Office 2008 for Mac

After four years of waiting, Mac users are finally able to get their hands on a new version of Microsoft's productivity suite for the platform.

http://www.betanews.com/article/Office_2008_for_Mac_hits_store_shelves/1200501577

 

Definitely some great things (Universal Binary for one, and I like what Microsoft did with the UI)...and I like what Microsoft did with the upgrade program over the holidays .

 

I'm looking forward to using it... I think I can get my hands on a copy in two weeks or so.

 

Where's the trial?

 

trial trial trial!!!

i will not buy it until i try it

 

How about iWork08 vs Office 2008 for Mac?

iWork08 is almost $75 cheaper and also claims compatibility (import-export) to MS-Word, MS-Excel and Powerpoint formats.

 

Yeah, iWork '08 is better, but not guaranteed compatibility, especially with Excel and Powerpoint. Whereas getting Microsoft Office for Mac, you know you have compatibility.

 

Thanks, for my needs I'll stick with OpenOffice.

 

The new icons are nice. Feels snappier than the beta, but I guess that's obvious.

 

The new Office is very good. It adds a number of very useful features, in addition to running much faster than Office 2004 and using less CPU power and thereby saving battery.
I have my doubts regarding the usefulness of Expression Media however. Exchange support should be very useful for people with jobs in companies.

 

the new version is superb, it really looks like a completely native OS X app now, as they have followed Apple's GUI guidelines extremely closely, it is very significantly faster. Everything that they have changed/moved etc. is a large improvement over the last version, Microsoft has really knocked it out of the park with this one. I wish they would really start getting creative and write some new interesting Apps, they should really embrace writing lots of Apps for OS X, it is only going to keep growing, and at this point there is nothing for them to really do but embrace it and try to contribute something, they could easily get Internet Explorer 7.0 ported over in a beautiful Mac specific way, no problem.

I have started trying to use iWork here and there, and although it does its job quite well, it is truly hard to compete with Microsoft's offering here, the notetaker view is absolutely crucial to me know, I am really spoiled by it, being able to simply take notes and record audio that corresponds to every single line of the notes, brilliant. And the audio is embedded write in the .doc file, and hey, if you want to export to listen on an iPod, etc. no problem, it is ready to export in iPod ready format.

I also use Final Draft 7 for screenplay writing, as it is absolutely fantastic at this simple task, but it is pretty difficult to sway away from Office 2008 for much else, and in all honesty I absolutely don't want to, I have love for Apple and Microsoft as long as they are producing good products.

 

I'm waiting on my copy to come in; MS says it should ship sometime in Feb (I ordered it as part of the "Buy OFM 2004 and get the upgrade to 2008 for $6.99 deal). I got no problem waiting for it though

 

There is no VBA support in 2008, so if you want to existing use macros or addins, you're out of luck. There is a facility for scripting that should allow recording of new macros.

 

Yeah, gonna wait till my Alma Mater has it, then go pick it up for $12. Lifetime alumni discounts FTW.

 

Anyone know if there is a way to purchase and download online? Thanks.

 

Also very happy with the new office. The massive spead increase over 04 is in itself worth the upgrade (for those on intel chips).
Only installed it today, so need more time with it to get a full review, but at this stage, two thumbs up.
a

 

Havn't looked at it too much, but the one thing i dont like about it is that they changed the way the note taking template looks.

Looks like they tried too hard, and I really did like the older version.

 

Windows Marketplace, but you need a valid US credit card.

 

I am using mac office 2004 and I have no plan of upgrading to office 2008 for Mac. I really hope that MSN can do video chatting.

 

I just installed it last night, I like the interface and while it may be much faster as far as running Powerpoint presentations the launch times of the suite are slow, in fact much slower than the Windows version. The Windows version zips open almost instantly.
Of course MS optimized it work with their OS obviously as well as including VBA support in the Windows version (this is why I sometimes hate Bill Gates and Microsoft).

Speed was the main issue using Office 2004 with an Intel Mac so I'm shocked MS did not optimize the launch speed, I know it doesn't truly matter but when you see how fast the Windows version is it makes me kinda irritated.

 

I cannot find it anywhere on Windows Marketplace. Can you provide a link please?

 

Oh I'm sorry, I don't know why but I assumed you were talking about office 2007... sorry man don't think you can get it online. The closest thing would be to have someone buy it for you, and have them make an image of the dvd and send it to you, along with the serial.

 

Unfortunately, Microsoft is really slow at updating Messenger for Mac (in fact, I think they've hit a standstill right now). It never works properly for me, I use Adium instead.

 

Anyone having any problems with Office 2008? I read on macfixit that there are a bit of issues people reporting with Word crashing

 

I am a college student and have already started using the Word 2008 on my new Macbook.....so far I feel pretty comfortable with it as I am already used to the Word 2007 on windows.....the only thing I don't like about it is not being able to read equations from word 2007 docx files AND most importantly not being able to create them.....so I have to use the equation editor which causes some bug in such a way that I am not able to open my document (good that I have duplicated it)....maybe it's some bug with word 2007 document equations....but starting a document fresh with word 2008 with equations from equation editor seems fine so far. Wish the 2008 had the equation tool like Word 2007 does

 

Holy thread ressurection, batman!

 

Haha, by NBR rules of "don't revive threads over 6 months old", I'll close this thread: you're welcome to start a new thread with your question, chen!

But the amazing thing is MSN Messenger still hasn't improved since the last time I noted it a few posts above...