Microsoft updates Office 2004 and Office 2008 for Mac
Microsoft on Tuesday released stability and performance updates for Office 2004 and Office 2008 for Mac, both of which also patch vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to overwrite the contents of a computer's memory by using malicious code.
Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.1 Update
Aside from the security fix, Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.1 Update [14.5MB] also updates the Japanese postal code dictionary in Entourage and fixes an issue that causes Word 2004 to close unexpectedly when opening a document that contains a numbered list.
Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.2 Update
The 12.1.2 update for Office 2008 for Mac [159.6MB] is more substantial, repairing a global issue that prevented all Office 2008 applications from running AppleScript scripts from the Script menu, while also delivering a number of individual fixes for Word, Excel and Entourage.
More specifically, Microsoft said Word should now launch more quickly and tables will no longer included random instances of bold text. Other changes improve the display of form fields and the reliability of headers & footers in the word processing application.
Meanwhile, Excel should now open spreadsheet files that contain invalid characters and see improvements to the overall performance of calculations. Number formatting for some international languages and stability when saving workbooks that contain PivotTable reports has also been improved.
One of the major focus areas for Entourage was to improve stability when using Microsoft Sync Services, Microsoft said. In particular, Tuesday's update fixes an issue that where all contacts in Entourage or in the Apple Address Book would be deleted and re-created when you use Microsoft Sync Services. It should also prevent duplication of events and other items in Entourage or in iCal.
Other changes to Entourage focused on improving junk mail filtering, recurring calendar events, time zone information, embedded images, and the reliability when Entourage establishes a encrypted channel.
Student Office 2008 deal
Earlier Tuesday, Microsoft said it has teamed with a select few Apple authorized resellers like Amazon.com to offer students up to 30 percent off its various Office 2008 productivity suites when they're purchased alongside a new Mac before September 8th.
The offer translates into $15 off Office 2008 Home and Student Edition, $80 off Office 2008 Standard Edition, and $150 off Office 2008 Special Media Edition..
Amazon is also offering between $50 and $200 rebates on Apple's entire Mac line through August 25th.
AppleInsider last year published its Road to Mac Office 2008 series covering the new suite and its roots in great detail.
Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.1 Update
Aside from the security fix, Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.1 Update [14.5MB] also updates the Japanese postal code dictionary in Entourage and fixes an issue that causes Word 2004 to close unexpectedly when opening a document that contains a numbered list.
Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.2 Update
The 12.1.2 update for Office 2008 for Mac [159.6MB] is more substantial, repairing a global issue that prevented all Office 2008 applications from running AppleScript scripts from the Script menu, while also delivering a number of individual fixes for Word, Excel and Entourage.
More specifically, Microsoft said Word should now launch more quickly and tables will no longer included random instances of bold text. Other changes improve the display of form fields and the reliability of headers & footers in the word processing application.
Meanwhile, Excel should now open spreadsheet files that contain invalid characters and see improvements to the overall performance of calculations. Number formatting for some international languages and stability when saving workbooks that contain PivotTable reports has also been improved.
One of the major focus areas for Entourage was to improve stability when using Microsoft Sync Services, Microsoft said. In particular, Tuesday's update fixes an issue that where all contacts in Entourage or in the Apple Address Book would be deleted and re-created when you use Microsoft Sync Services. It should also prevent duplication of events and other items in Entourage or in iCal.
Other changes to Entourage focused on improving junk mail filtering, recurring calendar events, time zone information, embedded images, and the reliability when Entourage establishes a encrypted channel.
Student Office 2008 deal
Earlier Tuesday, Microsoft said it has teamed with a select few Apple authorized resellers like Amazon.com to offer students up to 30 percent off its various Office 2008 productivity suites when they're purchased alongside a new Mac before September 8th.
The offer translates into $15 off Office 2008 Home and Student Edition, $80 off Office 2008 Standard Edition, and $150 off Office 2008 Special Media Edition..
Amazon is also offering between $50 and $200 rebates on Apple's entire Mac line through August 25th.
AppleInsider last year published its Road to Mac Office 2008 series covering the new suite and its roots in great detail.
Comments
No mention of fixes to the Spaces issues that Office 2008 has.
Yes, it's ridiculous how long this problem has gone on. It makes Office almost unusable in a Spaces environment.
Yes, it's ridiculous how long this problem has gone on. It makes Office almost unusable in a Spaces environment.
Indeed, I can verify that the issues still exist in the latest version. Really f***ing annoying.
You cannot install Office 2008 12.1.2 Update on this volume. A version of the software required to install this update was not found on this volume.
WTF M$?
Yes, Spaces is broken in 12.1.1 and worse, I cannot update to 12.1.2. Get this message:
You cannot install Office 2008 12.1.2 Update on this volume. A version of the software required to install this update was not found on this volume.
WTF M$?
Hope this helps: Make absolutely sure that a folder titled "Microsoft Office 2008" is sitting within your Applications folder. THERE CAN BE NO VARIATION OF THIS NAME.
Also, make sure that all four Office applications inside have NO addenda attached to their titles, like version numbers.
Good luck.
Or does it feel more like an Native App?
Hope this helps: Make absolutely sure that a folder titled "Microsoft Office 2008" is sitting within your Applications folder. THERE CAN BE NO VARIATION OF THIS NAME.
Also, make sure that all four Office applications inside have NO addenda attached to their titles like version numbers.
Good luck.
Remember the good old days in the 1990s when Office for the Mac had more features than it does today?
I do. They used to be good programs.
Must faster apps now after 12.1.2 update. All of them! Color my surprised!
Will Microsoft ever address this, or do they fear that this will ultimately kill their Windows business?
O2M by Little Machines is a credible solution, but it too is lacking.
The Word grammar check does not offer the explanations and detail that is offered in Word 2007 for Windows.
Thanks for the suggestion but that does not fix it. The names and locations are all the defaults and nothing has been changed. I have another Mac running 12.1.1 with a different serial and that updated without problems. I can't see what the difference between the two is and I don't use double names with odd characters for disks, etc. It ran the previous update to 12.1.1 without problems and it was the Auto Update feature in 12.1.1 that found the 12.1.2 update! Just another typical M$ screw up I suppose.
I have the exact same problem as described by Plankton. I'm running Leopard and I updated Office 2008 to 12.1.1 without any problem, but this updater (ie. 12.1.2) gives me that dreaded message (noted above)
I looked at the Mactopia forum and found a thread about "12.1.2 fails to update" with a bunch of complaints about this same issue there.
I guess we are not the only ones to have this problem.
(I.e. if I download foo.doc with Safari, it gets turned into foo.doc.dot -- because of some weird interplay between Office's incorrect settings for file types, and Safari's weird handling of it. Likewise for Excel, & PowerPoint).