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Right, but that doesn't mean that Filemaker is unable to make business decisions of their own. Without inside information, to say that it was Apple who decided to kill Bento is simply opinion. Your comment gave the impression that it was a fact.

I never said that Apple killed Bento, all I did was state that Apple owns Filemaker. The management at Filemaker may have killed Bento without ever consulting the parent company.
 
Well, it's been more than 1,400 days now since the release of Office 2011 and there are no signs of a new Office for Mac. Indeed very frustrating. This will make me have second thoughts next time I consider buying a Mac instead of a Windows-based PC.
 
Well, it's been more than 1,400 days now since the release of Office 2011 and there are no signs of a new Office for Mac. Indeed very frustrating. This will make me have second thoughts next time I consider buying a Mac instead of a Windows-based PC.

And why is that? Why would you give every single OS X and Mac advantage for a Windows laptop, because of a specific version of MS Office?

If you need it that much use bootcamp.
 
Well, it's been more than 1,400 days now since the release of Office 2011 and there are no signs of a new Office for Mac. Indeed very frustrating. This will make me have second thoughts next time I consider buying a Mac instead of a Windows-based PC.

Why not sign up to office 365 and then run bootcamp? I have the best of both worlds, running a great office suite (in windows) and still use my Mac and OS X for everythig else.

If the new version of Vmware Fusion gets announced soon, I'll get that so I run windows within OS X
 
...
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. ... So, I chose to pay the expensive subscription price and I am not complaining. ...
What do you think?
I run office as well; I have to as my work uses it and I'd use it anyway even if they didn't. (Exception: Keynote blows away powerpoint all day, every day.)

I don't thing $99 a year for 5 computer seats plus 5 additional devices is expensive. Far from it; it's a much better deal than buying 1 copy of Office 2011 for $139 ($219 if you want outlook) for 1 computer. If you have multiple systems, that gets expensive real quick. For 5 machines, it costs a paltry $20 a year per box to have access to the latest version, even if it's a few years between releases.

And who knows? Maybe microsoft is going to adopt the full 365 update scheme for the next office mac, so it may not even be called Office 2015.
 
I never said that Apple killed Bento, all I did was state that Apple owns Filemaker. The management at Filemaker may have killed Bento without ever consulting the parent company.

If you weren't trying to imply that Apple killed Bento then I have no idea why you said "Apple owns Filemaker" in my response to my post (where I said "Filemaker owns Bento"). :confused: It's okay, I'm just confused. :D


I run office as well; I have to as my work uses it and I'd use it anyway even if they didn't. (Exception: Keynote blows away powerpoint all day, every day.)

I don't thing $99 a year for 5 computer seats plus 5 additional devices is expensive. Far from it; it's a much better deal than buying 1 copy of Office 2011 for $139 ($219 if you want outlook) for 1 computer. If you have multiple systems, that gets expensive real quick. For 5 machines, it costs a paltry $20 a year per box to have access to the latest version, even if it's a few years between releases.

And who knows? Maybe microsoft is going to adopt the full 365 update scheme for the next office mac, so it may not even be called Office 2015.
For our household, Office 365 is an excellent deal (especially when we find the subscriptions for $67/year) But if Microsoft doesn't update Office for Mac before my subscription is up, I will have to seriously reconsider renewing the subscription.
 
And why is that? Why would you give every single OS X and Mac advantage for a Windows laptop, because of a specific version of MS Office?

If you need it that much use bootcamp.

Well, I have to say that Microsoft Office is by far the single most important piece of software for me. Since the Internet became so popular, nearly every other task I have been able to do inside a web browser.

In fact, Microsoft Office is the most used software in the world, and is the de facto standard for everything one must do inside an office. I do not edit photos nor videos and I do not do graphic design or anything artistic. And most people do not do these tasks either. Photo editors, video editors, desktop publishing software, they are all useful for people with specific needs. But the vast majority of people rely on an office suite, and Microsoft Office is the one to be used in most tasks.

I am supposed to use Microsoft Office in my work. Every document I send to a client must be saved in Microsoft Word format. Every presentation I have must be saved in PowerPoint format, otherwise I will not be able to open it at someone else's computer. Every spreadsheet must be in Excel. I must use Outlook as the firm I work in uses Exchange. Every single article I write, either for newspapers or magazines or academic journals, must be saved in Microsoft Word format. I must use Microsoft Office because everybody else uses Microsoft Office. And I want to use Microsoft Office because it is the only one that has all the features I need.

