To emphasize the point, the naming has advanced five years from the last Mac version - Office 2011 - to match the forthcoming Windows desktop version, Office 2016, due later this year. Microsoft brought out Office 2016 for Mac last week, and it’s essentially a clone of the Windows desktop version of Office. But it was typically behind its Windows cousin in features, and was on a different update cycle from Office for Windows. Until roughly two years ago, Microsoft had deployed a separate, independent, Apple-focused team to handle Office for Mac, with development help from Apple, and the product had a Mac look and feel. For many years - even when the rivalry between the two companies was at its hottest - Microsoft has produced a native version of its Office suite for Apple’s Macintosh computers, something Apple has welcomed.