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skaertus

macrumors 601
Original poster
Feb 23, 2009
4,230
1,380
Brazil
I am a Mac user and I am a Microsoft Office user as well. I have an Office 365 subscription and I use Office for Windows, Mac and iPad.

One thing that bothers me is how Microsoft Office 2011 is inferior to its Windows counterpart. However, Office for iPad gave me some hope that the next Office for Mac may be better and have a better interface as well.

However, people on this forum are usually more interested in discussing how Microsoft and Office are a pile of crap and how Office 365 is not worth it. In my view, these discussions are worthless. Either you need or you don't need Office. I do need Office. I have tested other office suites and word processors and Microsoft Office is the only one with all the features I need. In addition to that, it is the most compatible office suite. So, I chose to pay the expensive subscription price and I am not complaining. If you are better off with an open source solution or with iWorks, then it is fine. But I am not interested in keeping these discussions.

What I would like to know is more about the forthcoming Office for Mac. Office 2011 is OK, but it is still heavy and somewhat buggy. Office 2010 for Windows was better, and Office 2013 is much better than Office 2011 for Mac. I would like to see big improvements in the next Office for Mac.

I liked the Office for iPad interface. I also liked that Microsoft employees commented that Office for iPad and Office for Mac share a lot of code, so Office for iPad helped on the de-carbonization of Office for Mac. That's good news. I guess we could expect Office for Mac to be faster, lighter, less buggy and have a better interface than the last version.

Still, I don't know if it will keep the same features. I hope Microsoft does not remove any feature (such as it did with the iPad version). On the opposite: I sincerely hope more feature parity with the Windows version.

And I also would like to have a clue on when it will be released. Office 2011 was released in October 2010; Office 2008 was released in January 2008; Office 2004 was released in May 2004.

And what about the next Office version? It was supposed to be Office 2014. I heard September. Historically, all Office versions released in the second half of the year are named after the following year. If the next Office is released in September, will it be Office 2015 then?

What do you think?
 

sracer

macrumors G4
Apr 9, 2010
10,271
12,994
where hip is spoken
I think it is a whole new ballgame. I highly doubt that Microsoft will pull functions/features from the Mac version. Unlike Apple who dumbed down iWorks simply to give it away for free, Microsoft makes money on Office.

If they were to remove functionality, customers would balk and a percentage would walk when their subscription is up.

The quality of Office for iPad has given me reason to be optimistic that Microsoft is stepping up their game.
 

exizeo

macrumors regular
Mar 23, 2014
212
0
If I got the last Office Mac 2011 through Ms HUP...I hope I can do so again and skip this 365 subscription. And that iPad office can be gotten via ms HUP.

Tbh, I find that Office 2011 is perfectly fine for my needs.

warning: irrelevant idiocy below

(I like the icons for Mac office far, far more than the Windows counterparts)
 

skaertus

macrumors 601
Original poster
Feb 23, 2009
4,230
1,380
Brazil
I think it is a whole new ballgame. I highly doubt that Microsoft will pull functions/features from the Mac version. Unlike Apple who dumbed down iWorks simply to give it away for free, Microsoft makes money on Office.

If they were to remove functionality, customers would balk and a percentage would walk when their subscription is up.

The quality of Office for iPad has given me reason to be optimistic that Microsoft is stepping up their game.

I hope so.

As for the features, I tend to agree with you.

----------

If I got the last Office Mac 2011 through Ms HUP...I hope I can do so again and skip this 365 subscription. And that iPad office can be gotten via ms HUP.

Tbh, I find that Office 2011 is perfectly fine for my needs.

warning: irrelevant idiocy below

(I like the icons for Mac office far, far more than the Windows counterparts)

Although Office 2011 is fine, it is also heavy and buggy and, oddly, not 100% compatible with Office for Windows.

(I like the Windows icons better)
 

onekerato

macrumors regular
Jun 6, 2011
222
1
I suspect that Office 2014 will only be sold as part of Office 365 subscription. Reasons: (1) The Mac installed base is small enough for Microsoft to try this stunt without much risk; (2) Adobe has shown that customers are willing to pay for subscription software (and so has Evernote/Dropbox and all the other premium web apps); and (3) if it succeeds with the Mac crowd, they can try the same move with Office for windows for the next release.

Personally, I don't mind the Office 365 subscription. The common Office formats - Word, Excel, PowerPoint - have extensive read/write support through 3rd party apps, so terminating the Office 365 subscription at some point is not a big deal. And 5 Macs/PCs + 5 mobile devices is a pretty generous deal by Microsoft's licensing standards.
 

