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Microsoft Office 2015 (2016?)

You know, I really can't figure MS out and it's giving me a sense of hope.

They quickly updated the iOS OneDrive app with touch ID support and iPhone 6/6+ optimization. They updated OneNote just before iOS 8's release for sharing extensions. They updated Office for iPad with iOS 8 bug fixes promptly. The Windows 10 development preview is nice.

They have all these good advancements for Windows and iOS, but no updates for OneDrive Mac and OneDrive Office. The fact that iOS has received such good treatment lately still gives me hope that Office for Mac will be grand, but I just can't figure out why they'd ignore such a huge segment. Yes, Macs are the far minority, but in the US especially many people purchase them and this is the market that would be ripe to sell their subscription to.

It's not that I really care that much anymore since I use Office for Windows via VMWare, but it would be a pleasant and useful surprise to have Office for Mac not...well...suck.
 
Traverse said:
You know, I really can't figure MS out and it's giving me a sense of hope.

They quickly updated the iOS OneDrive app with touch ID support and iPhone 6/6+ optimization. They updated OneNote just before iOS 8's release for sharing extensions. They updated Office for iPad with iOS 8 bug fixes promptly. The Windows 10 development preview is nice.

They have all these good advancements for Windows and iOS, but no updates for OneDrive Mac and OneDrive Office. The fact that iOS has received such good treatment lately still gives me hope that Office for Mac will be grand, but I just can't figure out why they'd ignore such a huge segment. Yes, Macs are the far minority, but in the US especially many people purchase them and this is the market that would be ripe to sell their subscription to.

It's not that I really care that much anymore since I use Office for Windows via VMWare, but it would be a pleasant and useful surprise to have Office for Mac not...well...suck.
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I agree with you.

Microsoft has just updated Skype for Mac.

However, there are no signs of Office for Mac. The lack of a decent Microsoft Office is something that becomes increasingly annoying every day, as I keep having to run Office for Windows on a virtual machine. There are even leaks of a new Office for Windows version... and no signs of the Mac version.

Mac Office is definitely a laggard and that makes me think of switching to Windows for good.
 
Just had another issue where I was sent a basic powerpoint and it wouldn't print or export to PDF properly. :mad:

My professor insists on multicolored text and colored backgrounds for slides. When I print/exported with PP Mac in grayscale some text disappeared (it changed it to white font on a white background!) and many figures just looked odd. Before I redid his powerpoint for print I attempted it in PP 2013 and it printed flawlessly in grayscale. It was smart enough not to print white text on a white background. MS PLEASE update Office. I don't care if it's functional anymore, just make it at least a good office file viewer! It can't even read it's own files! :mad:

I work in office often, but usually in segments so I can easily use VMWare, but I view .docx and .pptx files though out the day. If I can't even depend on Office:Mac as a viewer I need to keep VMWare running all the time.

End of rant.
 
Traverse said:
Just had another issue where I was sent a basic powerpoint and it wouldn't print or export to PDF properly. :mad:

My professor insists on multicolored text and colored backgrounds for slides. When I print/exported with PP Mac in grayscale some text disappeared (it changed it to white font on a white background!) and many figures just looked odd. Before I redid his powerpoint for print I attempted it in PP 2013 and it printed flawlessly in grayscale.
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I find that (unfortunately), I really can't use Mac Office for mission critical stuff that Windoze users have to open, and has to be in a particular format.

For that stuff, I fire up Office 2013 via Parallels. it is unfortunate, but a sad reality, as you already know.
 
All I want in Office 2014 is an uninstallation program. Everything else is a bonus.

For some reason, Word crashes every single time I try to close a file. I'd love to reinstall it, but there are a mountain of things I'd have to do to uninstall it, and AppZapper won't do the trick either.

:mad:
 
Office 2011 for the mac is painful. In our company we are running the latest office release for pc and using office 11 @ home and the latest version off office in office (nice play of words) is very often breaking things in excel or access.

