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TomSmithMacEd

macrumors 6502
Nov 5, 2003
350
0
Fargo, ND
Originally posted by DamnDJ
I think it would be great if Jobs lets Microsoft do a presentation on stage for Office 2004, and once the manager for Microsoft MBU walks off stage, Job's then goes on to introduce Apple's "Office" package.

"You've seen the good product Microsoft is going to deliver. Now see our insanely great product!"

He he, that would be one of the greatest moments in history, as long as the new mac software was good.
 

Cooknn

macrumors 68020
Aug 23, 2003
2,111
0
Fort Myers, FL
Re: Re: Re: Don't waste your money!

Originally posted by Toe
Microsoft products account for the vast majority of trouble tickets we deal with. More importantly, their bloatware confuses my users. Word 5 had a nice feature set. Most features beyond that are junk to confuse the uninitiated. I'd give them all away for a decent WordPerfect converter. How is it that Microsoft can suggest that they can't make a WordPerfect converter for Mac?
Have you seen what the end user has to go through to do a mail merge in Office XP/2003? Crazyness :eek: IT gets called to handle these processes, which *should* be simple enough for anyone to do...
 

ITR 81

macrumors 65816
Oct 24, 2003
1,052
0
WordPerfect to me was the best word processor out there. It just worked the way you wanted it too. Word is only popular due to Windows..and it sucks compared to WordPerfect. I only use Excel and Word because most businesses use them. I have no real use for Powerpoint because I like Keynotes over it any old day and most MacAddict agrees with me on that.

I hope Apple copies WordPerfect and just makes it compatible with Word doc.

When I was on Windows I used WordPerfect 8-9-10 only and bootleg copy of Office for some excel files I had use for business.
 

alfonsog

Contributor
Jul 17, 2002
533
528
Cape Coral, FL
I just don't get word processors and why they are now so complicated. I used to use WordStar 1.0 on an old cp/m machine with a daisy wheel printer for high school research papers and it was fine (in 1990.) There's no reason to complicate things so much.
 

Toe

macrumors 65816
Mar 25, 2002
1,101
2
Originally posted by alfonsog
I just don't get word processors and why they are now so complicated. I used to use WordStar 1.0 on an old cp/m machine with a daisy wheel printer for high school research papers and it was fine (in 1990.) There's no reason to complicate things so much.
I'd suggest that the reason they have to be complicated is because that's the only way Microsoft can get companies to keep paying hundreds of dollars for... something they already have.

Most people upgrade only for compatibility... often only for compatibility with their own new OS, as many feel inclined to do with OS X.
 

hayesk

macrumors 65816
May 20, 2003
1,460
101
Originally posted by ChrisH3677
Bill invested in Apple in the 90's when they really needed it

I hope you don't mean "needed it" financially. Apple had billions in the bank. MS's little $150million investment was a drop in the bucket. That was a PR stunt. Nothing more.
 

hayesk

macrumors 65816
May 20, 2003
1,460
101
Re: Re: Don't waste your money!

Originally posted by SiliconAddict
<Sarcasm>Thanks but I want to be compatible with the rest of the market.</Sarcasm>
Uhm... that isn't sarcasm. Maybe fecetiousness, but not sarcasm - unless you really don't want to be compatible.

Until a viable solution shows up MS office is the product I will continue to use. Like most users in the world I'm not on a holy crusade to rid myself of Microsoft even if that means chopping off our productivity and gouging out our compatibility.
Maybe not, but you do realize MS is on a holy crusade to rid the world of any and all competition. Not everyone's needs are the same as yours. In fact, most people don't even use 5% of Office's features. Other people can get by perfectly well with AppleWorks (I do). Some people here are criticizing AppleWorks just because it is old - I don't see you defending AppleWorks for such a silly reason to criticize.

Huh.....Panther 10.3.1.......Panther 10.3.2 within 4-5 months of of release.
Enough said K?
Are you actually comparing the few bugs to the tens of thousands of Office bugs?

I'm sick of people thinking Apple can do no wrong. BS.
Come on now - Apple's biggest critics are often their own customers.

No company is perfect. Neither is MS (Understatement.) But dang it Windows 2000 is a fair OS out of the Box. XP is becoming better with each update.
Let me know when it gets to "good". MS still has shown that they don't understand user interfaces. They just keep plopping down UI elements haphazardly with no cohesion or consistency at all. Windows is a pain to use when I am forced to do it at work every day. I see so many things that could have been done better that it's not funny. I really should make a list.