BrianBaughn

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2011
9,616
2,392
Baltimore, Maryland
I don't know anything about the next version of Office for Mac but I hope they make the Exchange features of Outlook match the ones in Windows. For one thing, there are setup steps for calendar sharing that just don't work when done on a Mac.
 

Sky Blue

Guest
Jan 8, 2005
6,856
11
And what about the next Office version?

Nobody knows anything about the next version of Office, though looking at OneNote may give you some ideas (Office 2011 is v14, OneNote for Mac is v15 so is likely included in the new suite).

Last time MS did a 6 month beta period before public release. That beta period hasn't started yet, so likely to be end of year.

I'm hoping that it's 10.9 or higher only, and takes full advantage of the latest OS X features.
 

skaertus

macrumors 601
Original poster
Feb 23, 2009
4,230
1,380
Brazil
Nobody knows anything about the next version of Office, though looking at OneNote may give you some ideas (Office 2011 is v14, OneNote for Mac is v15 so is likely included in the new suite).



Last time MS did a 6 month beta period before public release. That beta period hasn't started yet, so likely to be end of year.



I'm hoping that it's 10.9 or higher only, and takes full advantage of the latest OS X features.


Will there be a long beta period this time? OneNote for Mac had no beta that I am aware of. If Microsoft releases the beta today and there is a 6-month beta period, then the next Office will launch in October. Will it be Office 2015 then?
 

Sky Blue

Guest
Jan 8, 2005
6,856
11
Will there be a long beta period this time? OneNote for Mac had no beta that I am aware of. If Microsoft releases the beta today and there is a 6-month beta period, then the next Office will launch in October. Will it be Office 2015 then?

No, but the functionality of OneNote is pretty basic compared to Word, Excel + Outlook.
 

blesscheese

macrumors 6502a
Apr 3, 2010
698
178
Central CA
If I got the last Office Mac 2011 through Ms HUP...I hope I can do so again and skip this 365 subscription.

Ditto...and if they don't make it available through the HUP, then I'll keep on legging it on with my Mac Office 2008 & Office 2013 with my Win7 Parallels VM (but I'd much rather stay in the Mac-side).

My experience with Office 4.2.1, Office 98, Office 2001, Office v.X, Office 2004, and Office 2008 (I skipped 2011 on the Mac) is that the majority of the time, they leave out a key feature from a previous version/don't make it as good as the current Windoze version, for ??? reasons unknown. And why is the Mac version seemingly slower? The last Office version I was completely happy with was Office 2001.

If I didn't get it for $9.95 via the HUP, I wouldn't even bother with it.
 

skaertus

macrumors 601
Original poster
Feb 23, 2009
4,230
1,380
Brazil
No, but the functionality of OneNote is pretty basic compared to Word, Excel + Outlook.

Yes, but the functionality of OneNote for Mac is very similar to the functionality of OneNote for iPad. I just hope Microsoft does not dumb down the other ones when it release the new Mac version...
 

skaertus

macrumors 601
Original poster
Feb 23, 2009
4,230
1,380
Brazil
Ditto...and if they don't make it available through the HUP, then I'll keep on legging it on with my Mac Office 2008 & Office 2013 with my Win7 Parallels VM (but I'd much rather stay in the Mac-side).

My experience with Office 4.2.1, Office 98, Office 2001, Office v.X, Office 2004, and Office 2008 (I skipped 2011 on the Mac) is that the majority of the time, they leave out a key feature from a previous version/don't make it as good as the current Windoze version, for ??? reasons unknown. And why is the Mac version seemingly slower? The last Office version I was completely happy with was Office 2001.

If I didn't get it for $9.95 via the HUP, I wouldn't even bother with it.

Well, Office for Mac has its own development team. It is a version developed solely for the Mac. There are two reasons I see why Office for Mac also lacks features/is not as good as the Windows version:

1. One is Microsoft's fault. Microsoft makes both Windows and Office. Office is the world's most popular piece of software ever (apart from operating systems). If something keeps Windows alive, it's Office. Do I have to connect the dots to say why would Microsoft make Office for Windows better than Office for any other operating system?

2. Other is Apple's fault. Macs represent less than 10% of the computers used in the world (perhaps about 5%). Windows is installed on about 90% of all computers. The market for Office for Windows is much larger than the market of Office for Mac, so it is easy to understand why any company (not only Microsoft) would put much more time, effort and resources on developing the Windows version. On top of it, Apple came with OS X in 2001, forcing companies to adopt their software to run on it; and changed to Intel in 2006, forcing a new change again. That takes time and money.
 

porthole2

macrumors member
Feb 26, 2014
68
0
For you Office experts

Do you know how similar Win Office 2010 is compared to Mac Office 2011?
Especially Outlook.

And In looking I didn't see if there are 32 and 64 bit versions. Is there? Does it matter?
 