I do really hope, that MS will release something in the very near future to fix my pain ... ;)
 
mt247 said:
I do really hope, that MS will release something in the very near future to fix my pain ... ;)
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Doesn't seem likely, we're fast approaching the month of November. I doubt if we get into November that we'll see any upgrades from MS. If anything it will have to come in 2015.

I scoffed at the idea of Office being released in 2015 as opposed to 2014, but here we are quickly approaching the end of the year without even a rumor of a beta for the application suite :(
 
maflynn said:
Doesn't seem likely, we're fast approaching the month of November. I doubt if we get into November that we'll see any upgrades from MS. If anything it will have to come in 2015.

I scoffed at the idea of Office being released in 2015 as opposed to 2014, but here we are quickly approaching the end of the year without even a rumor of a beta for the application suite :(
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Did they release a beta last round? I'm using Office 365 and it just seems to update on the Windows side without any notice sometimes. :) Though maybe that's just because I'm not "in the loop." I'm using it for the Mac now that I've switched, and quite honestly, I'm liking it just for the OneDrive synced storage. Saves me from using SugarSync any longer.
 
We'll know when it's coming because OneDrive will get an upgrade to be on-par with the Windows version before the next Office for Mac arrives (ability to have files online-only/offline etc).

OneDrive for Mac so far is very basic and wouldn't sit at all well with Microsoft's modern vision for Office and how users can share/collaborate documents etc.

We won't see the next Office for Mac until deep into 2015 and probably not until around the time Office "2016" launches on Windows.
 
JuryDuty said:
Did they release a beta last round? I'm using Office 365 and it just seems to update on the Windows side without any notice sometimes. :) Though maybe that's just because I'm not "in the loop." I'm using it for the Mac now that I've switched, and quite honestly, I'm liking it just for the OneDrive synced storage. Saves me from using SugarSync any longer.
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They did release a beta before Office 2011 was launched. There was no public beta, but a beta by invitation only. This beta was leaked to the public in April 2010, six months before the release of the final version.

This time, there are not leaks of a beta version...
 
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ScottNWDW said:
At this rate, we might see an update to Microsoft Office 2011 in 2111.
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Yes. That is a good one! Office 2011 is near its fourth anniversary and there are no signs of Office 2014 or 2015 or whatever Microsoft wants to call it.

Perhaps we will see something now that Yosemite has been released? Hopefully?
 
I had a talk with someone from Microsoft Belgium today. He could not confirm or deny anything, but after the talk, I really have a feeling Microsoft is going for the "one-experience-for-all-platforms" strategy.

They want Office for Windows, Mac and tablets all to ressemble each other as good as possible.

There's good and bad news for us here. The good news is this means the next version of Mac Office will be much better aligned with its Windows counterpart. So we're getting rid of the poor piece of software Office 2011 is.

The bad news is they will not release a new version on Mac before it is released on Windows. So, my guess is we will see a new version of Office for Windows sometime next year (I hope early next year) and at the same time we will get the Mac-version. From then on, the release schedule will be aligned.

So we're in for some more waiting, I'm afraid. :confused:
 
McFreggle said:
I had a talk with someone from Microsoft Belgium today. He could not confirm or deny anything, but after the talk, I really have a feeling Microsoft is going for the "one-experience-for-all-platforms" strategy.

They want Office for Windows, Mac and tablets all to ressemble each other as good as possible.

There's good and bad news for us here. The good news is this means the next version of Mac Office will be much better aligned with its Windows counterpart. So we're getting rid of the poor piece of software Office 2011 is.

The bad news is they will not release a new version on Mac before it is released on Windows. So, my guess is we will see a new version of Office for Windows sometime next year (I hope early next year) and at the same time we will get the Mac-version. From then on, the release schedule will be aligned.

So we're in for some more waiting, I'm afraid. :confused:
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Ah man, Word 2011 looks and feels really antiquated to use and could do with some updates. It's not like there isn't a large user-base of the Office suite on the Mac these days. The majority of Mac users still prefer to use Office over Apple's iWorks.