(How many updates occurred on Jaguar?) Word 2000, XP and 2003 are good products.
Is that why Word 2K and XP crashed on me 8 times in a few hours while trying to edit a 700 page document? Word can't cut it. Word is an ok product - not good. Why does Word make up styles when pasting text from another doc? I explicitly set it to use existing styles, but apparently Word thinks it knows better. Why does Word insist on selecting the space after a word when I select it? I have "smart" cut and paste turned off. Again, this is an example of MS not doing interface testing.

Like it or not MS can put a decent piece of software out of their butt when they REALLY try.
Maybe "decent". Not good. Excel is their best product, IMHO. It still has room for improvement.

I'm sick of this Jihad again Microsoft. Better to stab yourself to death then purchase a Microsoft product. :rolleyes: Or maybe just try it for ONCE. If you've never used a current version of MS office you don't know what the heck you are talking about and thus should shut up.
What was a crappy version of Mac OS?
Word 5.1 was a great word processor. MS went down hill from there. Jihad against MS? You don't seem to understand the MS is out to control everything in the computer industry, and then the media industry. If you want to talk about Jihads, talk about MS. They were convicted of antitrust actions. Remember? Their settlements were nothing more than slaps on the wrists, but they were still guilty. Why should I support a corporation that commits such felonies?

You don’t even contemplate Microsoft because that idea that they are evil is so engrained.
Hmmm... I wonder where people get that idea?

I’d wager that you’ve never used a current MS product,
Every day.

never talked to a person that worked at MS,
I had a Business Ethics professor who used to work at MS. She quit her job there because she was appalled at the practices they had there.
 

sushi

Moderator emeritus
Jul 19, 2002
15,639
3
キャンプスワ&#
Re: Why office

Originally posted by fatfish
But when it comes to creating a document I cannot see why anyone would use word over say appleworks. AW does everything I want 95% of the time and doesn't look like a 747 cockpit.
Heck, I still use FullWrite Professional as my primary word processor.

Works in 9 and in X under Classic mode.

The program is huge (comes on four floppies -- two of which are the Dictionary and Thesarus). Full featured, fast and a pleasure to use. Menu driven as well which is nice.

Unfortunately, the latest version was done in 1996. So it doesn't not support the current Word formats.

At work, I use Word. So at home I have Office 98 and Office X installed so I can use the same application in both locations.

But if I have an option, I will use FW before Word.

Sushi
 

fazel

macrumors newbie
Dec 8, 2003
28
2
Microsoft Offic

My belief is that apple has their own office sweet up and running. Much of what people have said regarding compadibility issues are probably true. If apple is going to make an office sweet that is going to compete with office, it needs to work flawlessly. I think that there has got to be some stuff going on behind the scenes. People have said that Microsoft keeps office for apple because they are afraid of being broken up by the government. I think what really scares microsoft is the possibility of apple becoming a compeditor (i.e. releasing their own sweet of software for pc's). People have also said that apple has osX running on pc's. That's the real fear=that apple will release osX (and all the software that apple also has for osX) for pc's. That would raise apple's market share (and lower ms's). Just my two cents. By the way, I've been reading these forums for a long time, but this is my first post.
 

Gyroscope

macrumors regular
Apr 29, 2002
185
0
Good news. It's somehow symbolic enough, that on 20th anniversary Microsoft presents new version of Office for Mac given that Microsoft Office has actually debuted on original Mac 20 years ago.
 

~Shard~

macrumors P6
Jun 4, 2003
18,377
48
1123.6536.5321
Re: Microsoft sets apple back...

Originally posted by SlowX
Wow... how groundbreaking! (he types sarcatiscally).
Maybe it'll come w/ a free betamax tape and some New Coke!

New Coke? I was hoping for some Crystal Pepsi! (Or am I the only here who remembers that?)
 

QFace

macrumors regular
Oct 19, 2003
100
16
Calgary, AB
Originally posted by ITR 81
WordPerfect to me was the best word processor out there. It just worked the way you wanted it too. Word is only popular due to Windows..and it sucks compared to WordPerfect. I only use Excel and Word because most businesses use them. I have no real use for Powerpoint because I like Keynotes over it any old day and most MacAddict agrees with me on that.

I hope Apple copies WordPerfect and just makes it compatible with Word doc.

When I was on Windows I used WordPerfect 8-9-10 only and bootleg copy of Office for some excel files I had use for business.

