Software Update: Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.2

Microsoft has a new update ready for its Office 2008 suite for the Mac OS X platform. The package contains Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Entourage, as well as a large number of wizards and tools to make processing texts, images and sounds easier. The version counter is now at 12.1.2 and has the following announcement:

Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.2 Update

This update contains several improvements to enhance stability and performance. In addition, this update includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code.

Microsoft has released security bulletin MS08-043. This security bulletin contains all the relevant information about the security updates for Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac.

Improvements for all Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac applications:

• Security has been improved.
• AppleScript reliability is improved.

Improvements for Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac

• Become opens more quickly.
• Display of text in tables has been improved.
• Reliability is improved when you use headers and footers.
  • Typed text does not appear in the footers. This issue occurs when you insert a section break in the document.
  • The Close button does not appear in Header and Footer view.
• Display of form fields has been improved.

Improvements for Microsoft Excel 2008 for Mac:

• Files that have invalid characters in the sheet name open correctly.
• Reliability is improved for formulas when the international format preference is set to New Zealand.
• Number formatting for some international languages ​​is improved.
• Reliability has been improved.
• Calculation performance has been improved.
• Stability is improved when you save workbooks that contain PivotTable reports.

Improvements for Microsoft Entourage 2008 for Mac

• Stability is improved when you use Microsoft Sync Services.
  • Events and other items in Entourage or in iCal are duplicated.
  • All contacts in Entourage or in the Apple Address Book are deleted and re-created when you use Microsoft Sync Services.
• Reliability is improved for recurring calendar events.
• Reliability has been improved.
  • Embedded graphics or images are not displayed correctly in messages when you read or view the messages.
  • HTML email messages appear as blank messages.
  • In Entourage 2008 SP1, some characters that follow the ampersand (&) in a hyperlink are truncated.
• The Japanese postal code dictionary is updated.
• Time zone information is updated.
• Reliability is improved when Entourage establishes an encrypted channel.
• The junk mail filter has been updated.