HAVE IT YOUR WAY: Office’s Two Delicious Flavors

Microsoft has often been criticized for publishing too many versions of its programs. The Office offering has been trimmed down to just two versions.

Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Business 2011 comes in a black box and contains Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. In addition, you’ll get utility programs like Messenger and Communicator (instant messaging programs), Remote Desktop Connection and Microsoft Document Connection (network sharing tools). Technical support is provided for one year.

Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Student 2011 comes in a yellow box and contains the same programs except it doesn’t include Outlook. Technical support is provided for 90 days.

Time was, folks who had previous versions of Office got a lower-priced upgrade path to the latest and greatest. That’s no longer the case. It’s one price fits all. The list prices are $199 for Office for Mac Home and Business 2011 and $119 for Office for Mac Home and Student 2011. With a little comparison shopping, though, you can often find Office 2011 discounted a little from the list price.

Those prices, by the way, are for a single license. See, when you buy Office, you’re not really buying a box or a disc, you’re actually buying a license that permits you to install and use the software. You can buy a single license that permits you to run the programs on a single computer. If you have more than one computer at home—a desktop Mac and a laptop, say—you may want to buy a two- or three-license pack so there’ll be enough for everybody.

Consult www.microsoft.com/mac for additional information.