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Microsoft Details Shift From Entourage to Outlook for Next Major Release, Announces Office 2008 Business Edition
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Unfortunately, the Mac BU was limited to what specification they could get from the Windows office team. They are completely different groups. As I recall from what the Mac BU and Nadine was telling us, it was out of their hands since the format was not finalized as of yet.
Thank you Jesus! Entourage is dead! And take Outlook 2007 with you. Outlook 2010 is so much better, and almost anything will be better than Entourage.
Totally Agree
Entourage and Word 2008 together almost killed my chances of getting a proposal out today, can't wait for SL Mail - and will revert to Pages for docs.
Entourage and Word 2008 together almost killed my chances of getting a proposal out today, can't wait for SL Mail - and will revert to Pages for docs.
By the way, if anyone is a Microsoft beta tester through the Connect website, you can sign up for the Office for Mac Beta. There's nothing there yet, but you can at least get on the list.
The whole reason for Microsoft creating Entourage, rather than continuing with Mac Outlook -- remember there was such an early version -- was to create havoc with MS users switching to Apple. For instance, there is no simple way of converting all that data in Outlook's .pst file into other formats. In other words, Microsoft wanted to make us jump through hoops if we ever wanted to switch to Mac.
Now, I want to see whether this will be Mac Outlook in name, or whether there will be true file interchangeability with Windows Outlook.
Until we know that, this is merely a marketing ploy.
Now, I want to see whether this will be Mac Outlook in name, or whether there will be true file interchangeability with Windows Outlook.
Until we know that, this is merely a marketing ploy.
InfoPath is more or less a utility to edit XML documents, usually for purposes of making electronic forms and such.
Publisher is actually used for desktop publishing--if you crossed Publisher and Word, you'd get something like Pages. Microsoft Expression Web (and SharePoint Designer) or, in earlier versions, FrontPage, is what you're thinking of for Web.
At least I hope they can make it more efficient than Office 2008. It's ridiculous how long Word takes to load, especially compared to a lot of other Mac apps.
You are so right. The last good Exchange client for the Mac came out in 2001. 2001! And they were perfectly happy to let us wallow in the crap that is Entourage for all that time despite massive complaints.
Which means that releasing Office 2008 and this new "Business Edition" without VBA support wasn't a hard decision at all. It was a business decision. Whatever the MBU says about "hard choices," is nothing but sugar coating the facts that the Microsoft really doesn't give a damn about feature and service parity between the Mac and Windows versions of Office because they don't have to. We're talking about one of the richest companies in the world - with enough resources, Microsoft could easily support an internal configuration that would support feature parity between Mac and Windows Office, and it could have brought on sufficient developer and coder resources to keep VBA in Office 2008 and still have it out the door in a reasonable amount of time. Especially since they knew of the Intel switch on Apple's side as early as 2006, and likely late 2005. I don't discount Apple's role in this either - at least some of the blame goes to Apple for playing things so close to the chest that few major software platforms had Universal products ready when the Mac lineup went entirely Intel.
So the MBU can sugar coat and justify their "hard decisions" all they want, but at the end of the day, like Apple, they're a business that cares about making money -- and they knew that because of the changes Microsoft was making on the Windows side of Office, there was still money to be made shilling Office 2008 with a load of apologies. Further, by pegging Office 2010 as a "holiday" release next year, there will now be some period of time between when they officially stop supporting Office 2004 later this year, and the real new Office next year.
Whether or not to try an atmospheric re-entry of the space shuttle when one of the external cameras has identified a potential hole in the insulation is a hard decision. Whether or not to include VBA support in Office 2008 is, and remains, a business decision - cry all they want about "limited resources" the MBU's bottom line is not caring about Mac users, it's about making money. And they knew in 2006 that they could still make money on Office 2008 without VBA support, just as they know they can release a "Business Edition" of Office 2008 without it, simply because Microsoft is a competitor, not a partner, with Apple. So I really don't believe them at all now when they cry "hard choices" and "insufficient resources" as if they *really care* about Mac users while working at a company with annual profits larger than the GDPs of many countries. It's not as if they don't charge enough for Office licenses in the first place.
so what stopped apple from designing and implementing their own "real" office suite? i don't see a lack of effort on apple's part as a shafting on microsofts part. They didn't have to even support the OS at all.
