The Mind of Dr. Mac

The Microsoft Mac Business Unit today released Service Pack 2 (SP2), which increases performance and reliability across applications as well as a new utility, Document Connection for Mac.

According to a press release issued this morning, :

SP2 provides several updates across the Microsoft Office 2008 suite for an improved experience. The team incorporated customer feedback received through a variety of channels to prioritize updates and maximize the potential of the suite with increased compatibility and speed. Highlights of the release include the following:

• (PowerPoint) Custom Path Animation adds the ability to author motion-path animations. Users previously could only play back motion paths.
• (PowerPoint) Default Theme lets users define their default theme, including fonts, color scheme and slide layouts.
• (Word) Increased launch and scroll speed.
• (Excel) calculation performance.
• (Document Connection) Enables a more seamless experience for Office 2008 users to save and open documents to Microsoft Office Live Workspace from Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• (Microsoft Office Live Workspace) Expanded Mac browser support to include Safari 4 along with existing support for Firefox 2.0 (required for Mac OS X 10.2.x or later).
• (Document Connection) Improves the SharePoint experience for Mac users, allowing for easier collaboration within a SharePoint environment by simplifying how users can browse, access and manage files online and offline.

To download the 300MB updater, click here.

A few minutes ago Apple announced updates to all of its desktop computer systems: Mac Pro, iMac, and Mac Mini.

I’m really busy with a big For Dummies book project (I’d tell you but then I’d have to kill you and I’m decidedly non-violent), so I’m going to do something I’ve never done before — paste text from an Apple press release verbatim:

“The new Mac Pro is a significant upgrade and starts at $300 less than before,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The Mac Pro features an advanced system architecture, new faster processors and our best-ever graphics options to deliver a faster, more powerful system that our professional customers are going to love.”

“Our flagship 24-inch iMac with twice the memory and twice the storage is now available for just $1,499,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s COO. “The Mac mini is not only our most affordable Mac, it’s also the world’s most energy efficient desktop computer.”

Starting at $599, the Mac mini is an innovative, tiny desktop measuring only 6.5 by 6.5 by 2-inches. Available in two models, Mac mini features a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up to 4GB of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, up to 320GB Serial ATA hard drive, five USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800 and a SuperDrive®. The Mac mini features NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics for up to five times better graphics performance than before* and now with dual display support can drive two Apple or third-party displays with Mini DisplayPort or DVI connections. Using less than 13 watts of power at idle, up to 10 times less power than a typical desktop PC, the new Mac mini is the most energy efficient desktop in the world.

For additional details:

Click here for new Mac Pro info

Click here for new iMac info

Click here for new Mac Mini info