Microsoft has announced the next generation release of Microsoft Office and the good news is that, following in the tradition of previous releases, the new version contains a glut of Mac-only features.

Microsoft Office for Mac 2004 includes new and improved versions of Word X, PowerPoint X, Excel X and Entourage X, and having seen a sneak preview, iCreate is happy to report that several of the new features are likely to turn Windows users green with envy.

Among the main draws in Office 2004 are the new Office Project Centre, which is a new feature for managing large ongoing projects; the ability to record audio in Word X and embed sound files into documents; and the Toolbox, which is a new palette of productivity-boosting tools that appears across Word X, Excel X and PowerPoint X.

PowerPoint X has also been totally overhauled in an attempt to head off strong competition from Apple’s own presentation software, Keynote. Mimicking the product strategy established with the last Office update, three new versions of Office will be available: Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Standard Edition, a discounted Student and Teacher Edition and the Professional Edition, which also includes Virtual PC 7, the latest version of Microsoft’s emulation software for running Windows on the Mac platform. “When I first joined Microsoft 13 years ago I worked on Office 1.5 for Mac. I’ve seen the evolution of our products first hand and Office 2004 is our proudest accomplishment to date,” said Roz Ho, general manager of Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit.

Pricing was still to be confirmed as iCreate went to press, but for more information on the new release point your Web browser at www.mactopia.com