MisterMe

macrumors G4
Jul 17, 2002
10,709
69
USA
Well, Office for Mac has its own development team. It is a version developed solely for the Mac. There are two reasons I see why Office for Mac also lacks features/is not as good as the Windows version:

1. One is Microsoft's fault. Microsoft makes both Windows and Office. Office is the world's most popular piece of software ever (apart from operating systems). If something keeps Windows alive, it's Office. Do I have to connect the dots to say why would Microsoft make Office for Windows better than Office for any other operating system?

2. Other is Apple's fault. Macs represent less than 10% of the computers used in the world (perhaps about 5%). Windows is installed on about 90% of all computers. The market for Office for Windows is much larger than the market of Office for Mac, so it is easy to understand why any company (not only Microsoft) would put much more time, effort and resources on developing the Windows version. On top of it, Apple came with OS X in 2001, forcing companies to adopt their software to run on it; and changed to Intel in 2006, forcing a new change again. That takes time and money.
There is a flaw in your logic. Most of Microsoft's business units lose money. They must be subsidized by the small number of Microsoft business units that earn profit. The Macintosh Business Unit or whichever unit handles Mac software may be small but it earns a profit and healthy profit at that. This means that Microsoft needs every Mac software sale to subsidize its money-losing ventures.

Oh, and another thing. Macintosh users tend to purchase legitimate licenses for the software that they use. Almost every copy of Office:mac in use represents a legitimate sale. Of the copies of Office:win on the 90%, how many are legitimate sales? How many are warez and such like?
 

skaertus

macrumors 601
Original poster
Feb 23, 2009
4,230
1,380
Brazil
There is a flaw in your logic. Most of Microsoft's business units lose money. They must be subsidized by the small number of Microsoft business units that earn profit. The Macintosh Business Unit or whichever unit handles Mac software may be small but it earns a profit and healthy profit at that. This means that Microsoft needs every Mac software sale to subsidize its money-losing ventures.

Oh, and another thing. Macintosh users tend to purchase legitimate licenses for the software that they use. Almost every copy of Office:mac in use represents a legitimate sale. Of the copies of Office:win on the 90%, how many are legitimate sales? How many are warez and such like?

The Mac Business Unit makes a profit, but it only makes a profit because Microsoft invests a limited amount of money in the development of Microsoft Office for Mac.

Microsoft Office makes a lot of money for Microsoft, and most of this money come from businesses (and not home users). There is a lot of piracy among Windows users, but there are a lot of large companies that buy countless licenses of Microsoft Office Professional for Windows, and that makes a huge profit for Microsoft. Mac Office sales cannot even compare to that. In January 2012, one year before the release of Office 2013, Microsoft reported that it had sold over 200 million licenses of Microsoft Office 2010 for Windows. I have no idea on how many Office 2011 licenses were sold. However, according to Apple, in the beginning of 2012, all-time sales of Mac computers, since launch, were around 122 million. So, it is pretty clear that the potential of Office for Mac is nowhere near Office for Windows. Therefore, it makes sense that Microsoft spends much more resources in developing Office for Windows.

So, Microsoft cannot, from a business perspective, invest the same amount of money in Office for Mac as it invests in Office for Windows.
 

petvas

macrumors 603
Jul 20, 2006
5,479
1,805
Munich, Germany
The Mac Business Unit makes a profit, but it only makes a profit because Microsoft invests a limited amount of money in the development of Microsoft Office for Mac.

Microsoft Office makes a lot of money for Microsoft, and most of this money come from businesses (and not home users). There is a lot of piracy among Windows users, but there are a lot of large companies that buy countless licenses of Microsoft Office Professional for Windows, and that makes a huge profit for Microsoft. Mac Office sales cannot even compare to that. In January 2012, one year before the release of Office 2013, Microsoft reported that it had sold over 200 million licenses of Microsoft Office 2010 for Windows. I have no idea on how many Office 2011 licenses were sold. However, according to Apple, in the beginning of 2012, all-time sales of Mac computers, since launch, were around 122 million. So, it is pretty clear that the potential of Office for Mac is nowhere near Office for Windows. Therefore, it makes sense that Microsoft spends much more resources in developing Office for Windows.

So, Microsoft cannot, from a business perspective, invest the same amount of money in Office for Mac as it invests in Office for Windows.

