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Apr 12, 2001
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Several readers have reported that the first copies of Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac have started shipping.

Mac Office 2004 was previewed by Microsoft at MacWorld Expo San Francisco in January with expected shipment in May.

The newest version of Office for the Mac offers several new features and improvements, including a new Project Center, PowerPoint Presenter Tools, and notetaking capabilities in Word.
 
I use Office, and I think it is a great suite. Now, there are bound to be some Macheads that disagree because it's Microsoft, but give it a chance.

P-Worm
 
What companies are shipping?

I preordered on amazon and it has a ship date of the 17th.. :confused:
 
P-Worm said:
I use Office, and I think it is a great suite. Now, there are bound to be some Macheads that disagree because it's Microsoft, but give it a chance.

P-Worm

i gave it a chance (for it's supposed Exchange Server integration), and i disagree... its a waste for folks like me who need that.

if you like transparent palettes, by all means run out and get it.
 
Veldek said:
Is VPC 7 already part of it? Hopefully, we can get some impressions/benchmarks soon.


VPC7 is supposed to be part of the professional edition of office, which won't ship until mid-July.
 
I just can't find any reason to upgrade. I don't need a "project center" since I use all the Apple apps for that. All I use is Word and I can't see that anything significant has been added.

(Sorry, Finns aren't significant to me - that's a few generations back in my family tree :) )
 
DGFan said:
I just can't find any reason to upgrade. I don't need a "project center" since I use all the Apple apps for that. All I use is Word and I can't see that anything significant has been added.

(Sorry, Finns aren't significant to me - that's a few generations back in my family tree :) )

Unicode, long filename support, better than ever cross plateform support, revision mode "à la Office XP", notes view, faster, lower CPU usage...

and a finnish dict :)
 
I suspect we'll eventually upgrade, but, apart from PowerPoint (which sucks...but then that's why we use Keynote), Office X is perfectly serviceable for our purposes.

We use Word and Excell fairly heavily, and some of the new features may be nice, but most people want their software to stay the same (unless there is some annoying bug or missing feature). The Office package is sufficiently mature that there's not much missing from most people's POV. So a new version isn't very attractive. It would just mean relearning how to do things you can already do effectively with existing tools.

So, to me, this appears to be a hammer with a bunch of new features like a built-in TV and coffee machine. Sorry...but my existing hammer pounds nails just fine.

Cheers
 
I didn't really need the new profiles features either, but bought the full version:

1. To get long file names. This limitation is simply painful to me and my organization
2. To support Apple. Having Office is critical for the Mac to survive, so I am doing my part to give MS the incentive to keep Office on the Mac.

Does it piss me off to spend 250 bucks to get long file names? Yes.

Is it crazy to send Redmond money to support Apple? Yes.

Does it piss me off? Yes.

But considering a world without the Mac, I'm picking the lessor of evils.
 
Elan0204 said:
VPC7 is supposed to be part of the professional edition of office, which won't ship until mid-July.

This is wrong.. I ordered the Professional Suite and I did get an email to say the order was delayed until the end of may.. not mid july
 
Elan0204 said:
VPC7 is supposed to be part of the professional edition of office, which won't ship until mid-July.

That is the version that I've ordered. So I should receive it around MacWorld Boston. :)
 
Interesting

I wonder how long it'll take for this to show up on P2P networks? The last version of M$ Office was/is widespread on these networks. :confused:
 
MS needs to hurry up and make a version of Access for mac. It seems like that's the only program that keeps some people I know from switching (have a few small business friends that use access for client DB's). Maybe Office 2005?
 
mcdermd said:
MS needs to hurry up and make a version of Access for mac. It seems like that's the only program that keeps some people I know from switching (have a few small business friends that use access for client DB's). Maybe Office 2005?

Microsoft's answer to this would be "That's why we include Virtual PC with the Professional Version of Mac Office".

(Hey, on a dual 2 ghz G5, VPC 7 should be able to handle Access.. At least as well as a 333 mhz Pentium II or so ;)
 
mcdermd said:
MS needs to hurry up and make a version of Access for mac. It seems like that's the only program that keeps some people I know from switching (have a few small business friends that use access for client DB's). Maybe Office 2005?

Try never. Why do you think they left Access out? For the exact reason you commented on. To neuter Apple in the corp arena.

Rule #1 about Microsoft. They don't do ANYTHING out of the goodness of their hearts. Mac Office is around for one and only one reason. To keep the antitrust vultures off of MS's back. The amount of cash Mac Office brings in is pathetically small compared to Windows/Office for Windows. In fact I'd be interested in seeing if it even covers development costs.
 
I personally hope the Note Taking feature is all it's made out to be; I am entering college next year and would be very happy if that feature works as promised. I bought Office v.X in February, and paid $20 to get the 2004 guarantee.
 
Tagada said:
Unicode, long filename support, better than ever cross plateform support, revision mode "à la Office XP", notes view, faster, lower CPU usage...

and a finnish dict :)

Can anyone verify that it supports honest-to-goodness Unicode? And does so properly? It always was annoying that Cyrillic characters never show up right.

That feature may be worth paying $150 for eventually....
 
I'm debating on whether I should order it or not. If I were to buy it, I would get the student discount, but it is still kind of expensive.

I may just wait to see if people really like the new features, and if it performs better.
 
What I want to know is if there is a good exchange client?? Entourage X just does not do what I need to do!!

Any ideas/info about Entourage 2004??
 
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