What's the word on Office X?

I just came back from an Apple Retail Store, where I specifically went to check out Office X.

It is definitely an excellent version of Office. By adopting the Aqua features, the UI has been dramatically improved and it looks just plain amazing to boot. I liked it.

I'm buying Office X for sure.

I like it a lot. Word can be a bit sluggish, and scrolling in millions can be slow on older macs (like everything else in OS X) but overall it's a very solid package.

I have to admit that it does look nice (ok, ok, one of my good friends is on the team, heh). I will still not use it though =D

Honestly, I'm surprised we haven't heard from more people about the new version. Has it been hard to find, and thus most upgraders still don't have it yet...or is it just that unremarkable? The reviews I read in MacAddict and Macworld seem to bear out that it's worth the upgrade fee, but still no one has said much about it....

<img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />

What do you want us to say about it? It's only Office, for pete's sake. It's not like it's the cure for cancer or something.

After a week of attempts in vain, I finally managed to download a copy of Office v.X to try out until Microsoft manages to produce and ship my boxed version.

Obviously, Word is now able to print (unlike the Test Drive). Also, the style menus are now WYSIWYG. Excel works well. MSN Messenger got a new icon and version number, but I haven't seen any improvements. I rarely use PowerPoint and have yet to test it out. As for Entourage, there's no way I would abandon Eudora and trust my mail to MS.

As a precaution, I turned off AirPort while starting up. I did a port scan later to see if Word would start broadcasting after I turned AirPort back on.

If you start Office while disconnected from your network, it won't start broadcasting when you turn the network back on. However, if your network connection is live when you start any Office application, Office will broadcast on a random port in the 3xxx range. I tried this 10 times, and Office broadcast on a different port each time. I haven't tried blocking the 3xxx ports to see whether office will go beyond that range.

Escher

[ 12-05-2001: Message edited by: Escher ]</p>

PS: For a small shock, put Excel and PowerPoint icons next to each other in your Dock. Do you think MS intentionally put this subliminal reminder about Windows XP in Office v.X? I had to move the icons to remedy the situation.

Escher

[quote]Originally posted by Escher:
<strong>
As a precaution, I turned off AirPort while starting up. I did a port scan later to see if Word would start broadcasting after I turned AirPort back on.

If you start Office while disconnected from your network, it won't start broadcasting when you turn the network back on. However, if your network connection is live when you start any Office application, Office will broadcast on a random port in the 3xxx range. I tried this 10 times, and Office broadcast on a different port each time. I haven't tried blocking the 3xxx ports to see whether office will go beyond that range.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Eh? I fail to see the importans of this. Is it a way for MS to check if you are using a illegal copy?

[quote]Originally posted by Anders:
<strong>Eh? I fail to see the importans of this. Is it a way for MS to check if you are using a illegal copy?</strong><hr></blockquote>

Anders: It's good to see you back on AI. Office broadcasts its serial number over the local network. If you try to run a second copy on a different machine at the same time, you will get a message that you do not have enough licences to do that. See <a href="http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=5&t=000022" target="_blank">this thread</a> in the Mac OS X forum for a more elaborate discussion.

Escher

[quote]Originally posted by Escher:
<strong>

Anders: It's good to see you back on AI. </strong><hr></blockquote>

Thanks Escher. But as I said back on Badflamingo I won´t be posting here anymore so the above post was my first and last ( <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" /> ) at the new AI.

[quote]Office broadcasts its serial number over the local network. If you try to run a second copy on a different machine at the same time, you will get a message that you do not have enough licences to do that.<hr></blockquote>

Uh. Now I understand. Now I can continue using Office with the date thing as the only problem until I recieve my student license (any workaround that?)

[ 12-05-2001: Message edited by: Anders ]</p>

[quote]Originally posted by Anders:
<strong>

the above post was my first and last at the new AI.
</strong><hr></blockquote>

Damn

[ 12-05-2001: Message edited by: Anders ]</p>

One thing that is missing from Office v.X that has been in Office XP and Office 2000 that I find very handy...

Your only option for emailing from Word and Excel is to email the document as an attachment. In the Windows version of Office, you can have it translate your page on the fly into an HTML email and send it off. I have one user who creates a company newsletter in Word and emails it right out, no Dreamweaver required. I have another user who emails tables built in Excel (well, she was doing that until she switched from PC to Mac).

It sounds like a small thing, but it's surprisingly useful.

[quote]Originally posted by Moogs :
<strong>Honestly, I'm surprised we haven't heard from more people about the new version. Has it been hard to find, and thus most upgraders still don't have it yet...or is it just that unremarkable? The reviews I read in MacAddict and Macworld seem to bear out that it's worth the upgrade fee, but still no one has said much about it....

<img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>

I wasn;t even aware an update was available...any word when it will ship as the default version?

Also, how compatible witht he Windows version is it really? Will I be able to save my documents to a CDRW or a Zip disc, stick it in a PC, and have it open flawlessly, saving all of my formating like margins, indents, lists, etc. etc.?

Horned Frog- Not sure what you mean by default version? You can buy Office X now.