Maybe this will inspire Corel to bring WordPerfect back
I am sure there are many people that would rather use WordPerfect than Word.
I am sure there are many people that would rather use WordPerfect than Word.
Wow - this just made my day. That would be, awesome - I loved WordPerfect, at least until they really dropped the ball with the 6.0 and later releases.
I agree. If Apple can make world-class photo, music, and video editing software, surely they can make a decent office suite. Crying about Microsoft "shafting" Mac users is absurd, when Apple has plenty of resources and programmers at their disposal. Is it somehow Microsoft's fault that Pages and Numbers are inferior to their Microsoft counterparts? And what about looking at things the other way around - why is it that iTunes for Windows is a complete piece of ****, while the Mac version is very good?
M$ doesn't have to support Apple at all, but they will never opt out of Office for Mac. What they will do, however, is support OS X just enough to convince people that Office on Macs is a waste of time, and that if they really want all the great features they need to move over to Windows. This is how monopolies behave.
As to why Apple can't release an Office competitor, I'd posit two reasons: 1) Microsoft will never give up complete licensing to all of Office's features, regardless of whether or not it releases enough file format information to make compatible files, and 2) Microsoft has almost 30 years of a head start on Apple with regard to market penetration and program development. iWork is really nice for what it is, but it's not Office - although we've just about given up PowerPoint for Keynote at our organization.
"Hands in the Palm". What R U, some MS fan and Macintosh hater? It always amazes me when I see posts like this on a Mac forum. And what's your point anyway? Isn't that what Apple is doing right now? As a matter of fact, they are working hard to save their customer's money on software. iWork costs only $79, Apple's Mail, contacts and iCal come built-in with the OS and now with Exchange support in Snow Leopard. Mac users have paid more than 3 times that amount for the full version of Office 2008 which has been dumbed down. The box doesn't even explain that there's no VB Macros support. That's just stealing a poor customer's money. They won't even know this until they get home and open it, only to find out that they cannot return open software. They think they are getting the same version as the one on Windows. I'm crying foul on MS.
surely with Apple and their superior staff, they should be able to catch up on only 30 years head start
The point is, apple has made no effort in this space and we are faulting microsoft for not fully supporting a competing OS with their product? See quote below about OS native products on other OS's. To date, i can only think of iTunes and its not exactly a dream.i guess i am someone who doesn't follow any brand including apple with blind allegiance, well maybe honda vehicles, but thats it. The point is, there is nothing stopping apple from developing their own products. Wasn't there a lot of grief over the palm pre using iTunes to sync? Why not complain when apple uses their mail product to connect to a microsoft IP? the point is, apple's office suite is crap, and the fact that microsoft's isn't "apple" ready, is no companies fault but apples.
I would argue a statement inverse to yours.
I think you've just explained the theory of business competition, in which case, the fault is both Microsoft and Apple's - but for different reasons. And yeah, iTunes on Windows is amazingly joyless, but then again, Apple wants you to buy a Mac.surely with Apple and their superior staff, they should be able to catch up on only 30 years head start
And don't buy SL either if you don't want to give MS money. After all, they had to license Exchange support for both iPhone and SL. Unfortunately I won't be able to use SL's Exchange support because it is limited to Exchange 2007; we (and most other companies) still run an earlier version. So I (and many others in the same boat) will have no choice but Office:mac.
Yes.....I am one of those people. My migrated from WordStar to Wordperfect and my parents use it for their business as well. While Word is a quality product in some ways, I just find WordPerfect to be much better in others. For example, at least for me, WordPerfect X4 documents saved in .wpd work just fine in WordPerfect 8.
I think you've just explained the theory of business competition, in which case, the fault is both Microsoft and Apple's - but for different reasons. And yeah, iTunes on Windows is amazingly joyless, but then again, Apple wants you to buy a Mac.
And as you pointed out, Keynote is far superior to PowerPoint, so it's not like Apple can't surpass Microsoft Office. They're just late arriving on the scene.