Boy Genius Report is sharing the very first glimpses of the next version of Office for Mac.

The short story from our quick look:

• Ribbon rears its head
• Outlook for Mac replaces Entourage as expected
• Sharp looking calendar, contacts, and notes applets in Outlook
• Buttons look reasonably clean in Word, but still Microsoft cluttered

One more thing.  I just don’t get the Ribbon interface.  And the more I use Office for Mac, the more I miss Apple iWork and there’s nothing I can’t do with it, including saving in an Office-native format.

But if spending more money’s your thing, who am I to stop you?