For starters, Mac's new Office will be redesigned from the Windows version to do away with the ribbon system. That, and they're going to be rebuilding the Windows version to do it justice on the Mac.

According to APC Magazine, the Mac version of Microsoft's Office Suite will be made to work more in sync with the OS, with designers rebuilding the program as a Universal-Binary app. At the same time, they're adding in the XML file format for this version of Mac Office to be more compatible with Windows users. They're already at the halfway point for rewriting the code into Apple's XCode, and while the transition isn't over, it's a big relief for the developers to hit the halfway mark.

Regarding the Ribbon redesign for Office, Mary Starman of Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) says that the redesign for the Mac will include a reworking of the Ribbon system implemented in the Windows version. As she mentions to APC, the redesign will not be exactly that of Office 2007.

"Apple has got their own very specific set of user interface guidelines and we try to first and foremost to follow those guidelines. If we can innovate on top of that and do some interesting things to make sure that the interface is really discoverable for the Mac user, then weÂ?ll look at doing that. We can get some ideas (from the ribbon) but it still has to fit within AppleÂ?s UI guideline, thatÂ?s what a Mac user wants to see."

They'll be doing a lot of testing to ensure the product will be in tip-top shape, but they're optimistic that they'll get the job done well. Let's hope Microsoft's Mac developers can please everyone with their Office redesign.