Microsoft expect sync feature to arrive in first half of next year

Mac Information contacted Microsoft this week to find out when they expected to ship their update to Entourage 2004. Since Tiger was released on April 29th 2005, we had expected that an update would be released for Office 2004 users.
Back in January, Microsoft had stated that they expected to ship an update once Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger shipped, which would allow users to integrate Entourage into iSync, to synchronise contacts and calendars between Entourage and Apple's Address Book and iCal applications.
At the MacWorld San Francisco in January, MacWorld (US) talked to Scott Erickson from Microsoft, and reported that they already had a fix for Entourage to make it compatible with iSync:
"Microsoft has also made Entourage compatible with iSync, allowing users to seamlessly sync Entourage to other devices. Erickson said that they have done the work in Entourage to make it a client that will be recognized by iSync. An update for Entourage will be available after Tiger is released."
http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/01/11/microsoft/index.php
However when we contacted Microsoft for a comment this week, their UK PR manager, Lucy Fairbrass, stated that "we expect to deliver sync services support during the first half of 2006." She also stated that "as with Spotlight, we continue to strive towards providing our customers with the latest Mac OS technologies".
Mac Information enquired as to whether Microsoft's plans had changed and if this now meant that the integration with iSync would now be part of the next version of Office for Mac, rather than being available as an update to Office 2004. However we were assured that there will be an update for Office 2004 users.