Microsoft Office Update, and Visual Basic for Applications to Return

[eXan]

I was going to install the SP1 after seeing the news, but after reading through this thread I've decided not to. They didn't fix the Spaces/Expose issues anyway so why risk having Word not opening at all?

Great job M$, yet again Thank God I have iWork 08 to get the job done.

 

[cgdotcom]

I didn't get the update in auto update and I have not been able to download it from the Microsoft page. I suppose I'm happy there is an update, but can't say that I'm all that surprised it is not possible to install. Way to go Microsoft, you always serve as a great reminder why I'm so happy to be a Switcher.

Look, I'm no great fan of Microsoft, although I do think Office 2008 is pretty decent. However, I'd have to say that this kind of criticism seems unfair.

I'm sure lots of users have a genuine Product Key and are still unable to install SP1, which is clearly a problem that MS will have to resolve. However, if we're being honest, a lot of people in this thread -- including myself -- are using dodgy keys. Microsoft aren't obliged to support these.

It's a shame, because I buy a lot of software, even that for which I know cracks are available. I purchased NaviCat, for example, because I like the software and I use it every day. £349.95 for the full version of Office feels extortionate, though, and it's not an amount I'm personally prepared to pay.

The thing is, I'm not going to start moaning about that either; Microsoft can set the price of their software at anything they want. If I don't like it, I don't have to pay it -- but neither can I expect MS to allow me to use it without attempting to impose some restrictions.

As I say, I'm a long-time Apple user and I can't stand Windows. I'm not a Microsoft apologist. I just think that criticising them for not updating cracked software is harsh.

Apologies to the OP if he or she has a genuine copy of Office, by the way, but I do think a lot of people in this thread aren't telling the whole truth.

 

[Stridder44]

I experienced this problem. Deleted all the files described above. When prompted for the CD Key i entered it but when i click Continue it doesnt do anything.

Yes! This is the exact problem I'm having too. Clicking "continue" after entering in all your info/key does nothing. I mean literally, nothing happens. The continue button just keeps flashing. I've clicked it like 40 times now. No errors or beeps or anything.

 

[tibi08]

Yes! This is the exact problem I'm having too. Clicking "continue" after entering in all your info/key does nothing. I mean literally, nothing happens. The continue button just keeps flashing. I've clicked it like 40 times now. No errors or beeps or anything.

Piracy is theft....

 

[peterdevries]

Agonising case of wrong tool for job. Why was he not using LaTeX?

Why? if Word offers the functionality to do this, then it should work..

Of course there are probably better tools, but the layman user cannot know all alternatives for disfunctional Microsoft tools.

I agree with you that LaTeX is definitely better though.

 

[knightlie]

I know how fanboys love to hate "teh evil Micro$oft" but Office 2008 is awesome and beats the ever-living snot out of iWork and OpenOffice (which is a joke).

But then again, this is the same blind hate used against Vista too.

I love it when people tell us all what our motives are. I haven't used Office for Mac, so I can only go by anecdotal "evidence," but I'm unimpressed by what I've seem. As for Vista, my own direct experience proves to me it's a pile of junk - that doesn't make me a "fanboy." Are we allowed to call you an MS fanboy, perchance?

 

[daneoni]

Having used Office for SP1 for a few hours i can definitely say there have been performance improvements and things are quicker but then again things could only go quicker after all.

Its still not as zippy as iWork or even Office 2004 but its palatable.

However a key issue yet to be fixed...at least for me is compatibility with previous versions of office

Any time i set word compatibility to '2000 - 2004 and X' i always get the compatibility issue word '9.0/95' compatibility options are set and then things get screwed up if you 'save anyway'

This is pretty much why i wont be using office 2008 and will be going back to 2004. My work flow requires me to have documents that are compatible with office 2003 on windows and 2004 and mac

 

[thirdeg]

.doc.dot and others...

Can anyone tell me if after installing the SP1 update the problem when downloading any office file in safari on 10.5 has been solved? Safari currently appends .dot for .doc files to the end of the file. This also happens with .ppt files appending .pot so they become filename.ppt.pot.

 

[Eski]

2008 SP1 problem

Anyone else having this problem now? Double click on a Word document and Word opens with a blank document, not the one I've just double clicked on!

Cheers
Richard

 

[Shivetya]

knowing that Microsoft was coming out with a version of Office for the Mac (new intel versions) was one of the major deciding factors in even buying one.

Regardless of what people think about the company their products work just fine and in many cases are the best solution.

