Amazon leaks probable Mac Office 2011 launch date

As the 9to5 Mac site noted on September 10, it looks like Amazon.com has leaked again another Microsoft launch date and pricing.

According to a screen capture on that site, Amazon will be making available the next version of Microsoft's Mac Office suite starting on October 26.

Microsoft officials previously said the new suite would be available at the end of October. In early August, Microsoft shared pricing for the forthcoming suite. The three SKUs, or versions — Office for Mac Home & Student 2011, Office for Mac Home & Business 2011 and Office for Mac Academic 2011 — will be available at retail. (The Academic version, for students and faculty, will be available via authorized academic stores.)

Mac Office 2011 replaces Entourage with Outlook and adds back Visual Basic for Applications support to the product. Mac Office 2011 gets a Ribbonized user interface, similar to the one built into the recent  Windows versions of Office, and will be a 32-bit product only.

Microsoft is neither confirming nor denying the October 26 date.

"As announced this summer, Office for Mac 2011 will be on store shelves late October. However, we haven't announced the official launch date," a spokesperson told me today when I asked.