honest opinion from the perspective of a dedicated and passionate Mac user, and a life science's researcher. Also, being a part-time futurologist, might give you some ideas for the kind of apps that would make my data mining and presentation more efficient, and FUN ;)
  • Anonymous
    May 24, 2006
    Not to mention the poor tester/beta coordinator who has to deal with Asam.
  • Anonymous
    May 25, 2006
    Nadyne...

    Asam

    Paul

    Me

    in a room. If that's not popcorn-makin' time, i don't know what is. But, if you're at the WWDC, I'll make sure you experience the glory that is Dave's
  • Anonymous
    May 26, 2006
    Couldn't you bring eponoymous along, too?
  • Anonymous
    May 29, 2006
    Oh I like Ep well enough. He can be annoying, but he's right more often than not, so I can respect that. But sure, he can join in the cage match too ;-)
  • Anonymous
    June 02, 2006
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    June 03, 2006
    Eric - We haven't started the beta program for the next version of Office:Mac yet.  We're discussing what we'll do different this time around.  So right now, no amount of bribery will get you anywhere. :)