If you were wondering when Office 2013 would find its way to the Mac, it’s on its way come February 27th.
And in a subscription model.
Per CNET, after existing in preview form since last summer, Office 2013, the next version of Microsoft’s productivity software, is now available for download.
The company has begun offering users Office Home and Student 2013 with all the familiar apps like Word and Excel for a one-time fee of US$139. Since this stand-alone package won’t entitle you to any subsequent upgrades, Microsoft is also offering a more complete subscription model for US$99 per year that delivers the various updates over the coming months and years.
The package offers the following:
– The latest and most complete set of Office applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Access.
– One license for the entire household to use Office on up to five devices, including Windows tablets, PCs or Macs, and Office on Demand available from any Internet-connected PC.
– An additional 20 GB of SkyDrive cloud storage, nearly three times the amount available with a free SkyDrive account.
– 60 free Skype world calling minutes per month to call mobile phones, landlines or PCs around the world.
– Future upgrades, so you always use the latest time-saving technology.
Microsoft also announced today the cloud-connected Microsoft Office Home and Business, though you won’t be able to snatch it up until February 27. You can get it for a one-time fee of US$219 or as a subscription for US$150 per year.
And along with the new software, Microsoft’s Office.com Web site has received a refresh in both look and functionality. The Web site lets you manage your account, set up and check the status of your subscription, and download the Office software to your computer.
Office 365 Home Premium for the Mac requires the following specs to install and run:
-1 GHz or faster x86 or 64-bit processor with SSE2 instruction set (PC); Intel processor (Mac).
-1 GB RAM (32-bit or Mac) /2 GB RAM (64-bit).
-3.0 GB of available disk space (PC); 2.5 GB HFS+ hard disk format (Mac).
-1024×576 or higher resolution monitor.
– Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 2008 R2 with .NET 3.5 or later (PC); Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later (Mac).
– Graphics hardware acceleration requires DirectX10 graphics card with 1024 x 576 resolution.
– Microsoft Internet Explorer 8, 9, or 10; Mozilla Firefox 10.x or later; Apple Safari 5; or Google Chrome 17.x.
A full 30 day trial can be found and downloaded from here.
If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.