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Apr 12, 2001
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Microsoft today released several updates for users of its Office for Mac productivity suite, bringing security and performance fixes to Office 2008 and 2004, as well as a pair of ancillary updates.

- Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.2.6 Update (332.6 MB): The update addresses security issues as well as offering stability and compatibility enhancements.

- Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.6.0 Update (192.2 MB): The update includes fixes for security vulnerabilities across the entire suite of applications.

- Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.1.6 (45.1 MB) and Microsoft Entourage 2008 for Mac, Web Services Edition (64.3 MB): These updates appear to primarily provide compatibility with the updated Office 2008 and 2004 versions.

Article Link: Microsoft Releases Office 2008 12.2.6 and Office 2004 11.6.0 Updates
 
The description displayed:
This update contains improvements to stability and compatibility. In addition, it includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code.​
Sounds like a good reason to install the update!
 
The description displayed:
This update contains improvements to stability and compatibility. In addition, it includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code.​
Sounds like a good reason to install the update!

And people complain that Apple updates are cryptic in their descriptions; MS Office updates never say more than what is indicated above...:rolleyes:
 
Still Crashes

Funny the most unstable program on my iMac is a Microsoft product. Don't get me wrong I like the way the did the programs, but it crashes so much while reading emails, even after this update of 12.2.6, I'm hoping the new Office 2011 will be better... :mad:
 
And people complain that Apple updates are cryptic in their descriptions; MS Office updates never say more than what is indicated above...:rolleyes:
For the security fixes, I'm actually glad they don't tell exactly how an un-updated copy could be exploited. I don't believe in security by obscurity but giving too many details about security holes serves little purpose for most users.

On the other hand, telling me only that an update "improves compatibility" isn't helpful at all. If they fixed compatibility with Exposé , I'd like to know that and I'd install the update at my first opportunity. If they fixed compatibility with Lexmark printers, and I don't have a Lexmark printer, I wouldn't spend all that time downloading and installing this update, or I'd at least postpone it.

In this case, their update page gives details about stability fixes but not about compatibility improvements.
 
All packaged up and ready for deployment.

Though 2011 cannot come fast enough! I am trying to hold off on EWS upgrades as long as possible since we are doing an Exchange 2010 Migration. I am hoping Office is out before the end of October and we will be good!
 
For the security fixes, I'm actually glad they don't tell exactly how an un-updated copy could be exploited. I don't believe in security by obscurity but giving too many details about security holes serves little purpose for most users.

On the other hand, telling me only that an update "improves compatibility" isn't helpful at all. If they fixed compatibility with Exposé , I'd like to know that and I'd install the update at my first opportunity. If they fixed compatibility with Lexmark printers, and I don't have a Lexmark printer, I wouldn't spend all that time downloading and installing this update, or I'd at least postpone it.

In this case, their update page gives details about stability fixes but not about compatibility improvements.

...You mean this?
Improvements for Microsoft Excel 2008 for Mac

* Stability is improved

This update fixes issues that cause Excel to crash or close unexpectedly sometimes when you start an Excel application, sort merged cells, or edit a cell.

Improvements for Microsoft Entourage 2008 for Mac

* Updated time zone information

This update provides updated time zone information.
 
The Office 2008 update is weighing in at 200.8 MB for me and not 332.6 MB.

This seems quite hefty for a security patch only.

Hopefully, we'll see some slight improvement in speed and responsiveness as well, in addition to stability. (wishful thinking)
 
I think i saw.... yep i did...

Thought you guys might use this, saw it on slickdeals.net today. MS Office online with SkyDrive [25GB of space]; its free if your have a Windows Live ID.

Link
 
Hrm, another Office patch, and yet again, Microsoft Update says everything is up to date. Does the auto updater actually work anymore?
 
Hrm, another Office patch, and yet again, Microsoft Update says everything is up to date. Does the auto updater actually work anymore?

Microsoft Update sucks, it causes more problems than it actually solves. Best to download and manually update - and for god sake don't use crap like XSlimmer on your installations!

