I used to suspect Microsoft of deliberately holding back Office for the Mac so that Windows users wouldn't be tempted to abandon Windows for OS X.

If you're a casual, light-duty office-suite user or a student, iWork '09 ($79, 4 stars) is still a great option, but if you've got heavy-duty work to perform on the Mac, you'll want Office for the Mac 2011. It even includes a few features that outclass anything in its Windows-based counterpart, Microsoft Office 2010 ($499, 4 stars). Compared with Office for the Mac 2008 and its predecessors, Office 2011 is innovative, better-designed, startlingly faster, vastly more powerful, and far more compatible with Office for Windows. After a string of disappointing releases, the new Mac version of the world's most widely-used office suite is a spectacular success, and an unexpected triumph for Microsoft's Macintosh group. With Microsoft Office for the Mac 2011 (Home and Student version, $119 Home and Business version, $199), Microsoft has finally gotten it right.