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Microsoft Offers Behind-the-Scenes Look at Office for Mac 2011 Features
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That is a good thing. PPC support means having to wait longer for Office software updates and bug fixes. PPC support also means having to leave out some features that only a modern Intel CPU could run efficiently.
I'm very much looking forward to Outlook coming to the Mac. I imagine we will be able to import PST files from Windows and use them as is.
Other things I'm curious about:
- How many versions will there be (anything different from the usual suites) and pricing?
- Will it do a clean install/uninstall without leaving garbage everywhere?
- Will activation be required (one of the very reasons why I left Windows)?
I do love office but as I just escaped the Windows world I am not keen to be installing any Microsoft software on my Mac.
Other things I'm curious about:
- How many versions will there be (anything different from the usual suites) and pricing?
- Will it do a clean install/uninstall without leaving garbage everywhere?
- Will activation be required (one of the very reasons why I left Windows)?
I do love office but as I just escaped the Windows world I am not keen to be installing any Microsoft software on my Mac.
Can I purchase Word alone?
Is Word still available separately? I could make use of that for massaging received client files before placing them in InDesign, but I have no use for Excel, Powerpoint, Entourage, etc that comes bundled with Office. I'm not going to fork out mega $$$ for all of Office just to use one component of it.
Is Word still available separately? I could make use of that for massaging received client files before placing them in InDesign, but I have no use for Excel, Powerpoint, Entourage, etc that comes bundled with Office. I'm not going to fork out mega $$$ for all of Office just to use one component of it.
We're mostly laughing at the comments in this thread, at least the ones that aren't knee-jerk repeats of past comments in every other thread under the sun. One other MacBU'er made a fake "iCandy" poster based on the comments about Eric being "distractingly attractive".
Schwieb
MacBU Dev Lead
(and I'm 36...)
Good God, they are still touting the ribbon??????????? Does no one at MSFT know good user interface design? Look at the iphone. Any 3-year-old can pick it up and do far more sophisticated things in 10 minutes than can an adult who shelled out bucks to be trained on using the Office ribbon.
Agreed on the first 5 points. Having exactly the same page layout would be really nice. As it is Excel:Mac 2008 and the previous versions for OS X default to fitting 7 columns across an A4 page, compared to 9 on all Windows versions; you can correct for that and save a new default template, but even then cell widths and heights report different values between Mac and Windows. And sizing 'to fit' contents on Mac always makes columns too narrow when viewed in Windows.
I can't agree on the last point though. I don't have much against the ribbon after extensive use in '07 and '10 on Windows. Yes it hides things exceptionally well - what they call in the video 'turning 5 steps into 2' where step 1 is to find the damn command you want
. But after figuring out where to look for most things I came to quite like it. The most annoying thing that remains is that 'space before/after paragraph' settings are on a different tab from font and alignment ... and the ribbon reconfig options in '10 don't do the best job.Either way, unification into the ribbon will be better than the combination of format palette, docked toolbars and undocked toolbars we have now - and possibly the most exciting, docked formula bar in Excel!! Plus I'm assuming we will still have menus on the Mac side, so all is well ... except that we don't get any chance to test it by the looks ><.
@Schwieb - 36, good to know, at least someone is around to look after the video kids
.
Well, I'm looking forward to trying it out. Outlook looks good. Let's see if they've made Word a little more robust though.
If MacBU would like me to test their products, feel free to PM me. I can explain in a PM why I would probably be a good candidate to test Word and Outlook at any rate.
If MacBU would like me to test their products, feel free to PM me. I can explain in a PM why I would probably be a good candidate to test Word and Outlook at any rate.
They should add all the features that Excel on Windows offers. In particular ODBC connectivity and other power user features.
I'm not getting it. I have office for mac from about 5 years ago and I only use it to write my screen plays.
They are not that young. But they have been with the company for years and probably well proven in their profession and not to mention highly educated; going to top schools. I should know.
Welcome to California. Half the technology is made by younger and younger people. They are just orchestrated by someone much older and experienced most likely.