It is very frustrating that Office for Windows is so much better than Office for Mac. Office 2010 for Windows was already way ahead of Office 2011 for Mac. And now Office 2013 for Windows has been available for one year and a half, and there are no signs of the counterpart for the Mac.

Office 2011 for Mac is slow and sluggish. Ribbons are not as customizable. It does not support plugins the same way Office for Windows does. It does not open PDFs as editable text. And the grammar correction is broken, at least in my Mac.

Yes, there are alternatives, but none of them are on par with Office. LibreOffice is OK, but not on par. I did not buy an expensive Mac with all the bells and whistles to use cheap open source software. I bought it to use premium software. iWork is fine, but I cannot rely on it to complex tasks. Pages does not support cross-references, and it does not even allow footnotes to be split in multiple pages. I have tried other word processors for Mac, and they all have their shortcomings.

So, I am back to Microsoft Office, and it is truly disappointing that my US$ 2,000+ Mac runs an inferior piece of software than a cheap US$ 500 Windows PC.

As for the advantages of using OS X, I don't think they offset the benefits of using the best version of Microsoft Office. The benefits of OS X are largely a matter of personal taste, and I do not think it is so superior to Windows in all respects. The most talked about benefits of OS X mean absolutely nothing to me. I will give some examples.

(1) The Mac works out of the box. Big deal. This is for dummies. I can install whatever I want in both Macs and PCs. The real deal is which one has more and better software, with more features, available. I cannot care less for what comes out of the box.

(2) Mac gets no viruses. This is for dummies as well. I am not stupid enough to open any suspicious e-mail that comes to my inbox. And if I am, I deserve to get a virus.

(3) Mac is simpler. Well, Windows is simple too.

There are, however, a few things in what OS X excels:

(1) OS X has better battery life than Windows.

(2) In OS X, when I boot I can choose to reopen the same software that was opened when I turned off the computer.

(3) OS X has better trackpad support, and this is good for laptops (although Windows is not bad at this).

(4) OS X allows for scrolling of the windows which are not highlighted.

(5) Mission Control / Expose is the best way of managing multiple windows.

Apart from these, I do not see too much benefit of using OS X instead of Windows. And Windows has its advantages too. I fail to see how OS X is so much superior to Windows that it would make me give up the best version of the most important piece of software (Office) just to use it.

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Why not sign up to office 365 and then run bootcamp? I have the best of both worlds, running a great office suite (in windows) and still use my Mac and OS X for everythig else.

If the new version of Vmware Fusion gets announced soon, I'll get that so I run windows within OS X

I sign up to Office 365 and I do run Bootcamp. Still, I run Office inside Windows, and not on OS X. And, while I use Bootcamp, I cannot run OS X. And trackpad support on Bootcamp is a joke, any Windows machine does a better job.

If I use a virtual machine, I have two operating systems running simultaneously and draining battery and consuming memory.

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I run office as well; I have to as my work uses it and I'd use it anyway even if they didn't. (Exception: Keynote blows away powerpoint all day, every day.)

I don't thing $99 a year for 5 computer seats plus 5 additional devices is expensive. Far from it; it's a much better deal than buying 1 copy of Office 2011 for $139 ($219 if you want outlook) for 1 computer. If you have multiple systems, that gets expensive real quick. For 5 machines, it costs a paltry $20 a year per box to have access to the latest version, even if it's a few years between releases.

And who knows? Maybe microsoft is going to adopt the full 365 update scheme for the next office mac, so it may not even be called Office 2015.

I have Office 365, but this is not the answer. It allows me to install Office 2013 for Windows and Office 2011 for Mac. Office 365 is just a subscription model, it does not change the software that is installed on my machine. Office for Mac is still inferior in all respects to Office for Windows.
 
I use Office365 and like what you get with it. For $7 per month I get Office on my Mac and iPad but better than that I get 1TB of cloud storage also. Dropbox and Google charge $10 per month for just the storage.

And I know that Office for Mac is old but there will be a new version coming and when it does you get the upgrade for free with Office365.

So all those hating on the subscription just look at what you get. How much are you paying for storage each month and compare that to $7 per month for the Office365 Personal plan.
 
I use Office365 and like what you get with it. For $7 per month I get Office on my Mac and iPad but better than that I get 1TB of cloud storage also. Dropbox and Google charge $10 per month for just the storage.