Funny the most unstable program on my iMac is a Microsoft product. Don't get me wrong I like the way the did the programs, but it crashes so much while reading emails, even after this update of 12.2.6, I'm hoping the new Office 2011 will be better... :mad:

It is pretty obvious by the above description that there is something very, very, very wrong with your setup given that the vast majority do not experience the instability you're facing. Is it an Intel or PowerPC iMac? have you run the hardware test? memtest86 test?
 
Hrm, another Office patch, and yet again, Microsoft Update says everything is up to date. Does the auto updater actually work anymore?

As I'm sure you can imagine, we've got lots of servers, and sometimes it takes a bit of extra time for our updates to propagate to all of our servers. If you've got Microsoft AutoUpdate set to automatically update, it checks weekly (or monthly, if that's what you selected) and will grab the update on its next check. If you can't wait for our update, then you can download it manually.

For those who were asking about the size of the update: it's a roll-up update, so it's got all of the bits for our previous updates in there too. That's in case someone skipped a previous update (or just bought the Office 2008 box and so has to update it).

Regards,
Nadyne.
 
::YAWN::

Thank god for Pages and Open Office. If I had to use MS Office I think I'd shoot myself.
 
*sigh.. one of these days I'm going to upgrade to Office 2008 from Office 2004 - or should I just wait for what's next
 
It is pretty obvious by the above description that there is something very, very, very wrong with your setup given that the vast majority do not experience the instability you're facing. Is it an Intel or PowerPC iMac? have you run the hardware test? memtest86 test?

I disagree. At University, EVERYONE with a Mac complains about Office 2008. It is unstable, even with all the latest updates. Perfomance in Excel and Powerpoint is sluggish at best, and there are numerous bugs surrounding important academic plugins like Microsoft Equation.

I'm hoping Office 2011 isn't as bad but I'm not too optimistic. All the unstable programs on my Mac are Microsoft apps, to the point where I wonder if they do it on purpose to deter consumers from buying Macs. For example, the MSN Messenger client for Mac is an abomination, and the new version (not yet released) is somehow worse... You'd think they could code something functional (considering how simple Messenger:Mac 7 is) by version 7. Nope.
 
I disagree. At University, EVERYONE with a Mac complains about Office 2008. It is unstable, even with all the latest updates. Perfomance in Excel and Powerpoint is sluggish at best, and there are numerous bugs surrounding important academic plugins like Microsoft Equation.

I guess I'm lucky given that I don't use Microsoft Equation.

I'm hoping Office 2011 isn't as bad but I'm not too optimistic. All the unstable programs on my Mac are Microsoft apps, to the point where I wonder if they do it on purpose to deter consumers from buying Macs. For example, the MSN Messenger client for Mac is an abomination, and the new version (not yet released) is somehow worse... You'd think they could code something functional (considering how simple Messenger:Mac 7 is) by version 7. Nope.

We can only live and hope; what holds me back from iWork is the lack of a built in bibliographical functionality - if Apple added just that one feature to iWork I would move over to it instantly and without any reservations.
 
I disagree. At University, EVERYONE with a Mac complains about Office 2008. It is unstable, even with all the latest updates. Perfomance in Excel and Powerpoint is sluggish at best, and there are numerous bugs surrounding important academic plugins like Microsoft Equation.

I'm hoping Office 2011 isn't as bad but I'm not too optimistic. All the unstable programs on my Mac are Microsoft apps, to the point where I wonder if they do it on purpose to deter consumers from buying Macs. For example, the MSN Messenger client for Mac is an abomination, and the new version (not yet released) is somehow worse... You'd think they could code something functional (considering how simple Messenger:Mac 7 is) by version 7. Nope.

The latest Office 2011 beta (beta 6, I believe) isn't that bad. In fact, I consider it to be rather good. I can no longer grap me a cup of coffee while I wait for Word to start up.

Performance appears to be quite good, particularly speedwise. And I haven't run into any instability issues yet.

* knock on wood.
 
The latest Office 2011 beta (beta 6, I believe) isn't that bad. In fact, I consider it to be rather good. I can no longer grap me a cup of coffee while I wait for Word to start up.

Performance appears to be quite good, particularly speedwise. And I haven't run into any instability issues yet.

* knock on wood.

Sounds good. Speaking for myself I can't wait to try it out :)
 
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