Microsoft has launched Office 2011 for Mac to allow Mac users to avail of the latest versions of the company's productivity software.

Microsoft's Office for Mac General Manager Eric Wilfrid said, "As someone who works at Microsoft and deals with Apple often, I acknowledge that our companies compete."

"Some people choose Windows, and some people choose Mac. That conflict tends to get a lot of attention, but I deal in the reality that there are customers who love their Macs and also love using Office."

According to Wilfried, three-quarters of all Mac users have Office installed on their machines.

"That's the vast majority of Mac customers counting on Microsoft for a critical piece of their computing needs."

"Mac users need Office because it helps them work with the Windows world."

Mac users can now install the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and, for the first time, Outlook. Office 2011 is available in 13 languages around the world, and by November the suite will be available in more than 45 countries. With the release, the company offers Mac customers many of the cloud-based benefits that Windows customers experienced with the recently released Office 2010

Microsoft has made Mac-compatible versions of Word and Excel for 26 years.Since 1997, Microsoft has a dedicated team focused oi building Office for Mac and Office 2011 is the product of 13 years of effort from the Microsoft's Office for Mac team.