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Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac

ddeadserious

ddeadserious

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 28, 2008
671
0
Plymouth, MI
I find it thoroughly amusing that the ONE, SINGLE piece of software created by the Microsoft Corporation(the one corporation I want nothing to do with) on my mac, is the ONE, SINGLE piece of software that has given me trouble enough to have to force quit 3 times in 5 minutes. I'm happy that I intermittently save my junk, otherwise I'd be angry, rather than amused.

</end rant>

So what's everybody think about OpenOffice for Mac?
 
Wirelessly posted via a group of monkeys using a typewrite / Ribbon 1.1 / Paper 2.0

I havent tried the latest version, but I've had too many compatibility issues in the past for it to be a viable solution for me.
 
The performanceis pretty bad, though it has improved with the updates, but if you need to do serious work with .docx files it's basically your only choice.
I really like the new openoffice 3.0 but since I'm writing a thesis that I started in word 2007 and often use the bibliography features of word, I need word 08.
 
Wirelessly posted via a group of monkeys using a typewrite / Ribbon 1.1 / Paper 2.0
lamadude said:
The performanceis pretty bad, though it has improved with the updates, but if you need to do serious work with .docx files it's basically your only choice.
I really like the new openoffice 3.0 but since I'm writing a thesis that I started in word 2007 and often use the bibliography features of word, I need word 08.
Click to expand...

The only performance issue I've had is the startup is REALLY slow - but the updates have made it tolerable.
 
I use both NeoOffice and OpenOffice 3.0. Both do a fine job for all cross-platform work that I do. I don't see a performance hit with the latest versions (Macbook Pro 2.4 Penryn).

I don't even have MS Office on my computer.
 
Pages rock my socks as well but i find it mildly annoying how you have to export as a word .doc file. hopefully in iWork '09 it will be added in the Save As window.
 
OpenOffice.org is pretty good from what I can tell, but I'm not exactly a power user. It has a problem with displaying bullet points correctly, but it's only when displaying on my Mac, it's fine when I open the document on a PC in Word of Oo_O, so I can live with it. Since it's free, why not give it a go and see how it works?

I'd rather use Pages for all my work, but unfortuately it too has some issues. The main one for me is that you can't mix portrait and landscap pages in the same document :confused:. I'd prefer to have MS Word export in the 'Save As' section rather than export, but that's pretty minor. And ODF support, as well as a good, free, converter that can be used by everyone that uses Office - the sooner both parties start using an open file format, the better for everyone :).

Dave.
 
I have years' worth of word .doc files from my Microsoft days, and now I have a week-old iMac. So I'm looking for the best way to continue with what I already have as files. Is there a Mac program--other than Microsoft's Office version for Mac--that can read my .doc files? Does neooffice or iWork do this?
 
MattOKC said:
I have years' worth of word .doc files from my Microsoft days, and now I have a week-old iMac. So I'm looking for the best way to continue with what I already have as files. Is there a Mac program--other than Microsoft's Office version for Mac--that can read my .doc files? Does neooffice or iWork do this?
Click to expand...
Text Edit, Pages, OpenOffice/NeoOffice, AbiWord
 
For any serious work IMO you need MS Office 2008. Except for Keynote - that rocks!
 
Most of my writing is done in Bean or DevonThink Pro because, 9 times out of 10, I don't need anything fancy in terms of formatting. I just need raw text. Once I'm done, I'll bring the text into Word for formatting or sending out to colleagues. For everyday writing, though, I just can't put up with the sludginess of Word, at least on my system anyway.

Agreed re: Keynote. I use it on an almost daily basis (I'm a Prof).
 
^ PDF. Doesn't matter whether you use Adobe Reader, Preview, Quick Look, blah blah blah. PDF does stand for portable document format. No loss of color, text, formatting, anything. Anyway, I just want to add myself to the list of Office 2008 for Mac bugs. I can never, repeat, never use the palettes without it being "left behind" in the previous space when I switch spaces. The palette is there, but the stuff in the palette like the options to align text, font, size, color, etc are just left behind and looks like an artifact in the other space. Annoying, since I integrated Spaces and Expose into my workflow.
 
MattOKC said:
Thanks, MisterMe. Any opinions as to which opens .doc files most "faithfully," as in keeping true to original formatting, graphics placements, etc.?
Click to expand...

OpenOffice/NeoOffice opens most .doc files "faithfully" but not all. Also, Pages has never exported a doc file that other people in my office could view without modifying the layout. I finally had to break down and buy Office 2008.
 
I have to use office all the time for work and share files with colleagues and the only program that has zero compatibility issues is office for windows. I run vmware fusion specifically to run microsoft office only (so no other spyware/junk/etc and it runs very smoothly because of that). I can even have all my office programs in my dock and open them up in mac windows (so I don't have to see windows at all). This is the best way to run office and if you need powerpoints to be perfect is a must for presentation compatibility.
 
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