REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft's Kevin Browne is the first to admit his company has taken some missteps in efforts to make its trademark Office business software for rival Apple computers.

        One mid-1990s version, Office 4.2, “is like a four-letter word to most Mac users,” said Browne, general manager of Microsoft's Macintosh unit.

        But after a yearslong campaign to court Mac loyalists, Browne is convinced Microsoft has made amends. Office v. X for Mac (shorthand for “version 10”), being released today, is not just as good as Office XP, its Windows-based counterpart. Browne said it's better.

        Here's the surprising news: industry watchers and Mac users agree.

        “(Office version 10 for Mac) is probably the one they should've built for Windows but didn't,” said Rob Enderle, an analyst with Giga Information Systems who has used both versions extensively.

        The Mac suite, with its sharp graphic feel and smooth usability, belies its clunky name. It runs so well with Macs, Enderle said, because Browne's team of fewer than 200 employees has been given the type of autonomy uncommon at Microsoft's sprawling Redmond campus.

        “The Mac group is really an independent group,” Enderle said. “They are missioned to make Mac customers happy and that's it. They have no problems at all making their Redmond counterparts look silly.”

        The Mac team also is far from the limelight that falls on colleagues who build Office for Windows, one of Microsoft's traditional cash cows.

        Browne said he'll be ecstatic if the product sells 750,000 copies — just a fraction of the 50 million copies of Office XP Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer once told Microsoft employees he hoped to sell.

        An estimated 250 million people already use Office for Windows; Microsoft estimates about 4 million Mac users have Office.

        Microsoft has never tried to distance its name from its Mac product. But Browne believes his team has been able to avoid catastrophes like Office 4.2 as the company has learned to understand how Mac users are different from the Windows users who are the hallmark of Microsoft's business.

        Office for Windows is run on the desktops of countless huge corporations and must let users connect to and work with hundreds of others on traditional business assignments.

        Mac users, on the other hand, tend to work in smaller groups or individually, Browne said, and don't need those memory-hogging capabilities. They also tend to work in visually creative fields such as graphics, or in academics.

        The resulting Mac product has more than 40 features not found in Office XP, the most recent Windows-based version. It also omits memory-heavy Office XP features that Mac users won't likely use.

        Microsoft also takes advantage of the latest tricks and toys available in the Mac, much to the glee of Apple execs trying to sell new products. That's especially true of this release, which is designed to only run on Mac's OS X, a new operating system that Apple is hoping to convert much of its users to.

        “I think the partnership is stronger than it's ever been,” said Philip Schiller, Apple's vice president of worldwide product marketing.

        The Microsoft-Apple rivalry has calmed considerably since Microsoft made a $150 million investment in Apple in 1997. Further agreements allow Microsoft's Internet browser and e-mail software to be strongly promoted in Macs.

        The next step for Microsoft is to promote a set of Internet-based subscription services called .NET. The system is still in development, but Browne believes it will eventually be a key component of Office for Macs.

        Through the system, users could access their personal calendar, address book or other information on any computing device, be it a cell phone, Mac or even game console. It will be based on Microsoft's instant messenger and Passport user authentication system, both built into Office version 10.

        Apple execs are wary.

        “We're still trying to understand what this .NET thing is,” Schiller said. He said Apple currently isn't working with Microsoft on the product.

        Microsoft is treading carefully. While the software giant knows that PC loyalists are essentially Windows — and therefore Microsoft — loyalists, Browne has learned the company cannot depend on the same type of trust from Mac users.

        “Mac users are Mac users. You're always a Mac user first and you just happen to have Office,” he said.

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