I looked at iWork but even Mac zealot friend said to spend forty more and get office.

 

[izibo]

In the last 24 hours I've installed Office 2008 SP1 on an old PowerBook, a first generation MacBook, a MacBook Air, and a Mac Pro. I haven't seen any problems AT ALL with this assistant issue and things are working great.

I suspect that most of you are probably using some sort of pirated key, just as the rep from Microsoft BU mentioned. How on Earth do some of you have the guts to use illegally obtained software and then COMPLAIN when the company takes action to try and prevent piracy?

To be honest, I don't really care what you do with your life. Your ethics are just that. But come on! Don't sit there and bitch just because they aren't supporting the SN you downloaded off of bittorrent!

Thought of another way, if someone robbed your apartment night after night, don't you think that you would change the locks?

 

[spunkybart]

Confirm Blank Doc

Anyone else having this problem now? Double click on a Word document and Word opens with a blank document, not the one I've just double clicked on!

Cheers
Richard

Confirm that. Word opens a blank doc when you double click a doc file from Finder. But Excel seems to be working correctly.



On a different note -- my opinion of the software --

Overall, I'm impressed with the look and feel of Office 2008 for the Mac. I don't use the products as intensively as other people on here, so I have not run into the bugs they are posting about.

So far, the software does what I want it to do. I didn't really like Numbers (although I could have used it for my purposes), so that's why I bought Office.

 

[peterdevries]

Microsoft was been very open about the missing the VBA support almost since they decided they had to cut the feature. It's not something they took lightly. If you (as in one) knows anything about software development it wouldn't be hard to see why. Not only did Microsoft have to move their entire build system to Xcode from Code Warrior (which is no small feat), they had to update all their code to compile with gcc. After that they had to pour over the code base to account for subtle difference on the x86 and ppc.

That's a lot of work. Then consider the fact that the VBA code was largely written in PPC assembly. There is no conversion to x86 assembly, so they have to essentially rewrite the entire VBA compiler for the x86, ignoring the fact they're moving from CFM to Mach-O. The complexity of this is enormous and no firm could pull this off in the way everyone expected.

And Office 2008 is actually built for Intel Macs. It does actually contain x86 binaries. Stop all the conspiracy theories and learn a little bit about software and sympathize with the huge burden placed on Microsoft's Mac developers.

Good point, however considering the fact that many people will refrain from upgrading to 2008 just because of this, it might have been a good strategy to hire some more developers and implementing it anyway. They lost business because of bad strategy and you see the result.

Complexity etc is all fine, but it is nothing that you can't solve with some extra money and people coding. They lost sight of what many customers want, and this is the worst mistake you can make if you sell a product.

 

[bluefido]

This is great. Custom error bars are back. Hope this brings performance gains!

Overall I'm really happy with Office 2008 - it's such a big step up from the previous versions (for once). I skipped 2004, as the free trial added nothing new over v.X (which I had) but I'm glad everything has been overhauled so as to look much better. It's nice to see that Microsoft is making an effort, especially with increased competition from iWork.

I've also skipped 2004 because I didn't see the material improvement over v.X. I have now changed computers a few times now, and v.X though annoying at times, still works well overall. Is 2008 worth it for someone that is not a power user?

 

[radian23]

Anyone else having this problem now? Double click on a Word document and Word opens with a blank document, not the one I've just double clicked on!

Cheers
Richard

I'm having this exact same problem. Thought I was alone on this. I found that you can go into word click file, open and then browse for the file you want to open. It will open the file this way but you can't double click it. Very annoying.

 

[kemck]

Unacceptable!!!!

I go to install this update and I am told that I do not have a valid version of the software installed?

Come on.

And now you want me to do this stuipd "fix"????

Do you guys test anything before you release it?

get it right then I'll install this update. Until then I'll use my Apple apps to do my work.

Some users who have installed Office 2008 for Mac Service Pack 1 are reporting an issue that occurs after installation. The issue causes the Office Setup Assistant to open when they try to open an Office application. This situation occurs when the Office Setup Assistant detects that an invalid Product Key was used to install Office 2008.

To resolve this issue, please move the following files to the Trash:

· /Users/username/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008/Microsoft Office 2008 settings.plist

· /Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/Office/OfficePID.plist


After you complete these steps, open any Office application, and then use the product key that is included with your original installation disk to complete the installation. The product key is located on the back of the Office 2008 for Mac DVD sleeve or on the back of the Install Guide. For additional assistance, visit the Help and How-To <http://www.microsoft.com/mac/help.mspx> section of the Microsoft Web site.

