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Microsoft Sweetens Office 2008 Upgrade Deal

Smacks of desperation, or.....?

Are they nervous, have they been getting feedback from many beta testers that the new version sucks? I've seen it, and it does suck. Not as bad as the new windows office, but it has some very serious issues for those of us who value productivity above "features". After a few months now using the windows version (I have not had direct access to the mac version to try it for myself), I'm still fighting to find commands that used to be obvious, it still takes me seemingly forever to format a graph in excel the way I want it, it still is almost impossible (and takes forever) to format a powerpoint slide, I am still trying to figure out how to turn off all the MS "do it the way we want it" auto reformatting defaults, etc, etc. I suppose this ribbon idea made sense to someone, but I clearly don't know that person judging by the regular screams of frustration/demands of IT carnage I hear echoing up and down the halls. Not that this is anything new.

OR, are they being true to MS form, and this version contains a full compliment of crapware, intrusiveware, and spyware, which MS can then turn into a revenue stream that dwarfs the original purchase price. At least I'm guessing that's what they do with it, or Bill Gates really does have a megalomania complex and is storing all this data for his personal amusement. I for one won't be testing this theory, my mac is my own and no corporate IT hack will be touching it with this piece of junk. iWork opens the new office documents just fine, better than MS's converter in my experience, so I feel no need.:apple:
 
Hmmm
From 2004 to 2008 wow 6 years for an update. So the next update will be in 2014? :rolleyes: NO THANKS!
 
Wow. My university has some special contract where they can sell M$ products at nearly nothing to the students. For Example, I just bought XP Pro 32 & 64 bit versions, yes two separate CD's & licenses for $10 total. I bought Vista Ultimate Upgrade for $20.

I can buy Office 2004 for Mac for $10 then do this upgrade thing to Office 2008 for apparently $8 ish. So I can have a legit copy of Office 08 for under $20. Sure why not?

I too really like iWork 08 and use it about 90% of the time at school, but for under $20 why not also have Office 08 too?

It needs to be noted that I am angry with my school even tho I can get M$ crap for pennies because they don't sell anything pertaining to the Mac, except for Office 2004, which is only because it is a M$ product. All they have in the school software sales department is a poster rerencing the Apple on-line store for education. GRRR! If only they had a similar deal with Apple where I could choose from a vast selection of Apple software for $10-$20, that would be awesome.
 
illicium said:
Wow. My university has some special contract where they can sell M$ products..... I can buy Office 2004 for Mac for $10 then do this upgrade thing to Office 2008 for apparently $8 ish.....
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Wow! Only $10 fricken buck? I was going to buy my daughter the student ed. soon, but for way more! :eek:

Umm... you taking orders? :D
 
swmooretiger said:
Why even use MS Office though? Since iWork '08 came out, I've only used MS apps at work where I'm forced to. Just seems to me like MS can't deliver a true competitor, so they have to sucker people in with deals.
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Not a problem if your a home user. Macs in a business environment - is different - when you have a mixture of PC / Macs, they've probably standardized on Office - iWork / OpenOffice just won't cut it, sadly. The file format conversion between iWork -> MS Office, OO <-> MS Office isn't perfect especially if you've got embedded objects.
 
iWorks 08 Works for Me

I bought iWorks 08 only to hold me over until Office 2008 is released. I have been using it, especially Keynote and Pages, for papers and presentations in school. I have only used Numbers for personal use (e.g., budgeting).

Coming from a long professional experience with Office (>12 years), I was expecting iWork to be too simple for my needs and only a transitory solution given the release date timing and my return to school.

As of now, I have produced plenty of content in iWorks, and I no longer intend to buy Office 2008, even with a generous academic discount. I love the simplicity of iWork and the price is perfect. I get a lot of writing done, as opposed to fighting Word through its machinations of styling.

Numbers appears a bit light for a spreadsheet jockey, but I'd probably wait for my work to buy me a copy, instead of buying for it my own use.

Hope my testimony is useful to someone.
 
katanna said:
I have to use PowerPoint for my job, and can't risk using NeoOffice.

I will see how much I can get it from my school (I just paid $69 for Leopard). I can't wait to use it at full speed! ARGH!

Matthew
Click to expand...

how did you get leopard for $69? i asked the rep at my school (Vanderbilt University) and he said the cheapest was the online student discount of $116. thanks.

thedudeabides
 
omg......there's now a media version AND ultimate version of Office too? You've got to be kidding. Talk about branding gone awry. And $679??? I doubt they will get a whole lot of bites at that price.

And just wait til some big corporations find out they can't do something because they didn't purchase the "ultimate" version, lol.
 
Stella said:
Not a problem if your a home user. Macs in a business environment - is different - when you have a mixture of PC / Macs, they've probably standardized on Office - iWork / OpenOffice just won't cut it, sadly. The file format conversion between iWork -> MS Office, OO <-> MS Office isn't perfect especially if you've got embedded objects.
Click to expand...
Couldn't have said it better. And yet for all that, Office 2008 won't be supporting Macros - M$ is really being a bunch of punks about it, too. So you're upgrading to an inferior product, especially in environments where Macros are used daily (notably, Excel), they have a "Beta conversion" for Office 2004 but they won't add the functionality to read .docx & etc. right to the applications, and now they've managed to transplant their recent fetish for multiple product variations to the Mac. Oh yeah, and everyone says Office 2008 is a nightmare to work with.

I'm really hoping that Neo/Open Office gets more significant development in the coming years, or for that matter iWork. I'd love to drop M$ alltogether.
 