And I know that Office for Mac is old but there will be a new version coming and when it does you get the upgrade for free with Office365.

So all those hating on the subscription just look at what you get. How much are you paying for storage each month and compare that to $7 per month for the Office365 Personal plan.

I have Office 365 because I think the subscription model is worth it. I actually like it.

What I don't like is Office 2011 for Mac. It is old and dated. It doesn't matter if I subscribe to Office 365 or if I buy it individually, in any case, if I own a Mac, I am stuck with Office 2011 and its shortcomings. Yes, Microsoft will release a newer version. But Windows users already have Office 2013 for one year and a half now, and it is probably superior to any new Office that will be released for Mac in the coming months.

It doesn't matter the subscription model. What it matters is that, if you own a Mac, you have to use inferior Office software. That is what annoys me.
 
I have Office 365 because I think the subscription model is worth it. I actually like it.
In general, I'm not a fan of the subscription model. I'm very critical of Adobe and its CS subscription. For Office however and what MS provides for the price, I definitely see a lot of value and I'm happy with it as well.

As I've said a number of times, I use Office 2013 in windows just because its such a superior product.

I'm not sure what the delay is for Mac Office 2014, but I've largely moved on. If they come out with it, I'll install it since it won't cost me anything.
 
[MOD NOTE]
Enough with the windows vs. OS X platform debate. That is off topic to the thread and such conversations are derailing the thread which is not fair to the OP.
 
I believe there will be a complete overhaul of Windows for Mac this fall and that Microsoft was waiting for Yosemite. With the addition of Handoff and Continuity and what you can now do with extensions in both OSX and iOS, Microsoft can do a lot of what can be done in Windows and more.

This is Microsoft, they are becoming a mobile first company and working on Office for many platforms and they will work on the versions that get them the most market share first. They did make a touch version for the iPad before they even made a touch version for Windows, they will even have an Android version out. So it will take time but we will get a new version.
 
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.

I am not paying for any software on subscription and I guess I never will.

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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.


Isn't this discussion kind of pointless without having the details on the ROI?
 
I am not paying for any software on subscription and I guess I never will
Unfortunately that is where the industry is headed - at least for the major players. I see no reason why MS would not put Mac Office in the subscription model, especially given the long time spans between updates, i.e., have a customer keep paying 100 dollars a year.

Personally as I mentioned I am finding value in the subscription model for office. I will also say (at the risk of repeating myself) that subscription model is not new. Enterprise software has been doing this since computers filled enormous rooms. Its only recently that some software developers started to embrace this.
 
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If I didn't have one Office 2008 license remaining, I'd probably add Office to my Exchange Online subscription. It's only about $3 more than what I'm currently paying.

The decision will depend on what my next desktop is. If it's another Mac, then I'll stick with Office 2008. If it's a Windows machine, then I'll get a subscription.
 
Personally as I mentioned I am finding value in the subscription model for office. I will also say (at the risk of repeating myself) that subscription model is not new. Enterprise software has been doing this since computers filled enormous rooms. Its only recently that some software developers started to embrace this.

You're exactly right, the subscription model is only "new" on the average consumer level, and even that has been done before.

I too find value in Office 365 because I run Windows, OS X, and iOS and now have access to Office on all these devices plus 1TB of OneDrive. 1TB of cloud storage from any other vendor is expensive, but you're also getting the complete office suite so I see as a much better value than paying for other services like Dropbox or GDrive.

Additionally, the subscription model has dramatically helped with Microsoft's licensing issues. When my old system kept failing I had to reinstall Office 3 times in a month. The old box way would have resulted in headaches and several calls to customer support, now I can just use the web interface. I'm very impressed.

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Well, it's been more than 1,400 days now since the release of Office 2011 and there are no signs of a new Office for Mac. Indeed very frustrating. This will make me have second thoughts next time I consider buying a Mac instead of a Windows-based PC.

I am extremely disappointed. I was hoping for Office in July so I could get use to the new suite before school, but nope. I was certain they would at least announce it by the end of August, but that seems unlikely as well.

And why is that? Why would you give every single OS X and Mac advantage for a Windows laptop, because of a specific version of MS Office?

If you need it that much use bootcamp.

