Beginning next year, Microsoft will include Outlook in its version of the Office for the Mac platform, which will replace Entourage, the current e-mail and groupware application for Mac users the suite currently has, according to reports.

The idea, at least, is that the move will give business users of the Mac version of the suite more of the same features Microsoft offers for Windows Office users.

Microsoft also will reduce the number of editions of Office 2008 for Mac to two when it releases a new Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition on September 15.

Sources say the new edition will replace the current Office 2008 for Mac and Office 2008 for Mac Special Edition that Microsoft sells and will cost $399.95.

For comparison, that is the same as the current Office 2008 for Mac. Microsoft will continue to offer Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition for $149.95.

These changes to Office 2008 for Mac will not necessarily remain until Microsoft releases the new Office for Mac around the holiday season in 2010.

Microsoft will further changes at a later date, it says.

The new business edition of Office for Mac is designed to give business customers using the software better connections to Microsoft Exchange Server.

That being Microsoft's messaging server for delivering business e-mail.

The hope is that once Outlook becomes part of the suite, the integration improves. Whether that actually takes place is a different story, but it's the goal.

According to various Fort Lauderdale computer repair sources, Microsoft also engineered Outlook for the Mac to be compatible with Outlook on the Windows platform.

Outlook has been the e-mail and groupware client software for Office for Windows for years and is widely used with Exchange Server for corporate e-mail.