If this helps you, please contact me through the private posts, I would like to get some files from you to help track down this issue.

I am sorry you if experienced this issue, and I hope with your help we can determine why some folks are getting into this issue.

David Pelton
Microsoft MacBU

 

[-hh]

You can't just transition millions of lines of code instantly. I described all that was involved in the transition earlier. I'm sure not many people appreciate how hard software is to build (i.e. going from code to an executable), but trust me, it's hard. Mac OS X had lived a double life since the start. That's why it appeared easy from Apple's side.

I agree and understand. However, my point is that Apple's roadmap for software developer environment hasn't been a complete mystery.

As such, why is it that MS is getting a "buy" here, whereas Adobe was just so recently ripped a new one in regards to 64 bit in CS4? Particularly since Adobe had a much better excuse (Apple's change in 64b plans).

I don't know that they're rewriting it in assembly. It may be in C. However, they still need code emitters for PCC and x86. And if they want to go 64-bit, PPC64 and x86-64. It is by no means trivial. Or they may be going with an software interpreter. I have no clue. The point is it had to be entirely rewritten. Keep in mind this feature's scale is larger than some other titles you use every day.

Sure, the point remains that they've hardly not known about the need for this transition for years.

And given how much slower Office 2008 is on a MacIntel than Office 2004 running under Rosetta ... despite all of this VBA code having been deleted ... I have a hard time believing that MS has spent ANY time whatsoever working on the current 2008 version to get its code optimized.

Plus my main point here really had more to do with the "Who Pays?" question: there wasn't any promise of: "will be delievered in 2 years for free to existing Office 2008 owners" , but was instead announced as (my paraphrasing): "you'll only get this feature back if you're willing to wait 3-4 years and oough up the bucks for buying our next update".

No matter how we try to spin-doctor things, this factor has utterly nothing to do with the technical details - it is purely a business decision on how MS is choosing to support their paying Customers.

FWIW, if I were really cynical, I'd be also predicting today that MS will have a consumer-wallet-unfriendly upgrade policy for "Mac Office 2012" that will financially punish those consumers who chose to skip Office 2008.

-hh

 

[CallMeTheArrow]

Some users who have installed Office 2008 for Mac Service Pack 1 are reporting an issue that occurs after installation. The issue causes the Office Setup Assistant to open when they try to open an Office application. This situation occurs when the Office Setup Assistant detects that an invalid Product Key was used to install Office 2008.

To resolve this issue, please move the following files to the Trash:

· /Users/username/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008/Microsoft Office 2008 settings.plist

· /Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/Office/OfficePID.plist


After you complete these steps, open any Office application, and then use the product key that is included with your original installation disk to complete the installation. The product key is located on the back of the Office 2008 for Mac DVD sleeve or on the back of the Install Guide. For additional assistance, visit the Help and How-To <http://www.microsoft.com/mac/help.mspx> section of the Microsoft Web site.

If this helps you, please contact me through the private posts, I would like to get some files from you to help track down this issue.

I am sorry you if experienced this issue, and I hope with your help we can determine why some folks are getting into this issue.

David Pelton
Microsoft MacBU

Thankfully, I did not run into this problem. I appreciate you sharing the info and your willingness to help. I am not a Microsoft hater, nor a Microsoft fan. Some things I like and others I dislike. Some I agree with, others I do not. I have noticed some of the postings within this thread were rather harsh. I can understand people's frustration if they legitimately paid for Office 2008 and the update has broken it. Perhaps in future updates, prior to installing, the Service Pack (SP2 for instance, if it comes out someday) could warn the user first and say "Warning, an invalid product key was detected, if you continue, Office 2008 will stop working until a valid key is input." At that point, the legitimate users could contact MS and say "Hey, I have a problem here, please help" before their Office suite stops working without warning. Or another idea, the SP would simply refuse to install until a valid key was input, but if Office was already installed and had been working, it wouldn't stop working. I realize the need for anti-piracy, but sometimes it is a bit much. For instance, the day Product Activation comes to Office for Mac is the day I stop using/buying the product, which is one of the main reasons I stopped buying Windows once XP and later came out. It isn't that I am a pirate, it is the principle of being suspected / treated like a criminal until you prove that you aren't one, in some cases repeatedly (one per software package or OS, per install). And with Vista, as I understand it, it goes out and periodically re-checks the activation status automatically. This uses more disk space, more memory, and happens without many users' consent or knowledge (who honestly reads the whole EULA? 99.999% of customers just skip it and hit "I accept").