FoxyKaye said:
Couldn't have said it better. And yet for all that, Office 2008 won't be supporting Macros - M$ is really being a bunch of punks about it, too. So you're upgrading to an inferior product, especially in environments where Macros are used daily (notably, Excel), they have a "Beta conversion" for Office 2004 but they won't add the functionality to read .docx & etc. right to the applications, and now they've managed to transplant their recent fetish for multiple product variations to the Mac. Oh yeah, and everyone says Office 2008 is a nightmare to work with.

I'm really hoping that Neo/Open Office gets more significant development in the coming years, or for that matter iWork. I'd love to drop M$ alltogether.
Click to expand...

The windows version of office '08 won't support VBScript either..
 
Just a note to students who get Office (and other heavily discounted MS products through their student select licensing program) through university:
To actually to qualify for this program, you have to send in the UPC code and box top of your Office 2004 program. Usually, when you buy through school, you only get the media disc, no box or documentation. They don't tell you this up front (of course!), so I found out after the fact (and "returned" my Office 2004). I now use iWork and I love it.
 
Detlev_73 said:
Like it won't be available on torrent sites the day it's released. I have NO ethical issues in borrowing software from Micro$oft. :mad:
Click to expand...

Uh, it's already out there.:rolleyes:

I use it daily :) Much better than iWork! iWork's spreadsheet software pales in comparison.
 
thedudeAbides said:
how did you get leopard for $69? i asked the rep at my school (Vanderbilt University) and he said the cheapest was the online student discount of $116. thanks.

thedudeabides
Click to expand...

Apple changed the online price for Students which thus makes competition. So your university gets to choose how much it wants to sell it for (They buy it from Apple for $69 still). My school decided to make $20 bucks off of their Mac users, so I bought it from my friends University for $69. I hate how capitalism works sometimes.
 
I didn't realize that so many people had to pay even a nominal fee for software at their colleges. My school generally posts its software (including Office) on a secure site for free downloading, with sections for Mac and Windows machines.

I hope parents sending their kids off to school are checking up on exactly what is available from the college, and at what price, before buying it elsewhere.
 
Stella said:
Not a problem if your a home user. Macs in a business environment - is different - when you have a mixture of PC / Macs, they've probably standardized on Office - iWork / OpenOffice just won't cut it, sadly. The file format conversion between iWork -> MS Office, OO <-> MS Office isn't perfect especially if you've got embedded objects.
Click to expand...

iWork is not just for home users. I own my own design business and was using MS Office for a long time up until iWork came about. Now with '08 version iWork is that much more useful. I prepare all my invoicing and correspondence with iWork and email to PC clients almost every day.
 
question: so if I buy the student edition and then I upgrade to the uber mega ultimate media edition of Office 2008 how many usage licenses do we get. the student edition comes with multiple license keys (3 or 5 ?) If I installed all those licenses then upgrade:
* can I upgrade only 1 machine,
* can I upgrade all of them,
* do I have to uninstall office 2004 off of all but one machine then upgrade,
* or can I pay S&H for each of the license keys and upgrade all of them ?
 
Bern said:
iWork is not just for home users. I own my own design business and was using MS Office for a long time up until iWork came about. Now with '08 version iWork is that much more useful. I prepare all my invoicing and correspondence with iWork and email to PC clients almost every day.
Click to expand...

No, your right - iWork isn't only for home use. HOWEVER, there a difference between you and a mixed windows / Mac environment. Compatibility is key - which was my point.

iWork file conversion is not perfect. For a business ( in the *majority* of cases, they'd buy MS Office for both Mac and windows.
 
mudbug99 said:
Are they nervous, have they been getting feedback from many beta testers that the new version sucks? I've seen it, and it does suck. Not as bad as the new windows office, but it has some very serious issues for those of us who value productivity above "features". After a few months now using the windows version (I have not had direct access to the mac version to try it for myself), I'm still fighting to find commands that used to be obvious, it still takes me seemingly forever to format a graph in excel the way I want it, it still is almost impossible (and takes forever) to format a powerpoint slide, I am still trying to figure out how to turn off all the MS "do it the way we want it" auto reformatting defaults, etc, etc. I suppose this ribbon idea made sense to someone, but I clearly don't know that person judging by the regular screams of frustration/demands of IT carnage I hear echoing up and down the halls. Not that this is anything new.
:apple:
Click to expand...

I have MS Office 2007, and I actually find the ribbon somewhat helpful. It only took me a little while to get used to, and now I find its layout relatively simple. However, it isn't perfect as I still find formatting graphs to be overly complicated, but overall, I think office 2007 is fine.
 
arkmannj said:
question: so if I buy the student edition and then I upgrade to the uber mega ultimate media edition of Office 2008 how many usage licenses do we get. the student edition comes with multiple license keys (3 or 5 ?) If I installed all those licenses then upgrade:
* can I upgrade only 1 machine,
* can I upgrade all of them,
* do I have to uninstall office 2004 off of all but one machine then upgrade,
* or can I pay S&H for each of the license keys and upgrade all of them ?
Click to expand...
That's a great question. How many licenses does the current edition of student and teacher come with? ...If it's 3, do all of them carry over?

Also, will we be getting a full version of Office 2008, or is it some funky upgrade?
 
Looks like I found the answer to my own question:

On the mail-in rebate form, you can chose between two options:
*OPTION ONE: Send me Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition (includes 1 license for business or personal use, also includes Exchange Server support , additional Automator Actions plus Microsoft Expression Media for Mac)
*OPTION TWO: Send me Office 2008 for Mac Home & Student Edition (includes 3 licenses for home or non-commercial use only; does NOT include Exchange Server support or Automator Actions) + Microsoft Expression Media for Mac

If you want three licenses, you have to chose the home edition.
 
i'm happy with office 04 or whatever is out now.. it does the job... i don't even notice its "slow-ness"
 
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