I guess this is only to Apple's advantage, giving them a chance to attract and win over Office users to use their iWorks suite.
 
AndyK said:
I'm still rocking 2008.
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Why are you still using that? I used Office 2008 for a few time and it was terrible. Office 2011, as bad and dated as it may be, is miles ahead of Office 2008.

----------
McFreggle said:
I had a talk with someone from Microsoft Belgium today. He could not confirm or deny anything, but after the talk, I really have a feeling Microsoft is going for the "one-experience-for-all-platforms" strategy.

They want Office for Windows, Mac and tablets all to ressemble each other as good as possible.

There's good and bad news for us here. The good news is this means the next version of Mac Office will be much better aligned with its Windows counterpart. So we're getting rid of the poor piece of software Office 2011 is.

The bad news is they will not release a new version on Mac before it is released on Windows. So, my guess is we will see a new version of Office for Windows sometime next year (I hope early next year) and at the same time we will get the Mac-version. From then on, the release schedule will be aligned.

So we're in for some more waiting, I'm afraid. :confused:
Click to expand...

That's a very good piece of information, thank you! :)

It is really bad to know that we will have to deal with Office 2011 for Mac for a couple of months. Office 2011 is almost four years old, and the current Office for Windows (for which the Mac has no counterpart) is almost two years old now. But it is a reasonable price to pay if the outcome will be for Office for Mac to become as good as Office for Windows. I am really looking forward to that.
 
McFreggle said:
....

The bad news is they will not release a new version on Mac before it is released on Windows. So, my guess is we will see a new version of Office for Windows sometime next year (I hope early next year) and at the same time we will get the Mac-version. From then on, the release schedule will be aligned.

So we're in for some more waiting, I'm afraid. :confused:
Click to expand...
I'm giving Microsoft until March 2015 to produce a quality version of Office for Mac. That is when my year's 365 subscription ends. If it doesn't appear by then, I'll move on.

I'd rather go back to using LibreOffice across my various platforms, and use Office 2003 as a back up on my Windows systems, than to pay Microsoft for an antiquated Mac version.
 
Hustler1337 said:
Ah man, Word 2011 looks and feels really antiquated to use and could do with some updates. It's not like there isn't a large user-base of the Office suite on the Mac these days. The majority of Mac users still prefer to use Office over Apple's iWorks.

I guess this is only to Apple's advantage, giving them a chance to attract and win over Office users to use their iWorks suite.
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Word 2011 is really antiquated. There is a large user base of Office for Mac users, but that is nothing compared to the user base of Office for Windows. According to Microsoft, Office is in 1.1 billion desktops. That's huge and absolutely incredible. Lifetime sales of Macs probably didn't reach 100 million. The lifetime sales of the iPhone, Apple's most popular product, should be at 500-600 million by now. Office is huge, and the Mac market, as big as it may be, simply does not matter that much (uless you take it from a strategic point of view).

Oh, and if Apple's intention is to attract Office's users, then it is doing a really bad job at that. iWork for Mac has just got an update and the apps are still very simplistic and without advanced features. iWork is still the suite for basic documents, for dummies and for doing school homework. Microsoft Office is for pros, for those who need work done in a corporate environment and who need the software to perform complex stuff. I cannot see how Apple is willing to take advantage of this delay.
 
skaertus said:
Word 2011 is really antiquated. There is a large user base of Office for Mac users, but that is nothing compared to the user base of Office for Windows. According to Microsoft, Office is in 1.1 billion desktops. That's huge and absolutely incredible. Lifetime sales of Macs probably didn't reach 100 million. The lifetime sales of the iPhone, Apple's most popular product, should be at 500-600 million by now. Office is huge, and the Mac market, as big as it may be, simply does not matter that much (uless you take it from a strategic point of view).