The very heart of a computer is software. If a system isn't supplying the software you need than you must use an alternative. Bootcamp is a hassle when everything except Office files are on your Mac side. I am accessing Word/Excel/Powerpoint/Access files continually throughout out the day, constant rebooting would be terrible. I use VMWare Fusion to run side by side and find the experience very seamless now that I have 16GB of RAM to use.
 
The very heart of a computer is software. If a system isn't supplying the software you need than you must use an alternative. Bootcamp is a hassle when everything except Office files are on your Mac side. I am accessing Word/Excel/Powerpoint/Access files continually throughout out the day, constant rebooting would be terrible. I use VMWare Fusion to run side by side and find the experience very seamless now that I have 16GB of RAM to use.

Exactly.

The operating system, no matter how good it is, is worth nothing if it has inferior software. That is why I think comparing two operating systems is always something very poor. As good as OS X is, I cannot get rid of Windows because Office for Windows is so much better.
 
Exactly.

The operating system, no matter how good it is, is worth nothing if it has inferior software. That is why I think comparing two operating systems is always something very poor. As good as OS X is, I cannot get rid of Windows because Office for Windows is so much better.

Have you tried running Windows in VMWare or Parallels? Fusion has a Unity view (and Parallels has a similar function) that allows you to use Windows apps like native Mac apps with Mission Control, Dock access, Launchpad, etc. It can be a little clunky, but if you want a seamless experience that is as far as you can go.

I personally use Windows in a full screen space and swipe back and forth or use dual monitors.

Mac Word is sufficient for views Word files and working on basic documents. I only use Mac Excel for small personal spreadsheets. Any school Excel projects are done in Windows. And I never use PP except to view the occasional file so the Mac version is fine. I wish Microsoft would do a major update already. I'd be willing to leave Pages '09 and jump all in on Office if they'd make good apps like they did with OneNote (thought the Mac version is still crippled compared to the Windows counterpart).
 
Have you tried running Windows in VMWare or Parallels? Fusion has a Unity view (and Parallels has a similar function) that allows you to use Windows apps like native Mac apps with Mission Control, Dock access, Launchpad, etc. It can be a little clunky, but if you want a seamless experience that is as far as you can go.

I personally use Windows in a full screen space and swipe back and forth or use dual monitors.
I use bootcamp myself, though I'm waiting for Fusion 6 to get announced/released. I split my time 50-50 due to work demands, so I don't mind being in windows during the day. My copy of Vmware is getting long in the tooth (version 4) so tis time for me to upgrade.
 
Have you tried running Windows in VMWare or Parallels? Fusion has a Unity view (and Parallels has a similar function) that allows you to use Windows apps like native Mac apps with Mission Control, Dock access, Launchpad, etc. It can be a little clunky, but if you want a seamless experience that is as far as you can go.

I personally use Windows in a full screen space and swipe back and forth or use dual monitors.

Mac Word is sufficient for views Word files and working on basic documents. I only use Mac Excel for small personal spreadsheets. Any school Excel projects are done in Windows. And I never use PP except to view the occasional file so the Mac version is fine. I wish Microsoft would do a major update already. I'd be willing to leave Pages '09 and jump all in on Office if they'd make good apps like they did with OneNote (thought the Mac version is still crippled compared to the Windows counterpart).

I do use Parallels running Windows 8.1 and Office 2013. I have just upgraded to Parallels 10. It is good, but not the ideal solution. Of course, I had to buy both Parallels and Windows. And I run two operating systems at the same time, which consumes a lot of memory, and my 8 GB of RAM is barely enough for that. In addition, running Windows on top of OS X is something that eats battery life very fast.

Office for Mac may be sufficient for working on basic documents. However, I do not subscribe to Office 365 to do basic stuff. I want all the features and it is so frustrating that, after all these years, there is still no office suite for Mac that is half as great as Office for Windows.
 
Unfortunately that is where the industry is headed - at least for the major players. I see no reason why MS would not put Mac Office in the subscription model, especially given the long time spans between updates, i.e., have a customer keep paying 100 dollars a year.

Personally as I mentioned I am finding value in the subscription model for office. I will also say (at the risk of repeating myself) that subscription model is not new. Enterprise software has been doing this since computers filled enormous rooms. Its only recently that some software developers started to embrace this.

Of course you are right on one side that some big players are moving in this direction. On the other hand there is the enormous success of Apples AppStores be it on iOS or on the Mac.

To me it is important to have legacy software still working and around in case I need to access old files.
 
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