I've sent Word X e-mail attachments to a friend's PC and it worked perfectly, so I would imagine if the CRW's and Zip disks are formatted to work in Windows, the files should be just the way you want them.

Jeff

[ 02-23-2002: Message edited by: jeffyboy ]</p>

My only complaint about Word is the font isn't anti-alias, it doesn't look as good as it does in Apple Works.

I got it soon after my dual GHz G4 purchase and from the little time I've used it seems very good. You guys actually paid for it?

I'm wondering how Entourage is (and compared to mail) cause I might start using it.

[quote]Originally posted by TigerWoods99:
<strong>I'm wondering how Entourage is (and compared to mail) cause I might start using it.</strong><hr></blockquote>

I've compared the two. I think the Entourage isn't as stable as Mail, I've had to quit the Entourage whenever waking from sleep. It will act as if it's retrieve mail, but just keeps going. The only thing to stop it, is to quit and relaunch. Also the anti-aliasing isn't as smooth as Mail.

[quote] I'm wondering how Entourage is (and compared to mail) cause I might start using it. <hr></blockquote>

Don't switch, I did and am regretting it. As soon as they add multiple email address fields per card in Address Book I am going to go back to Mail.

Mail, as SMacSteve pointed out, has superior anti-aliasing at text. Also the interface is cleaner and more efficient. I just find Entourage too bloated: a lot of features I don't use. Plus to really use Entourage it must take up your whole screen, which I don't like again. I just find Mail a lot more fun to use, plus the icon changes in the dock to show how many new messages you have, something Entourage doesn't do.

[quote]Originally posted by Escher:
<strong>

Anders: It's good to see you back on AI. Office broadcasts its serial number over the local network. If you try to run a second copy on a different machine at the same time, you will get a message that you do not have enough licences to do that. See <a href="http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=5&t=000022" target="_blank">this thread</a> in the Mac OS X forum for a more elaborate discussion.

Escher</strong><hr></blockquote>

library/application support/trash everything M$

same with users/library/application support/M$

Office X R0X0R5!!!!!!!!! :cool:

If I could only afford an arm and a leg to have a copy myself...

[ 03-01-2002: Message edited by: FreshApple ]</p>

Hehe, I didn't have to.

Office V.X is what it should be, and what one should expect for the price. now if it were $50 then you might hear more of us actually get excited. Yes, you can burn a cd or email or whatever you want to do and it works with all pcs i have tried that with...from 95-xp. I personnally would not recommend using entourage as your mail client, it feels so bulky.
Powerpoint works well and ports over fine. xcell looks better on the mac than on any pc, there was a macros application i got from a friend and the buttons on my mac were cleaner and also lit up when i clicked on them,on his machine however, they were big brown boxes that did not light up. One thing that I did use entourage for that seems kind of odd was that i got an e-mail from a friend with some jpg pictures included in the body of the letter, in mail i coould not see them all i saw were question marks, but when i opened the e-mail in entourage i could see all of the pics. <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" /> My suggestion for anybody that can get away with it is having someone that teaches buy it for you because the education discount is large...and thats my 3 cents.

I'm not familiar with OSX but you could set up a firewall locally on your machine that blocks all 3XXX ports and drops the packets instead of forwarding them.

Does OSX have iptables? ipchains?

[ 03-02-2002: Message edited by: stimuli ]</p>

I finally bit the bullet, and bought the education version Office v.x for $199 at the Apple Store. I don't see any feature differences from the full version, other than there's a label stating that you can't use the software for commercial purposes.

Anyway, it's great. I was able to transfer all contacts from Address Book, all email from Mail, and it's working perfectly.

One major b(tch I have about Office v.X is it's implementation of double-byte characters. I don't read or write Chinese, but at my job I have to use some documents which contain Chinese characters. The only way to do this is to register Word and Excel as JAPANESE applications, in which case you get various Japanese menus and dialog boxes. Even if there's a Chinese version of Office v.X (which I dont think there is yet) the only way to use Chinese in Office would be to have Chinese menus and dialogs. There's no way to even look at a document that contains double-byte characters, and retain English menus. It's completely idiotic. Why don't they just let the English version of the apps access double-byte characters? The functionality is already built-in. They just have to enable it.

If anybody wants a copy of Office v.X I can put it up on Hotline or Carracho or some other file sharing place. Or I can transfer it to you on AIM.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by gordy:
[QB]I finally bit the bullet, and bought the education version Office v.x for $199 at the Apple Store.


Other than honesty, what's to keep me from purchasing the academic version of MS Office from the Apple Store when, in fact, I'm long out of school?

[quote]Originally posted by gobble gobble:
<strong>[QUOTE]Originally posted by gordy:
[QB]I finally bit the bullet, and bought the education version Office v.x for $199 at the Apple Store.
Other than honesty, what's to keep me from purchasing the academic version of MS Office from the Apple Store when, in fact, I'm long out of school?</strong><hr></blockquote>

I can't answer that, I'm a student...still.

