Office For mac 2008
Does anyone have an update on when the new version Office for Mac 2008 will be released? I just recently purchased my first Mac (and love it) and need to decide whether to purchase Office for Mac 2004 or wait for 2008. I do need to run office applications soon though. Any idea on a more concrete release date?
Comments
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/p...acworldPR.mspx
Q4 is a good guess. Might be out a bit earlier than that ...like late Q3.
You have a 30 day trial of iWork on your new Mac, so use that until then. Or TextEdit- it can read and write the Word file format. Maybe you will never go back to MS Office
Does anyone have an update on when the new version Office for Mac 2008 will be released? I just recently purchased my first Mac (and love it) and need to decide whether to purchase Office for Mac 2004 or wait for 2008. I do need to run office applications soon though. Any idea on a more concrete release date?
The question is not "when" but "what". Office Mac 2008 will be similar to MS Office 2007 in that it will have a new paradigm, a Ribbon interface. The latter, IMO, is a great step forward and Office 2007 is the best program MS has ever produced. The multi-tabbed ribbon is task-centric rather than old style Office program which contains multiple pull down menus & submenus ad infinitum along with multiple tool bars. If you know someone with Office 2007 on a Wintel unit, check it out. If you like the Ribbon, wait for Mac Office 2008. If you don't , just get Mac Office 2004.
... Office Mac 2008 will be similar to MS Office 2007 in that it will have a new paradigm, a Ribbon interface. The latter, IMO, is a great step forward and Office 2007 is the best program MS has ever produced. ...
It is my understanding that your enthusiasm for Microsoft's newest office suite is not shared by the general Windows-using public. Reports are that its sales are disappointing. Reports are also that users of earlier versions of Office--that's most of users--are none too pleased to receive *.docx documents.
It is my understanding that your enthusiasm for Microsoft's newest office suite is not shared by the general Windows-using public. Reports are that its sales are disappointing. Reports are also that users of earlier versions of Office--that's most of users--are none too pleased to receive *.docx documents.
Nonsense. I'm a Mac user, and I love Office 2007. I also agree that it is virtually the best thing ever to come out of Redmond. They took risks, and instead of yet another stagnating and boring Office update, they threw out everything we knew about Office, and created something entirely different that's considerably better. It's amazing in ways that Vista is not, and will never be.
As far as *.docx documents go, don't be silly. Free converters are available for a reason. And say what you will about the OpenDocument vs. OpenXML wars, the fact that *.docx is finally a non-binary Word document format is a great thing in the long run. Seriously, this is a user error more than anything else -- it's pathetically easy to set Office 2007 apps to keep saving in the old format. (In fact, every person in my family who uses Office 2007 has, for now, set it to output the old format, for the sake of convenience.)
There are other prominent Mac users who are quite pleased with Office 2007. Instead of your cautious belligerence towards the product -- somewhat understandable given the crap Office for Windows has been for decades -- I suggest you find yourself a PC, download the Office 2007 demo, and give it a roll with an open mind.
I, for one, can't wait for Office 2008 on the Mac -- if it is anything like Office 2007 for Windows, we're in for a treat.
(As far as sales numbers go, the dumb-ass, whiteout-on-the-monitor cubicle drones at HR at major cooperations would require expensive re-training, so it's understandable why adoption is going to be slow and cautious. It does use a new paradigm, and takes getting used to. However, if sales are actually poor, which I seriously doubt, that needn't be a reflection on the software's quality, and surely isn't.)
It is my understanding that your enthusiasm for Microsoft's newest office suite is not shared by the general Windows-using public. Reports are that its sales are disappointing. Reports are also that users of earlier versions of Office--that's most of users--are none too pleased to receive *.docx documents.
Mr.Me,
Reading through variuos MS forums and pro-windows blog sites, your info is correct. Nonetheless, I think the Ribbon is a great advance in this type of program (Word, Excesl, Access). The productivity gains and ease of use are enormous (in my hands at least). If Office 2007 does not sell well, I won't be that unhappy but I have to call it like I see it. As I've said before, I like good technology wherever it comes from. I did want to alert the original poster, jarlag, that Mac Office 2008 will be more like Office 2007 than previuos versions so that he/she could make a more informed decision.
Nonsense. I'm a Mac user, and I love Office 2007. I also agree that it is virtually the best thing ever to come out of Redmond. They took risks, and instead of yet another stagnating and boring Office update, they threw out everything we knew about Office, and created something entirely different that's considerably better. It's amazing in ways that Vista is not, and will never be.
As far as *.docx documents go, don't be silly. Free converters are available for a reason. And say what you will about the OpenDocument vs. OpenXML wars, the fact that *.docx is finally a non-binary Word document format is a great thing in the long run. Seriously, this is a user error more than anything else -- it's pathetically easy to set Office 2007 apps to keep saving in the old format. (In fact, every person in my family who uses Office 2007 has, for now, set it to output the old format, for the sake of convenience.)
