Microsoft Delivers Enhancements to Office 2004 for Mac in Service Pack 1
Customer Feedback Data Drives Fixes, Improvements

REDMOND, Wash. - Oct. 12, 2004 - The Macintosh Business Unit (Mac BU) at
Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of Service Pack 1 (SP1)
for Office 2004 for Mac via Microsoft AutoUpdate. Customers are encouraged
to download SP1; it addresses potential security issues and bugs that their
feedback played an important role in identifying. New to Office 2004,
Microsoft Error Reporting Protocol (MERP) allows customers to communicate
bug data anonymously to Microsoft, enabling efficient fixes and helping
increase the overall stability of Office 2004.

"Our customers who use Office for Mac every day are a valuable resource
because they put the product to the test in real-life scenarios that expand
on our experiences in the lab," said Scott Erickson, group product manager
for the Mac BU at Microsoft. "We strive to deliver the best possible
product experience through extensive testing and by gathering customer
feedback. This helps us determine issues to address within a service pack
and prioritize which improvements will make the most difference."

When an issue occurs, MERP gives customers the choice to anonymously
communicate data to Microsoft so developers can pinpoint and solve issues
that affect users. While Microsoft proactively worked to improve Office
2004 through thousands of its own tests, new tools such as MERP played a
large part after the product shipped in determining fixes included in SP1.

A service pack is a tested, cumulative set of security and critical updates
following an initial product release, along with fixes for problems found
by Microsoft or through MERP data provided by customers and through
customer support calls. Customers will be notified and can download Office
2004 for Mac SP1 via Microsoft AutoUpdate. In addition, customers can
download SP1 for Office 2004 from
(http://www.microsoft.com/mac;)http://www.microsoft.com/mac; Office X and
2001 users may also visit the Web site to receive new security updates and
bug fixes specific to their product versions.

About Microsoft Macintosh Business Unit
The Macintosh Business Unit at Microsoft is a leading developer of software
and online products for the Macintosh platform. The group comprises more
than 160 full-time Mac product experts and is dedicated to creating
innovative software for Mac customers worldwide. For more than 20 years,
Microsoft has developed award-winning software for the Mac. Current
products include Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac, a productivity suite that
includes the e-mail application and personal information manager Entourage
2004, Word 2004, Excel 2004, PowerPoint 2004 and MSN Messenger for Mac
version 4.0; Virtual PC for Mac version 7; and Internet Explorer 5.2 for
Mac. More information about the Mac BU and Microsoft Macintosh products is
available at (http://www.microsoft.com/mac).

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize
their full potential.