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Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) announced on Thursday its anticipated retail 
release date of the latest Office suite for the Macintosh will be delayed until January.
Quality checks in June and July turned up problems that could not be resolved before the previous release target set for this fall, according to a posting to the Office for Mac Team Blog by Craig Eisler, general manager of Microsoft's Mac Business Unit. Achieving the right quality level is "super important" to the company and the team, he wrote.
Such slips are common in the software world, Laura DiDio, research fellow with Yankee Group, told MacNewsWorld. "This doesn't cause me to raise an eyebrow."
Breathless Anticipation
Of course, the Mac faithful already are expressing their discontent in many outlets on the Internet. Mac users tend to wait far longer than Windows users for product releases and updates of Microsoft applications.
Eisler also addressed this issue in his post, writing that "we're working to get releases out on a more frequent basis, delivering more good stuff to Microsoft Mac customers more often."
The company would be foolish to ignore its small but very committed user base in the Mac community, DiDio noted. Users of Microsoft software who prefer the Mac platform "are not going away," she said; in fact, recent sales numbers show that the Mac platform even is gaining traction in home and business markets.
Quality vs. Deadlines
However, reaching a deadline is not worth the risk of releasing a buggy product, DiDio said.
"If they did release something substandard," she explained, "customers, analysts and the press community would be all over them for it. It's better to take your time and do it right."
Thus, in the larger scheme of things -- where users wait several years between application updates -- six months is not a particular problem, DiDio asserted. "The customers should have something that's decent and worthwhile, so what's another six months?" she asked.
Sneaking a Peek
This fall, wrote Eisler, the development team will present "sneak peeks" of the functionality offered by the new Office suite. This will be during the significant push to get the software out the door, an effort that has required the team to go into "all hands on deck" mode, he said.
While the software will be available for the Macworld Conference & Expo in January, several components will not, according to Eisler. For example, file format converters will not be ready until after the product is available on the retail market, he noted.
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