More on Mac Office 2011

Here are some of the highlights and features of this new release.

First off, there is no upgrade option so users that wish to use the new PowerPoint will have to purchase the full product. It looks like the pricing starts at $119 for a single user license, then goes to $149 for a 3 license version, and $199 for the Business version (the one I will be getting). And then there are other packs with more licenses for more biz users yadda yadda.

Researching new features. . .not alot of info released so far. There appears to be an extensive new template library. . .not something that I am likely to use, but may be good for many business users who want to freshen up their presentations. I’ll tell you one of the things I’m really looking for is a much more robust animation interface to give (much) more control over the animations I create. Current interface, as all of you who use it know, is very cumbersome and slow if you have more then a couple of elements that are being animated.

The other thing I’d like (a simple wish indeed) is some control over fade transitions other then the 3 choices we currently have. There are many new transitions in this version apparently. . .not something that I think we need. I’m always advising clients to use the simplest transitions possible and avoid wipes, window shades, and on and on since those simply detract from your PowerPoint presentation. In my PowerPoint designs I generally use fades only.

At any rate, I’ll keep searching for more info on features and when they become available I will update you here.