News

Office 2010 SP1 Due This Summer

• By Kurt Mackie
• 04/08/2011

Microsoft is preparing to release Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 this summer.

Office for Mac 2011 users will have SP1 available sooner than users of Office 2010 for Windows. Microsoft expects to release the new service pack for Office for Mac 2011 sometime next week, according to a Microsoft blog posted Wednesday.

Microsoft's Office for Mac 2011 announcement includes nuanced details centering on Outlook for Mac and synchronization support. Details about contents of the service pack for Windows users were not extensive in Microsoft's announcement, posted on Tuesday. The company will expand language support for updates, including four Language Interface Pack releases, for both Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010. There also will be a roll-up of cumulative updates in SP1 for the two Windows-based applications.

More details about SP1 for Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 will be provided by Microsoft at its Tech-Ed North America event, which is scheduled to start on May 16 in Atlanta.

Office for Mac 2011 users get some good news and some bad news with the new service pack. The good news is that Microsoft will enable calendar syncing in Outlook for Mac using Apple's Sync Services, including the syncing of "contacts, notes and tasks with any service or device that supports Sync Services, including your iPhone and iPad," according to Microsoft's blog.

The bad news is that Apple is planning a May 5 upgrade to its MobileMe calendar service that will render MobileMe unable to work with Mac OS Sync Services. That change will also affect Outlook 2011 SP1 calendars, which won't be able to sync with MobileMe calendars, Microsoft's blog explained.

Outlook for Mac 2011 SP1 also won't provide support for a number of services. SP1 users still do not get integration with Google and Yahoo services, as well as Microsoft's Hotmail and Windows Live services, for contacts, calendar, tasks and notes, according to Microsoft, which provided no guidance on when such integration would be possible.

Not every edition of Office for Mac 2011 includes the new Outlook e-mail client. Microsoft released Office for Mac 2011 in October 2010, offering three editions: "Home and Student," "Home and Business," and an "Academic" version. Outlook 2011 is not available with the Home and Student edition of that product. Home and Student users either have to rely on a Web-based e-mail client or they have to purchase Outlook 2011 separately.