There are other prominent Mac users who are quite pleased with Office 2007. Instead of your cautious belligerence towards the product -- somewhat understandable given the crap Office for Windows has been for decades -- I suggest you find yourself a PC, download the Office 2007 demo, and give it a roll with an open mind.
I, for one, can't wait for Office 2008 on the Mac -- if it is anything like Office 2007 for Windows, we're in for a treat.
(As far as sales numbers go, the dumb-ass, whiteout-on-the-monitor cubicle drones at HR at major cooperations would require expensive re-training, so it's understandable why adoption is going to be slow and cautious. It does use a new paradigm, and takes getting used to. However, if sales are actually poor, which I seriously doubt, that needn't be a reflection on the software's quality, and surely isn't.)
Well said. Even on the MS side, many who claim dislike for it have never actually used Office 2007. It's hard for people who have gotten used to using a lousy suite of programe for so long to change. But that's their problem. I use Office 2007 everyday and it's actually fun since its so intuitive and easy to use after a brief learning curve.. I just hope MS does not kludge-up the Mac version when it's finally released.
... I suggest you find yourself a PC, download the Office 2007 demo, and give it a roll with an open mind.
I, for one, can't wait for Office 2008 on the Mac -- if it is anything like Office 2007 for Windows, we're in for a treat.
...
As surprising as it may seem, I am a Mac user. One of the wonderful things about using the Mac is that I don't have to look for ways to hand over money to Microsoft.
And for my spamming I have learned about being banned. Pity that.
As surprising as it may seem, I am a Mac user. One of the wonderful things about using the Mac is that I don't have to look for ways to hand over money to Microsoft.
I'm an avid Mac user as well. You don't have to hand over a dime to MS. You can demo it for nothing. You can evaluate the new technology and decide for your self first hand about the merits of the Ribbon. An open mind is a wonderful thing , no matter what your religion.
Um... Office 2008 isn't going to have the ribbon.
Sebastian
Um... yes it will except its called Elements Gallery on the Mac. The 2 products will not be exactly identical but Mac 2008 will have a new task centric UI with tabs similar to "The Ribbon" in Office 2007.
http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/01...fice/index.php
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/p...acworldPR.mspx
What concerns me is that the new Mac version may be a hybrid of the old kludgy menu/tool bar Office and the new "Ribbon UI" (on the Mac called Elements Gallery with Document Parts) unlike its Windows Office 2007 counterpart. If MS took this route with the new Mac version, the result may be a messy screen interface thereby negating some of the good features of the Ribbon, viz., identical screen real estate usage in all tabs and the elimination of menu and tool bars.
As surprising as it may seem, I am a Mac user. One of the wonderful things about using the Mac is that I don't have to look for ways to hand over money to Microsoft.
With this comment, you've proven that you're more interested in blind platform zealotry than potentially using a new product that makes you more productive. Seriously, that's your response? "I don't want to hand over money to Microsoft?" For what? A free demo? The very least you could have said was "maybe I'll actually try the software before I make assumptions about it and come to conclusions based on those assumptions".
I'm disappointed and feel I wasted that post, which I actually put cogent thought in, on you.
Ah well. Go on your merry Microsoft-bashing ways, if it makes you happy.
It seems that the biggest problem is the change in accessing many menu items. From the perspective of a large company (60,000+) that can slow down productivity - until people get used to it. In fact, the general consensus is that those who have never used Office before, adapt quickly to the 2007 Interface, while those who used Office extensively find it the hardest to change. that has nothing to do with MS or whoever, it is a function of your hand/eye coordination and getting to use certain movements to get things done.
So, it will be interesting to see the changes. Perhaps most important will be what kind of kludge is offered for VBA replacement.
I would stick with 2004, which is fine for everything that you really need to do, and you will maintain cross-platform compatibility.
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http://www.download.com/Bingo-iPod-C...-10679677.html
It's similar in concept, but it's more like a cross between the Toolbar and some Ribbon elements.
Word 2007
Word 2008
The idea behind the Ribbon was to make the UI simple, Office 2008 successfully screws that up. In addition to what looks like the Ribbon, they have the Unified Toolbar, an Inspector, the Menubar (I know seems stupid but the Ribbon also does away with this... though it would obviously make no sense on Mac OS X) and even just looking at it now, you can see that the Elements Gallery is only ONE item in that Toolbar.
Edit: Hell I didn't realize it at first, but just comparing the screen shots, it's not even a hybrid UI... the Elements Gallery is just a new UI feature that looks like the Ribbon but really isn't. It's no more THE interface than the Inspector is in the same screenshot.
It's not the ribbon.
Sebastian
You're right Sebastion. It looks like the MS MacBU team came up with a real kludge. Too bad. Office 2007 is a real beauty and would have looked good on a Mac.