The subject of Microsoft Office for Mac has the potential to be a touchy one with Apple fans. There is a contingent of Mac users for whom Microsoft is the enemy, and any alternative to their products is the right choice. For many others though, especially those of us who live and work in cross-platform environments, the reality is that Microsoft's Office suite is the de facto standard, and life is a lot easier if everyone's files play nice.

Regardless of where you stand on the Office versus iWork question, there's no denying that Redmond has has churned out some pretty impressive and very Mac-like software. Office 98 was a fine package, and Internet Explorer 5 gave the Mac a better browser at the time than was available for Windows. Office 2001 introduced some new features, and then Office v.X brought the productivity suite to the shiny happy land of OS X. Bugs were ironed out for Office 2004, and that's where we've been ever since.