I think many people enjoy and love the features of Microsoft Word (I definetely do). Sure, Word is complicated, but once you configure Word and figure it out, Word can be amazing. There are times when Word gets in the way, but most of the time it does what you want, and reduces the amount as well as improves ones work.
 

zamyatin

macrumors regular
Jul 15, 2003
137
0
NYC
TextEdit!

I'm sure everyone here knows that you can do 90% of your word processing in humble little TextEdit! And the Panther version can read (and write?) .doc format files! I almost never use anything else, and haven't for a long time. RTF is my standard format.

At the same time, I'm working with the OpenOffice team and eagerly awaiting a fully Aqua version of OpenOffice. OOo has between 6% and 10% marketshare, and is the only office suite to run on all major computing platforms. It, and its file formats, are clearly the future.

Remember to keep up with http://www.neooffice.org to see what our friends are up to with the OSX OOo port!
 

zamyatin

macrumors regular
Jul 15, 2003
137
0
NYC
Don't count Appleworks out!

And furthermore, Appleworks could bloom if given just a little attention! It did everything I needed for years, and at this point the only additional feature I would ask of it is that it adopt the OpenOffice file formats as its default!

Shared, open file formats are the key to free data and renewed competition in the office suite market!
 

zelet

macrumors regular
Oct 29, 2003
140
0
Originally posted by ryme4reson
For the first time last night I decided to try its compatibility. I logged onto my network at work, and opened our timesheets. Across the top are the two week dates. Cell 1 has the Sunday date, then cell 2 has (cell1)+1 etc. It opens fine on Windows computers, but it gives me ### #### on my Office v.X

I wish I could say my mac is compatible, and I can get bye with no windows, but thats not the case. Finally, will thinkfree or OO, have any better luck opening this simple excel file?

You are joking right? The # signs mean that the cell isn't big enough to show the numbers. You have to expand the cell and it will work fine.
 

Trimix

macrumors regular
Jan 16, 2003
201
0
Switzerland
It is important that MS continue to support the Mac. I am looking forward to the upgrade. Hope they do an IE upgrade too, as Safari has problems with so many pages on the http://www.
 

docpsycho

macrumors member
Apr 18, 2003
57
0
California
Originally posted by gif32

So why does Microsoft continue to support the Mac? What's in it for them? Certainly the $$ they make selling their software on OS X doesn't account for the money they *could* make if they dropped Mac support so people like me would've had to buy Windows again...

Lemme see here.... at Best buy the going price for Xp PRO is $300
yet VPC ver 6 is $250.... wow they sell it for $50 less and the throw in the emulator to boot....... Looks like the Mac people get the better deal again!!!!!!
 

dekator

macrumors regular
May 18, 2002
178
0
Krautistan
Unicode

I'd be happy if M$ Office would finally incorporate true Unicode abilities, not MacWrite. It's behind the times there and it's pretty useless for any serious multilingual work (unless you use clumsy OS 9 ways, which are far from perfect or complete).
 

johnnyjibbs

macrumors 68030
Sep 18, 2003
2,964
122
London, UK
Originally posted by Trimix
It is important that MS continue to support the Mac. I am looking forward to the upgrade. Hope they do an IE upgrade too, as Safari has problems with so many pages on the http://www.
I'm afriad that's your lot with IE for Mac. Safari is the future. The Panther version has fixed my Jaguar compatibility issues at least. You've got Safari to thank for Microsoft dropping IE support - there's no profit in it for them. Office is another story entirely.
 

HasanDaddy

macrumors 6502a
Jul 16, 2002
585
27
Los Angeles
I gotta say this -

I hate M$ --- but Office X is an EXCELLENT software package!

Word X and Excel X have their problems --- but overall, they are very good and they are actually MUCH better than their PC versions

I don't know how M$ swung it, but the best software they've ever written has been on a Mac

PowerPoint X is useless now because of Keynote (which is an AWESOME app)

so my point is this ---

M$ is obviously investing a lot of capital and time into Office X --- its hard for me to believe that they aren't, when the product is soooo good

in that way --- I agree with many here --- Apple is probably working on an Office package, but they're making sure that its AMAZING, as the competition is VERY good

This was different with Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere, as Premiere simply wasn't as good as FCP and wasn't going to get any better

Keynote is a great app..... and its MUCH better than Powerpoint --- easier to use, and nicer looking

DVD Studio Pro didn't even have competition

ditto for iPhoto

and the little apps like Mail, Address Book, iCal, etc, are all top notch

notice that Apple hasn't entered the photo-editing software race, as Photoshop seems too tough?

