Mac Office 2008?

I purchased VM Fusion and threw XP on here to run Office 2007... I must be honest here, I'm not a fan. I think I'm just so turned off from Windows I don't even want it on my Mac anymore. I do need Internet Explorer to open some web sites that require it. I was thinking of using Office 2008 for the Mac, as it can open and edit the XML based files that all my work is in (coming from Office 2007 on the PC). I've read Office 2008 reviews and they haven't come back too positive.

I don't know what to do...

 

Office 2008 isn't too bad. Office 2007 isn't bad either . I find both to be an improvement over the previous version...pretty well thought out. Maybe you're better off with Office 2003 on Windows then?

 

I think office 07 is definitely better than office 08 for mac.
I think Microsoft purposely "messed" it up on mac so more people use vista.
Office 08 opens so slow. I know because I have 2.2ghz and still it takes like 8 seconds just to open.

 

I dropped Office like a bad habit and am strictly using iWork 08. So far, for my use, there is nothing that I could do in Office 07 that I cannot do with iWork. I'm really trying to get away from using any MSFT product and so far it's working. I only wish MSFT or somebody would release a decent version of Messenger for mac. aMSN is ok, but not great.

 

I'm stuck using either Office 2007 or 2008 on the Mac. I just would rather use programs that are native to Leopard. I'm a teacher so half my lesson plans and materials are in the Office 2007 file format, meaning any older program will not open or edit them. Office 2008 can. Getting use to the new program without the ribbon bar is going to be a huge challenge but I guess I don't have any other choice.

 

see http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/HA101686761033.aspx .

it allows you to open/edit new xml formats with older versions of office (PC version; not sure about Mac 2004).

 

That's for the PC version, not the Mac versions. Apparently, the Mac converters are always months behind. I think I may go Mac Office 2008 and just learn a new way of doing things. I am on a Mac after all, I can't expect things to work just like they did on the PC...

 

I have to say 08 is pretty nice. So far, I love it. It's got a bit of a load time, but other than that, it's FAST.

You can also save your files to be compatible with older versions. In fact, when you save a new doc as the new xml format, it will tell you that older versions of Office can open it, but will not be able to edit it.

The new ribbon is SIMPLE. I love how doing graphs now separate their display from content (think CSS). It's awesome!

It's another blow to Open Office/Neo Office (which was never impressive IMHO).

 

I dropped Office altogether and am using iWork 08 so I can't tell you how Office 2008 is. I can tell you that iWork opens the new XML format and can export in .doc.

 

I heard that iWork is pretty good in that respect but lack some of the other additions of Office 2008. I used so many of these new options in my lesson plans that I'd hate to give them up.

 

If you use a lot of the more advanced features in Office then I would stick with Office.

 

I also find that Office 2008 is verrrrry slow to open all its programs. It can freeze when saving stuff - sometimes in both Word but especially in Excel, where I've got some large files - didn't have this problem with 2004.

One weird thing that happened with me that I haven't heard anyone else discuss (in both 2004 and 2008) - no bullets. When I go to the "format" menu, don't have a listing for "bullets and numbering." And when I do use bullets via the toolbox, all I get are squares that aren't filled in, that don't show up when you print. Finally played around and figured out on my own that for some reason, the "symbol" font wasn't working, and had to reinstall it. Anyone else have that problem with bullets?

But other than that...I do like 2008. No problem switching from 2004 to this, clean interface, and you can personalize that interface. But just for the heck of it, I might give iWork a try, based on the recos here.

 

No problem with bullets here. Worked like a charm.

But FIY... it does NOT save to network drives. I tried saving to our XServ and it said it saved okay, but when I opened it, said the files were corrupted.

Tried several times to no avail. Had to save locally and copy over.

 

I don't know if I buy all the conspiracy theory stuff on this forum about Microsoft purposely messing anything up, but I do agree that Office 2007 definitely works better than Office 2008 for Mac.

 

I assume you are aware of Adium?

I am an occassional user of the old version of Office on my Mac (2004?). It is a little slow to open compared to 'native' apps but apart from that it seems to run fine.

I only really use Office when I work from home, which isn't often, but when I do I need 100% compatability on comments and track changes and I found that OpenOffice could be a bit glitchy for this. Also I need Powerpoint for work so I stick with using office.

I must confess that my version of Office is not entirely legitimate and have considered upgrading by purchasing Office 2008. From what I read on this thread the perfomance would not be significantly better?

 

Of course I am.

Unfortunately Adium does not support audio/video chat like aMSN. I keep running across the same rumour that MSFT's next release of MSN for Mac will have full audio/video chat support. The question is, when is it coming?

 

Ah, I see. I just use skype for video chat but of course it would be nice to have it all in one place

 

The OP can use Office 2008 although it's slow at opening it's apps it's a pretty solid suite. I use both Office 08 and iWork. I use iWork first and use Office 08 for files that are only compatible with Word.

As for needing Internet Explorer the OP can also download Crossover Mac from Codeweavers. It allows for many Windows apps to run without installing a copy of Windows. There are some compatibility issues with certain Windows apps but it definitely runs I.E, Visio and AutoCAD without issues.
Crossover Mac has a free 30 day trial period. This only runs on Intel Macs. http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/

 

I've never heard of Crossover Mac. It sounds amazing. How do they do it? It would be worth every dollar they're asking if it works with most windows apps.

 

Its not very good. Kinda clunky and you have to go through the windows install process for windows apps, much like wine in Linux.

Try merging two .docx files in office 2008. It will crash on me like clock work. I must tip my hat to MSFT there. Great job.

 

Just placed my order for Office 2008 on Amazon.com.

I am running VM Fusion and own Office 2007, I just would like to run native Mac programs. I just made the switch and apparently I'm a strict convert!

 

I use Office 2008 and although it is VERY slow to startup.. (Office 2004 opened marginally faster and it had to use Rosetta!), I think it's quite an improvement. The interface is much more intuitive... it seems like a fusion between Office 2004 and Office 2007 on the PC.