Interoperability with Apple Macintosh Systems

Microsoft provides a comprehensive set of products and services to support interoperability between Windows operating systems, including Windows XP Professional, and Apple Macintosh computers. These include:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Services for Macintosh

• Microsoft Office for Apple Macintosh computers

• Microsoft Internet applications for Apple Macintosh computers

Windows Server 2003 Services for Macintosh

Services for Macintosh provides server-based interoperability services to allow Windows clients, including Windows XP Professional clients, and Apple Macintosh clients to share files and printers. The three primary components of Services for Macintosh are:

• AppleTalk Phase 2 Protocol Suite. A set of network protocols on which AppleTalk network architecture is based.

• File Services for Macintosh. Allows users of Macintosh computers to store, access, and share files on servers running Services for Macintosh. This service supports AppleTalk Filing Protocol (AFP) over TCP/IP support. This enables earlier Macintosh clients to access shared resources through the faster TCP/IP protocol. With this feature, you can completely remove the AppleTalk protocol from your network and Macintosh clients will still have the ability to access shared volumes.

• Print Services for Macintosh. Enables Macintosh clients to send and spool documents to printers attached to a computer running Windows NT Server; Windows 2000 Server; or an operating system in the Windows Server 2003 family, excluding 64-bit editions.

Microsoft Office for Apple Macintosh Operating Systems

Microsoft provides a full set of Microsoft Office applications for Macintosh computers. At the time of this writing, the most recent release of Microsoft Office for Macintosh is Microsoft Office v. X for Mac. Because Microsoft Office v. X uses the same file format as Office XP, Office 2000, and Office 97 on the Windows platform, as well as Office 2001 for Mac and Office 98 Macintosh Edition, users can share files and data easily across multiple versions of Windows and Macintosh-based computers.

Microsoft Office v. X for Mac includes the following applications, each of which are also available as separate applications outside of the Microsoft Office v. X for Mac suite:

• Microsoft Word X. A word processing and Web authoring program designed specifically for Mac OS X.

• Microsoft Excel X. A spreadsheet program for evaluating, calculating, and analyzing data, as well as creating charts and reports.

• Microsoft PowerPoint X. A business tool used to create dynamic presentations.

• Microsoft Entourage X. An e-mail and personal information management program designed specifically for Mac OS X. Entourage X combines e-mail, calendar, address book, and tasks into one program and is tightly integrated with the other Microsoft Office v. X applications.