Oh, and if Apple's intention is to attract Office's users, then it is doing a really bad job at that. iWork for Mac has just got an update and the apps are still very simplistic and without advanced features. iWork is still the suite for basic documents, for dummies and for doing school homework. Microsoft Office is for pros, for those who need work done in a corporate environment and who need the software to perform complex stuff. I cannot see how Apple is willing to take advantage of this delay.
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I don't disputed the fact that Office users on Windows exceed those that use Office on the Mac. There's more Windows machines in the world than that of Macs and Office is far more established and advanced than any other office suites out there. The Windows user base dwarfs that of Mac users like you said. However, what I'm saying is that there is a growing number of Office users on the Mac (and Mac users in general) and Microsoft should take heed of that and not leave Mac users in a distant corner with dated software. Of course it's natural for Microsoft to focus their efforts on their own OS but I think Mac users deserve a bit more attention than they have been given over the past few years, that's all.

As for the second part, iWorks, in it's current form, is still too basic, like you've said - nowhere near as advanced to be taken seriously by businesses and advanced users. What I meant was that Microsoft's delays is making it more easier for Apple to claw in the 'basic' users onto their iWorks suite in the meantime. Pro users wouldn't even bat an eyelid at the iWorks suite. ;)
 
Hustler1337 said:
I don't disputed the fact that Office users on Windows exceed those that use Office on the Mac. There's more Windows machines in the world than that of Macs and Office is far more established and advanced than any other office suites out there. The Windows user base dwarfs that of Mac users like you said. However, what I'm saying is that there is a growing number of Office users on the Mac (and Mac users in general) and Microsoft should take heed of that and not leave Mac users in a distant corner with dated software. Of course it's natural for Microsoft to focus their efforts on their own OS but I think Mac users deserve a bit more attention than they have been giving over the past few years, that's all.

As for the second part, iWorks, in it's current form, is still too basic, like you've said - nowhere near as advanced to be taken seriously by businesses and advanced users. What I meant was that Microsoft's delays is making it more easier for Apple to claw in the 'basic' users onto their iWorks suite in the meantime. Pro users wouldn't even bat an eyelid at the iWorks suite. ;)
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do you know when office for mac 2014 will be released? they bailed?
 
Hustler1337 said:
I don't disputed the fact that Office users on Windows exceed those that use Office on the Mac. There's more Windows machines in the world than that of Macs and Office is far more established and advanced than any other office suites out there. The Windows user base dwarfs that of Mac users like you said. However, what I'm saying is that there is a growing number of Office users on the Mac (and Mac users in general) and Microsoft should take heed of that and not leave Mac users in a distant corner with dated software. Of course it's natural for Microsoft to focus their efforts on their own OS but I think Mac users deserve a bit more attention than they have been given over the past few years, that's all.

As for the second part, iWorks, in it's current form, is still too basic, like you've said - nowhere near as advanced to be taken seriously by businesses and advanced users. What I meant was that Microsoft's delays is making it more easier for Apple to claw in the 'basic' users onto their iWorks suite in the meantime. Pro users wouldn't even bat an eyelid at the iWorks suite. ;)
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I agree.

Microsoft should make a better Office for Mac not because of sheer sales, but because of its strategy of world domination. Mac users are just a small fraction of computer users. However, if Microsoft neglects the Mac platform, this will keep iWork alive and breathing, and gaining market share, no matter how basic and feature-less it may be. iWork may not be a threat right now as a Mac office suite, but it may become dangerous as the most widely used office suite in the iPad. So, Microsoft should grab the chance now and not let iWork reign alone.

And I think this is what Microsoft is doing. All this time taken to release a new Office for Mac should mean that Microsoft is preparing a really big upgrade that will make the software a much more attractive alternative to everyone and should make it much more similar to the Windows version.

Now, lots of Mac users are actually using iWork. I can understand that – iWork is beautiful and works well, and the fact that it is very basic does not bother a lot of people who do not take advantage of the advanced features of Office.
 
skaertus said:
Why are you still using that? I used Office 2008 for a few time and it was terrible. Office 2011, as bad and dated as it may be, is miles ahead of Office 2008.
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I use it so infrequently I just never felt the need to spend for no actual feature gain I'd use.
 
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