I have found Office 2008 in general a pretty good improvement over Office 2004. However, both before the SP1 install and after, it still seems a bit slow. My machine has 2 GB of RAM and a Core Duo 1.66 GHz Intel CPU. I realize this isn't the fastest machine, but it should be able to fire up a word processor fairly quickly. It took 20 seconds to launch Word 2008 after installing the SP 1 update and doing a reboot. I think 10 seconds is pushing it, but that's just my opinion. I'd even settle for 15 since the CPU isn't the fastest anymore.

 

[Ade-iMac-177]

FFS!!!@£@£$
what are the MacBU playing at?!?!
yes it may be slightly faster, and it may crash slightly less, i don't know i have not had much time to test it extensively but WHY DOES IT STILL NOT WORK WITH SPACES OR EXPOSE!!

i am seriously fed up of this!!!

i have resorted to using Office2007 over vmware - it's ridiculous! the only way i can get a good mac experience with Word is to boot up windows and use the windows version!

macBU better pull their act together pretty damn quick!

I never thought i would have to describe such a big piece of software as i am but Word 2008 is crippled to point of being near unusable!! This product has brought me close to tears

 

[burgen]

after sp1 installation, everything seems fine,
Excel is a lot faster than before,
Word is a little faster than before,

however,

powerpoint now takes forever to start, after the splash screen, it takes a 45 second-beachballing for the program to start,

does anybody have the same problem?

 

[hajime]

Confirm that. Word opens a blank doc when you double click a doc file from Finder. But Excel seems to be working correctly.



On a different note -- my opinion of the software --

Overall, I'm impressed with the look and feel of Office 2008 for the Mac. I don't use the products as intensively as other people on here, so I have not run into the bugs they are posting about.

So far, the software does what I want it to do. I didn't really like Numbers (although I could have used it for my purposes), so that's why I bought Office.

I have no problem. I double clicked a few Word files located on the desktop. they were all opened correctly. I also have no installation problem. It does take a long time to launch Word though...

 

[-hh]

Whew....

Reading all this makes me glad I'm still using Office 2004.

Since I'm still on PPC, I'm ...adequately satisified... with vX ... although I still have several of the older versions around too. For example, I keep Word 5.1 around because Word 6 eliminated support for EPS (encapsulated postscript) files.

I did buy Office 2004 last fall, specifically because the 2008 version had been announced and thus was 'free ($20 shipping): its insurance for when some lame Vista adopter sends me a .docx file. However, both of these versions of Office (2004, 2008) will remain in their unopened box until I'm effectively FORCED to install them.


And for the MacBU to take note of: while I'm sympathetic to Piracy concerns, I have been finding it to be an increasing PITA to get my old (pre-OS X) licences of Office physically installed onto my newer Mac so that it is present so that it can be detected by an upgrade licence, and thus permit itself to install & register.

This obstruction is making it harder and harder to keep my licences legit, and I really don't want to be cornered into having to download an unlocked pirated copy just to be able to actually install my legally purchased upgrade licence.

I have a simple/cheap suggestion that would resolve this problem, but due to it being my IP, won't discuss it here. Contact me offline.


-hh

 

[Achiever]

I've also skipped 2004 because I didn't see the material improvement over v.X. I have now changed computers a few times now, and v.X though annoying at times, still works well overall. Is 2008 worth it for someone that is not a power user?

It's tough to say for sure, since I don't know your actual uses for the Office apps, but I would speculate that if v.X has suited your needs just fine, you could certainly more than get by with NeoOffice or OpenOffice. But that's your call.

 

[guzhogi]

I installed a beta version of CUPS 1.4 on my MBP and every time I tried to use MS software update, it would download the update & immediately crash. Every single time I did that. So I downloaded SP1 from the web site & it installed successfully. Now I'll have to wait & see if the software update app works now.

 

[daneoni]

Anyone else having this problem now? Double click on a Word document and Word opens with a blank document, not the one I've just double clicked on!

Cheers
Richard

Confirm that. Word opens a blank doc when you double click a doc file from Finder. But Excel seems to be working correctly...

I'm having this exact same problem. Thought I was alone on this. I found that you can go into word click file, open and then browse for the file you want to open. It will open the file this way but you can't double click it. Very annoying.

+1 for this issue although mine seems intermittent. Sometimes it'll display the correct document and sometimes it gives me a blank look