Microsoft Now Offers 30-Day Free Trial of Office for Mac

Microsoft Now Offers 30-Day Free Trial of Office for Mac: "

Curious about Office for Mac but unwilling to drop at least $150 to find out if it’s any good? Microsoft seems to have finally realized that might be a common sentiment, and is now offering Office for Mac 2011 on a 30-day free trial download basis.

In case you missed our coverage at launch, Office for Mac 2011 is a marked improvement over its predecessor, Office 2008, in almost every regard. It more close resembles recent Windows releases, thanks to the omnipresence of the ribbon command interface, and yet it manages to seem much more at home on the Mac than previous iterations of Microsoft’s productivity suite.

To get your hands on the free trial, simply head over to Microsoft’s Mac trial download page, register and hit the resulting download link. Registering takes all of about 20 seconds, and doesn’t require an account. The download itself is around 900 MB, but you’ll need around 2.5 GB of clear hard drive space for a full install. The trial includes unrestricted versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook 2011 (which is only available in the $280 Home & Business edition, should you decide to make a purchase).

It’s good to see Microsoft offering users a chance to try before they buy. Somewhat ironically, Apple did not build the ability to do the same into its recently launched Mac App Store (where Office for Mac is not yet available). Maybe this is a subtle indication of the changing relationship between the two companies and consumers?

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