Of course they can't act, They are programmers not broadway performers.
But not in Australia perhaps?
http://www.microsoft.com/Australia/mac/products/word2008/default.mspx#/document_elements/
There seems no way to actually buy it from here as the "SHOP NOW" and "Downloads" links both lead to Office, not Word.
If no improved Calendar Mail etc. integration
Well, that's a deal breaker for me. The only reason I'd buy it (at this stage since all I've read about it is in this Forum) is the hope (apparently frail) that Outlook would work better than Entourage with iCal (I hadn't even hoped for Mail). Word, Excel, and PowerPoint work well enough right now for me to just stay with '08 (for the uses I put them too). My hopes have focused on integration. Well, I'll keep the hope embers burning to hear definitively when it's released.
Well, that's a deal breaker for me. The only reason I'd buy it (at this stage since all I've read about it is in this Forum) is the hope (apparently frail) that Outlook would work better than Entourage with iCal (I hadn't even hoped for Mail). Word, Excel, and PowerPoint work well enough right now for me to just stay with '08 (for the uses I put them too). My hopes have focused on integration. Well, I'll keep the hope embers burning to hear definitively when it's released.
Ever since I got Ribbon Customizer, I love the ribbon. All my needed commands are right in front of me. Try it!
I'm one of the official Social Beta testers for the new office 2011.
twitter me @macrumoruser
I am extremely happy with Office 2011 and the stability and reliability of it's current form is very good. More stable that 2008 with the many service packs installed.
Newest beta loads very quickly, faster than either (iWork 09) pages or Office 2008.
Outlook 2011 is excellent and has replaced Mail. I used to use Entourage, then moved back to mail, and now I'm using Outlook 2011.
There are things missing such as full iCal sync and iDevice sync with Outlook, there are work arounds though, however I'm assured that full iDevice syncing will make the final release.
Word has come along way and it is amazing how going back to Word 2008 from 2011 how much you miss the new features such as Ribbon and the fancy new photo filters/effects.
Microsoft have upped the 'ante' considerably, and i'm sure Apple will respond accordingly with iWork 2011 - so either way as consumers we all win.
twitter me @macrumoruser
I am extremely happy with Office 2011 and the stability and reliability of it's current form is very good. More stable that 2008 with the many service packs installed.
Newest beta loads very quickly, faster than either (iWork 09) pages or Office 2008.
Outlook 2011 is excellent and has replaced Mail. I used to use Entourage, then moved back to mail, and now I'm using Outlook 2011.
There are things missing such as full iCal sync and iDevice sync with Outlook, there are work arounds though, however I'm assured that full iDevice syncing will make the final release.
Word has come along way and it is amazing how going back to Word 2008 from 2011 how much you miss the new features such as Ribbon and the fancy new photo filters/effects.
Microsoft have upped the 'ante' considerably, and i'm sure Apple will respond accordingly with iWork 2011 - so either way as consumers we all win.
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I may have missed this, so if it's a repeat, sorry. I skimmed, but didn't read every post.
For Outlook and Exchange - does it at least offer server-side rules??? I mean...that feature in Windows Outlook has been around for only 10 years or so.
Do the other apps integrate with Sharepoint's "check out" feature? Meaning, can I check-out a file from sharepoint, it automatically downloads and opens in Word, Excel, etc, and when I save, it is written to Sharepoint? As it is now, I have to do the old-fashioned download, edit, save, upload. And since it's not "checked out" someone could edit the same file while I'm editing it and when I upload it, their edits are gone. Not good.
For Outlook and Exchange - does it at least offer server-side rules??? I mean...that feature in Windows Outlook has been around for only 10 years or so.
Do the other apps integrate with Sharepoint's "check out" feature? Meaning, can I check-out a file from sharepoint, it automatically downloads and opens in Word, Excel, etc, and when I save, it is written to Sharepoint? As it is now, I have to do the old-fashioned download, edit, save, upload. And since it's not "checked out" someone could edit the same file while I'm editing it and when I upload it, their edits are gone. Not good.