So in that way ---- I think we'll see an Apple office program soon.... but Apple isn't going to enter a race that its not going to WIN, right off the bat!
 

HasanDaddy

macrumors 6502a
Jul 16, 2002
585
27
Los Angeles
and btw ---

maybe some would disagree with me, but I'm heavily impressed with Keynote

I'm even more impressed when i compare it with what PowerPoint offers, and then I can even appreciate more the vision that Apple has taken towards this application

in that way, I think Apple must have some really good ideas for new programs that could compete against Word and Excel

hopefully, we'll see this soon in full bloom!
 

GroundLoop

macrumors 68000
Mar 21, 2003
1,583
62
Interesting Info

Below is an email exchange that I have had with our software license manager. Just to let you know, we are able to purchase MS Office at my company for $19.99 but it is only for PCs. This is what they said when I asked about Office X:

From: Hickman, Brian A
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2003 8:48 AM
To: Judy
Subject: Microsoft Home Use Program

Just out of curiosity, why are we unable to purchase Office X (for Mac OS X) through this program? Not all of us use PCs at home.



Brian Hickman
Senior Member of Engineering Staff
Command & Control Systems Engineering


-----Original Message-----
From: Judy
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2003 9:00 AM
To: Hickman, Brian A
Subject: RE: Microsoft Home Use Program



I don't have an answer for you. I know that in Moorestown, we support a PC user base more so than a Mac.



License Management Team moved to building 104-032.

Judy


-----Original Message-----
From: Hickman, Brian A
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2003 9:01 AM
To: Judy
Subject: RE: Microsoft Home Use Program

Could you point me to someone that may be able to answer the question?

Brian


-----Original Message-----
From: ----------
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2003 9:08 AM
To: Hickman, Brian A
Cc: -------------
Subject: RE: Microsoft Home Use Program



Jeff



I have a user that was wondering why the Microsoft Office offer did not include Mac's. Do you know why or can you obtain an answer from whomever might know?



License Management Team moved to building 104-032.

Judy





Microsoft is in the process of withdrawing from the Mac software market. Bard Edwards has told Microsoft that we have a number of users interested in purchasing the Mac version of Office, but at this point, the MS answer is ‘We have no plans to offer Macintosh software under the MS Home Use Program’.



-Jeff

I am assuming that they are reading into the statement about not offering it under the program as meaning they will not be supporting Office on Mac. But it was interesting nonetheless.

Hickman
 

johnnyjibbs

macrumors 68030
Sep 18, 2003
2,964
122
London, UK
Apple still has to be careful if it is to create an office suite. Even though Office X is a nice little earner for MS (unlike IE for Mac), they wouldn't want MS to drop Mac support, even if it was just for image reasons. It's like we won't see an Apple Photoshop killer. That is exactly how to drive Adobe into dropping Mac support!

Also, bare in mind that Keynote is substantially cheaper than Word, Excel or Powerpoint are on their own. So the Apple office suite would be cheaper than MS Office (and would have to be if people choose that over ultimate compatibility).
 

QuiteSure

macrumors 6502a
Jun 20, 2002
539
117
Apple's not coming out with an Office product. Makes no sense because Apple can't really do it obviously better than MS.

Apple produced Keynote because Powerpoint wasn't making use of the Quartz Extreme capabilities of OSX. You can't say the same thing about either Word or Excel; people don't buy them because of graphic output, they buy them as business productivity tools. I don't see how Apple can distinquish itself as a vendor by producing clearly superior word processing or spreadsheet products.

Keynote theoretically helps sell Macs because it shows off Apple's graphics superiority; but a new mac office product will not help sell macs because most buyers, correctly I believe, perceive Word and Excel as being high quality products.

In fact, development of a Word and Excel competitor will probably in the long run chill the sale of Macs because MS will pull out of future Office development, just as it has with future IE development.

On the other hand, this new announcement is an excellent sign. Continued Office development for the Mac will spur hardware sales because it appears that MS believes that the Mac is a viable platform, and that will translate to further customer confidence in the Apple brand.

Finally, development of Appleworks does not really contribute to hardware sales. Appleworks is a necessary product for consumers who purchase iMacs, eMacs and iBooks for the iLife products and don't really want (or need) to invest in a productivity upgrade. Appleworks is just fine for these buyers as is. Apple won't sell more computers to potential buyers by hawking advanced built-in word processing and productivity tools. That's not their marketing "sweet spot."
 
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