Developing for two separate platforms like macOS and Windows presents its own sets of challenges, but at least in the past, both platforms did share similar hardware in the sense that it still used x86 processors, but with Apple shifting to its own custom M1 chipset, things got a little more tricky.
This has led to concerns about the support and availability of apps for the M1 chipset, but the good news is that Microsoft will continue to offer their support as far as Office apps are concerned. In a tweet by Erik Schwiebert, Microsoft’s Principal Software Engineer for Apple Products, he revealed that Microsoft was getting ready to push out a beta version of Office 2019 designed for the M1 chipset.
Actually, to be more specific, Schwiebert revealed that Microsoft is working on a universal build of Mac Office 2019. For those unfamiliar as to what this means, basically this is a version of Office that will work on both Intel-based Macs and also the new Macs with the M1 chipset. However, it should be noted that this is currently in beta and it is unclear when it will be available for the public.
MSFT plans to push a Universal build of Mac Office 2019 to the Beta Channel (formerly “Insider Fast”) by the end of today.
We don’t have a public date or version for a final release; this is an initial peek for customers to test on hardware they may be acquiring this week… :)
— Erik Schwiebert (@Schwieb) November 11, 2020
That being said, Apple did note during its M1 announcement that Rosetta 2 will be available to help “translate” x86 apps to allow it to work on their M1 Mac computers, but we reckon it’s more of a temporary solution rather than a permanent one, so it’s good to see Microsoft working on bringing a compatible version of Office to the newer Mac computers.
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