[quote]Originally posted by gordy:
<strong>

I can't answer that, I'm a student...still.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Did Apple make an attempt to verify that you're actually a student at the university you claimed? I started the purchase process to see what would happen and it didn't look like they really check this. At some later point do they check a stundet ID number or something?

[quote]Originally posted by gobble gobble:
<strong>

Did Apple make an attempt to verify that you're actually a student at the university you claimed? I started the purchase process to see what would happen and it didn't look like they really check this. At some later point do they check a stundet ID number or something?</strong><hr></blockquote>

I've bought stuff from Apple's education store. As far as I can tell they never actually check to make sure that you're a student. That doesn't mean that they don't check, just that if they did I never heard about it. Since you have to give them the name of your school, I'd imagine that they just call them up and ask.

[quote]Originally posted by gobble gobble:
<strong>Did Apple make an attempt to verify that you're actually a student at the university you claimed? I started the purchase process to see what would happen and it didn't look like they really check this. At some later point do they check a stundet ID number or something?</strong><hr></blockquote>
If you use a student e-mail address like @ncsu.edu or @ecu.edu and delivery address at the university, then they don't need anything else. If not, then you'll get a message ffrom them requesting a copy of your student id (fax a photocopy of it or scan it) or some other proof.

It's free on Limwire <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />

[quote]Originally posted by TigerWoods99:
<strong>If anybody wants a copy of Office v.X I can put it up on Hotline or Carracho or some other file sharing place. Or I can transfer it to you on AIM.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Isn't that piracy? Anyone can download the free test drive from MS's servers...

Not only is it a hefty crime, you never know who could be someone on the internet that reports it.

Its not fair to pirate to paying customers, Microsoft, and innovation in general.

Maybe one day you'll be mature enough to see the consequences of your actions.

For more information visit:

<a href="http://www.bsa.org/" target="_blank">BSA Website</a>

Word v. X is possibly the the most productive program I have ever worked on... it was expensive, but worth it.

[quote]Originally posted by Cal:
<strong>

Isn't that piracy? Anyone can download the free test drive from MS's servers...

Not only is it a hefty crime, you never know who could be someone on the internet that reports it.

Its not fair to pirate to paying customers, Microsoft, and innovation in general.

Maybe one day you'll be mature enough to see the consequences of your actions.

For more information visit:

<a href="http://www.bsa.org/" target="_blank">BSA Website</a></strong><hr></blockquote>

boo hoo...

[quote]Originally posted by SMacSteve:
<strong>

I've compared the two. I think the Entourage isn't as stable as Mail, I've had to quit the Entourage whenever waking from sleep. It will act as if it's retrieve mail, but just keeps going. The only thing to stop it, is to quit and relaunch. Also the anti-aliasing isn't as smooth as Mail.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Actually, I've found quite the opposite to be true. Not that I had Mail.app crash on me a lot, but there's a lot of general flakiness about the program, it just isn't quite there yet. There's that weird problem where it will sometimes corrupt attachments you send. I also have problems displaying graphics in HTML emails sometimes. And then there's annoying little stuff like not being able to set multiple criteria when you set up a Rule. Mail is a fine little program, but power users will be disappointed with it.

Entourage, OTOH, has been around for a few years longer than Mail. It's stable, it's feature-complete, and it's well thought out. Sure, there's a bunch of features that I'll never use, like the calendar stuff. But I think it's the best email program for the Mac. <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />

If you were using Netscape Messenger for email, then Mail.app is probably a step up. Anyone who was using Outlook Express needs to get Entourage, because Mail isn't going to satisfy. <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />

It's Office 2001 with non-standard Aqua. Meh. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" /> Did I mention it costs way too much? Office is sooooo overrated.

Office v.X is the same old bloatware that Office 2001 was. It's crap, but since M$ polished the interface, lots of people dig it.

Let me put it this way...most people who use Word only need about 10% of its features. I would rather M$ put their effort into making the important features work well, work stabily without crashing, and integrate well with the rest of Office. Instead, it feels like Office was designed in a board room by a bunch of overpaid, underthinking executives without an ounce of creativity. They checked off features from their marketing suveys and in doing so Office became more and more bloated. It sucks.

To put it another way, why do I STILL have problems copying a table from Word into Powerpoint?!?! WTF! This should be foolproof, yet M$ doesn't even care if it works or not, they would rather add more features that I don't need.

In fact, I have so many problems with Powerpoint, it is such crapware. It is NOT compatible with the Windows version of Powerpoint, I've made many presentations, only to load them onto a Wintel and find out that my figures are all corrupted and my tables are dorked out. All this from a $500 application that M$ has had YEARS to fix. But they don't fix it.

Instead of making the existing features work better, M$ chooses to add more features. So what we have is a bloated bundle of features that all work ok, but not well.

And don't even get me started on how bad Excel is for graphing. It's enough to make you want to suck on a shotgun, the graphs are horrid, and making them is even more difficult than passing a kidney stone.

I don't understand why everyone likes Office so much...I guess if you don't give a person any choice, they will assume that what they have is the best. Wake up, people, Office is the product of a monopoly and that's why it's overpriced crapware.

<img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />