Review: Microsoft's Office 2011 for Mac

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  • Reply 21 of 107
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
  • Reply 22 of 107
    I've been waiting for a year for someone to properly review the Outlook component. I personally don't care about Word, Excel, nor PowerPoint because I so very rarely use them. Instead, I prefer creating documents in Pages and exporting them to PDF. If I need to create doc files, I'll generally use NeoOffice. I don't generally need the power of Excel and prefer the freeform document creation of Numbers. And finally as everyone seems to agree, the creation of presentations in Keynote is light years ahead of PowerPoint.



    However, I am forced to use Entourage for Exchange server compatibility, and while it has some functionality I love (like the Project Center, something that really should be carried over into the Windows client), it sorely lacks in some huge ways. I'm so tired of replying to messages containing tables just to have 90% of a message's formatting stripped.



    So the two main questions I have are:
    • Does Outlook for Mac finally support RTF (or even slightly complex HTML) formatted messages?

    • Does Outlook for Mac finally support server-side rules so that I don't have to leave my computer on and Entourage running so that my messages will be properly sorted - and while we're at it, if I set my out-of-office, that model dialogue asking if I want to turn out-of-office off halts all client-side receipt of email as well as rules processing, an annoying bug that should've been fixed a long time ago.

  • Reply 23 of 107
    djsherlydjsherly Posts: 1,031member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Psych_guy View Post


    The human mind is vastly complex. Words are easier to work with if you're left-brain oriented. For those of us who are right-brain oriented, graphics and pictures are easier to work with.



    No one size fits all. Sorry.



    This might explain my preference for keyboard shortcuts and menu items over icons. If I can find a way to perform a task without icons, I will do so.
  • Reply 24 of 107
    I am ready for this release. I will be upgrading as soon as I can. I can't stand iWork.
  • Reply 25 of 107
    If its not made by Apple, its crap!
  • Reply 26 of 107
    sensisensi Posts: 346member
    All this ranting about ribbons -ok, never liked them too but they are still way better to apprehend with the labels on by default- and negligible UI quirks -seriously who cares for the skin of a single use settings modal box- to finally give it a "very good" rating? I guess someone felt forced.



    Meanwhile iWork -with the notable exception of Keynote for which I have no use- looks more and more outdated, iWork.com is stuck since one year and an half in beta (still can't edit document online last time I checked), yet someone is able to recommend that. People use and pay for Office when needed (compatibility, habits, etc), otherwise they use the free and more than decent OpenOffice, iWork seems just an useless buy as a dumbed down and limited middle ground seriously lacking an update.
  • Reply 27 of 107
    rainrain Posts: 538member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ghostface147 View Post


    I am ready for this release. I will be upgrading as soon as I can. I can't stand iWork.



    iWork has it's flaws. However, Office... my god man, there will be tribunals for crimes against humanity.
  • Reply 28 of 107
    kotatsukotatsu Posts: 1,010member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anotherperson View Post


    I refuse to use Microsoft Office. It's time for the monopoly to end.



    Do you feel the same way about Photoshop?
  • Reply 29 of 107
    mr. hmr. h Posts: 4,870member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rain View Post


    Office makes me explode with insane nerd rage every time I open it and try to do something simple.



    Tried to make a letterhead template for a client in Word once. After 3 hours of trying to position the logo, I gave up and gave it to an 'Office Pro' who has been working with the suite since it's inception. They couldn't even get it right after a few days. Passed it on to another person who works with Word all the time... they couldn't get it right either. "I don't think word is meant to do things like that".



    Opened up Pages - dropped in the logo, dragged it to where I wanted it, made a box with a bleed and typed some text, made some text boxes. Done. 38 seconds.



    Saved the file as word - opened it up in word - word screwed it all up.



    Phoned the client: "Sorry, our company no longer supports Microsoft products".



    Been happy since.



    No idea why none of you could figure this out. Sure, the controls are clunky, but a Word expert should be able to do it.
  • Reply 30 of 107
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kotatsu View Post


    Do you feel the same way about Photoshop?



    Yeah, I do! PhotoShop, Elements and Excel for that matter!



    iWork is a dream compared to the MS software.
  • Reply 31 of 107
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. H View Post


    No idea why none of you could figure this out. Sure, the controls are clunky, but a Word expert should be able to do it.



    That's the point, dude!
  • Reply 32 of 107
    The reviewer criticizes the media browser as an example of MS's non-standard use of interface elements, complaining that it's "busier". Well, yeah, it's busier because it provides (by necessity) far more functionality than Apple's standard browser. Additionally, I appreciate the slider for resizing thumbnails.
  • Reply 33 of 107
    enzosenzos Posts: 344member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Povilas View Post


    What people need to know. For simple tasks Pages is a way better app than word and Keynote beats the carp out of powerpoit.