You are absolutely right, but Microsoft can at least invest a bit more effort and money to make Office on the Mac a more quality product. I am not saying it's bad, it's actually pretty good, but I would like even better OS integration.
I am using Microsoft's products a lot, and Office on the Mac is definitely the best Office suite for the Mac. I would like to see a better OneNote Mac version, a much improved Outlook and Word & Excel versions that resemble their Windows counterparts.
Office 2014 is coming this year, I believe it will be around October/November..
 

skaertus

macrumors 601
Original poster
Feb 23, 2009
4,230
1,380
Brazil
You are absolutely right, but Microsoft can at least invest a bit more effort and money to make Office on the Mac a more quality product. I am not saying it's bad, it's actually pretty good, but I would like even better OS integration.
I am using Microsoft's products a lot, and Office on the Mac is definitely the best Office suite for the Mac. I would like to see a better OneNote Mac version, a much improved Outlook and Word & Excel versions that resemble their Windows counterparts.
Office 2014 is coming this year, I believe it will be around October/November..

Office for Mac is a quality product. It has a lot of features, and nearly as much features as the Windows version. But the amount of money that Microsoft can put in the Windows version is something outrageous and the Mac Office team cannot compete with that.
 

shaunp

Cancelled
Nov 5, 2010
1,811
1,395
I agree Office 2011 is the most compatible office suite there is - personally I need it for business use as I share documents with PC users in a number of organisations. One thing that I would really like to see however is an improvement in the performance of office, especially Excel. Scrolling around in Excel 2011 when working on large spreadsheets is painfully slow. So slow intact that I run it in a Windows VM instead where it performs fine. How can that be right? A VM performs quicker than a native app.

I'm not interested in more features or another interface change, I want the basics sorting out first.
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,368
8,948
a better place
Nobody knows anything about the next version of Office, though looking at OneNote may give you some ideas (Office 2011 is v14, OneNote for Mac is v15 so is likely included in the new suite).
.

I'm sure some do .... Though even if they did they may be unable to talk about things publicly. #NDA

----------

What I would like to know is more about the forthcoming Office for Mac. Office 2011 is OK, but it is still heavy and somewhat buggy.

As I posted above, until there is information to share - there won't be any info.

Office 2011 is a lot less heavy and buggy than Office 2008 though ;)
 

glenthompson

macrumors demi-god
Apr 27, 2011
2,982
842
Virginia
For you Office experts

Do you know how similar Win Office 2010 is compared to Mac Office 2011?
Especially Outlook.

And In looking I didn't see if there are 32 and 64 bit versions. Is there? Does it matter?

I found Outlook to be very different between the Win and Mac versions. I used Outlook on Windows for years but preferred Mac Mail to the Mac Outlook.
 

MisterMe

macrumors G4
Jul 17, 2002
10,709
69
USA
...

So, Microsoft cannot, from a business perspective, invest the same amount of money in Office for Mac as it invests in Office for Windows.
Nonsense. You invest your money where you make your money. The Macintosh Business Unit makes money. As I said before, the Macintosh Business Unit subsidizes other Microsoft units. If Macintosh users discover that they are just as productive using OpenOffice/LibreOffice or iWork as they are with Office:mac, then Microsoft's business model becomes measurably less stable.
 

skaertus

macrumors 601
Original poster
Feb 23, 2009
4,230
1,380
Brazil
Nonsense. You invest your money where you make your money. The Macintosh Business Unit makes money. As I said before, the Macintosh Business Unit subsidizes other Microsoft units. If Macintosh users discover that they are just as productive using OpenOffice/LibreOffice or iWork as they are with Office:mac, then Microsoft's business model becomes measurably less stable.

Well, the Mac Business Unit is only profitable because it makes more money than it costs. If Microsoft invests more in the Mac Business Unit, then the Mac Business Unit will have to make more money to be equally profitable. There is a limit to that. It's just maths. I am not saying that Microsoft cannot invest more money in the Mac Business Unit; perhaps it can. The fact is Microsoft can invest much more money in making Windows Office because Office for Windows sell a lot more than Office for Mac and, therefore, it can be profitable even consuming more resources.
 

roadbloc

macrumors G3
Aug 24, 2009
8,784
215
UK
There is a flaw in your logic. Most of Microsoft's business units lose money. They must be subsidized by the small number of Microsoft business units that earn profit. The Macintosh Business Unit or whichever unit handles Mac software may be small but it earns a profit and healthy profit at that. This means that Microsoft needs every Mac software sale to subsidize its money-losing ventures.

Oh, and another thing. Macintosh users tend to purchase legitimate licenses for the software that they use. Almost every copy of Office:mac in use represents a legitimate sale. Of the copies of Office:win on the 90%, how many are legitimate sales? How many are warez and such like?

:confused::confused::confused:

Without even bothering with the top paragraph, I literally have no idea how you came to the conclusion there. Do you have any proof of this? Because the way I see it, Office 2011 has just as many seeders as Office 2013 on pirate bay. I'm both a Windows and OS X user, and I've both bought and pirated stuff... what does that make me?
 
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