    .. can I quote you on that ?;-)
  • Reply 34 of 107
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. H View Post


    No idea why none of you could figure this out. Sure, the controls are clunky, but a Word expert should be able to do it.



    Is it even legal to put "Word" and "expert" next to each other in a sentence.
  • Reply 35 of 107
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by enzos View Post


    .. can I quote you on that ?;-)



    Give him a break... he was using Word to write that post.
  • Reply 36 of 107
    enzosenzos Posts: 344member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by christopher126 View Post


    That's the point, dude!



    Exactly!



    We should petition MS to allow someone with a brain and good taste to simply bring Word 95 up to date, to pep it up with Cocoa goodness.
  • Reply 37 of 107
    rainrain Posts: 538member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. H View Post


    No idea why none of you could figure this out. Sure, the controls are clunky, but a Word expert should be able to do it.



    You would think. We did figure out how to hack it a bit by adjusting all the margins n such to get the logo where we wanted it. But running bleeds off the page with custom multiple text boxes and graphics to be used for template info... can't be done. It just doesn't work.

    Pages does it in seconds.



    Then there is Keynote vs Powerpoint. Keynote has sold 11 macbook's so far to my clients.

    I showed my clients what's involved with building a complex cell with multiple animation states and object movement in Keynote.

    Then I showed them what it took to make a red dot move across the screen, stop, then continue moving in Powerpoint.

    Macbooks ordered 5 seconds later.



    I don't use excel - however, my wife does and she showed me how it doesn't work at all. How it gets stuck for a minute or more when switching between cells when trying to enter data. She figured out Numbers - wishes it had more features like Excel on her old PC... but at least it's fast.



    Office is the perfect example of a disastrous paradigm. I swear that everyone who uses it has Stockholm Syndrome.
  • Reply 38 of 107
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by godrifle View Post


    The reviewer criticizes the media browser as an example of MS's non-standard use of interface elements, complaining that it's "busier". Well, yeah, it's busier because it provides (by necessity) far more functionality than Apple's standard browser. Additionally, I appreciate the slider for resizing thumbnails.



    I'll second that. I think that looks really useful.
  • Reply 39 of 107
    rainrain Posts: 538member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by enzos View Post


    .. can I quote you on that ?;-)



    You can quote me on it... and probably anyone who has actually used both.



    How to insert a photo:

    Pages: drag/drop photo on document - click on picture & drag to location - adjust size - done



    Word: hunt for nested insert button - hunt for photo margin settings that are nested - realize you need to adjust document margins first - hunt for nested document margin settings - pull out calculator to determine spacing in relation to photo - find nested photo image settings and click all kinds of options that don't mean anything - click apply/return - determine you want image moved slightly / redo previous steps - realize the document margin settings are competing for text box margin spacing which are competing against photo margin settings - die a little inside - spend hours trolling web and help forums on how to place and position a simple photo file - realize that Word is just for typing letter's n shit yo.
  • Reply 40 of 107
    mr. hmr. h Posts: 4,870member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rain View Post


    You would think.



    OK, what I meant was: I have no problem getting Word to put images where I want them. However...



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rain View Post


    We did figure out how to hack it a bit by adjusting all the margins n such to get the logo where we wanted it. But running bleeds off the page with custom multiple text boxes and graphics to be used for template info... can't be done. It just doesn't work.

    Pages does it in seconds.



    It does sound like you were tackling more of a page-layout type problem than a word processing problem. Pages is more of a consumer-level InDesign than a simplified Word. All I know is that for what I do (technical writing) Pages just doesn't cut it. There's no way I would use anything other than Word.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rain View Post


    I don't use excel - however, my wife does and she showed me how it doesn't work at all. How it gets stuck for a minute or more when switching between cells when trying to enter data. She figured out Numbers - wishes it had more features like Excel on her old PC... but at least it's fast.



    When 2008 first came out, Excel was actually mindblowingly slow. Like, it was almost impressive that they had managed to make it so slow. Since then it has come on leaps and bounds, and from the sound of it 2011 makes some more serious improvements.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rain View Post


    Office is the perfect example of a disastrous paradigm. I swear that everyone who uses it has Stockholm Syndrome.



    I've tried other stuff like Pages (never tried Numbers or Keynote), NeoOffice and OpenOffice and none of them compare to Office.
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