Exchange (Entourage) is the piece missing from iWork, et al. I have to have Entourage. And I'm looking forward to eliminating another Rosetta app.
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Microsoft Sweetens Office 2008 Upgrade Deal
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I just talked to Microsoft and even they don't know if Office X will be upgradeable directly to Office 2008. It's probable that it will be because Office 2004's upgrade path goes all the way down to Office 98.
My rep also said the mid-January date may shift as we get closer to that date, and the first quarter is the only (fairly) definite timeframe.
My rep also said the mid-January date may shift as we get closer to that date, and the first quarter is the only (fairly) definite timeframe.
thefourthpope
macrumors 65816
Try the "export" option in the file menu instead of "save." You get the choice of .pdf, .doc etc. Great for all those not yet following iWork. The same thing works in Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. It's not automatic (that I know of) but it solves the problem.
Formatting issues for some things unfortunately.
Exporting to PDF is the only reliable format to share between PC's and Mac's (if it is read-only).
4 years in the making
Pretty scary that Mister Softee has taken 4 years to get this out -- despite the macintel transition 2 years ago. They will be the last software company on the planet to convert to universal. You'd think with their billions in r&D they could do better.
Pretty scary that Mister Softee has taken 4 years to get this out -- despite the macintel transition 2 years ago. They will be the last software company on the planet to convert to universal. You'd think with their billions in r&D they could do better.
No, you mean Intuit. A UB of Quicken would arrive long, long after Office 2008, assuming it even materialized.
chillywilly
macrumors 6502a
Entourage user here. This is a good deal to move to the latest version once it ships.
I'm not too fond of iWork after trying the trial. Very much prefer Office, more features and I'm more used to how it works. I'm using Office in Bootcamp though, since 2004 on intel is rather slow. Rather excited for 2008. 😀
Why not use Parallel's Desktop and use Office 2007 in that, save you restarting..?
impierced
macrumors 6502
Actually, truth be told, Office 2008 is merely a native version of Office 2004 with features that were too time consuming to re-write removed. To be fair, MS did throw a new skin over it.
The day I see a Mac version of Office that's fully compatible with the Windows version and has an Outlook client will be the day I actually get excited for a Mac Office suite from MS.
This might not be the last version we see of Office for the Mac, but with "upgrades" like this, one wonders how MS can actually label this Office. I'm thinking honest marketing like - Office Lite 2008 for the Mac.
chillywilly
macrumors 6502a
Not having seen or used Office 2008 yet, I'll take your word for it.
As for having Outlook on the Mac, I could see that as a good thing, but the one downfall of Outlook is that it's missing some email compliancy such as multi-mode emails (sending both text and HTML in the same formatted message). Entourage supports this.
Granted, if you need an email client for corporate use, then Outlook is it. But I've grown to like Entourage and hoping that 2008 doesn't change all that much. Especially when it comes to synching my Treo 755p to it, which if it didn't work, that would be a deal breaker and have me start looking for another solution (Mail.app, Address Book, iCal).
Like Outlook, Entourage supports categories, which I've been using for 10+ years now. That was one of the perks of using it under Outlook then moving to Entourage.
As far as being compatible with Office for Windows, I've not had too many issues. Just about every Word and Excel file I moved/move over from Office 2003 has come in without a problem. Some minor formatting issues have cropped up here and there, but that's about it.
I've not used Office 2007 yet, so not sure on how the file formats work and all that.
Meh I can wait a few months for a native Office 2008. I only have a 1gb of ram too, so parallel's will run pretty slow.
-and I'm pretty strapped for cash. 😛
impierced
macrumors 6502
Prepare for the first disappointment... the Palm Conduit for sync'ng is no more.
Entourage via Sync Services -> iCal/Address Book -> Treo is the method now.
chillywilly
macrumors 6502a
Oh wow. That is a disappointment. So have you actually done a sync from Entourage to a Treo? Is it difficult to setup? I've not used the Sync Services yet (i know Entourage 2004 supports it). There's several other items I sync that use HotSync (ie. Pocket Quicken, Documents To Go) that I don't want to lose until I know how to do them under the new Office and Leopard.
Looks like I'll have to start thinking of other options to make this work before moving to Office 2008 and Leopard.
Dillenger
macrumors 6502a
Unless I'm doing something wrong here is the problem I have with Pages (and believe me I want to leave Mac Office) 1. No automatic back-ups in case I screw up. 2. When I save (export a document to a Word.doc format) it will not default to that type of save again. In other words I can't click on the save button and it saves to Word.doc, no I have to click on export again. Why not an option to save it as a Word.doc .pdf or what ever as the default save. 3. Where is the spell check button I can put in the task bar, and how can I set up my spell check so it will track, show misspelled words and suggestions as I type? Now again if It's me then I'm open to suggestions, but if not then I'm stuck using Word for a while.
bluedevil14
macrumors regular
this is awesome news
this will prob be the last version of office ill buy because google docs is getting better and better
this will prob be the last version of office ill buy because google docs is getting better and better
majordude
macrumors 68020
I love Pages, I sometimes use Neo, but the first question asked by potential switchers is "Does it have MS Office", and I have to show them it, and explain why its so slow etc. Its too much for many to comprehend using another word processor. Having a better MS:Office will greatly increase Mac sales, even if only a minor percentage of those convinced to switch by it actually buy Office:08 🙂
majordude
macrumors 68020
Does Entourage read RSS feeds? Does it crash all the time like it did in 2004?
I'm not a fan of the ribbon. On the PC I use 2003 even though I have access to 2007 at work. I find everything about 2003 faster and easier to find.
What is the cheapest OS X MS Office available? I think I'll pick up a copy if I get a free upgrade to a top of the line 2007.
I'm not a fan of the ribbon. On the PC I use 2003 even though I have access to 2007 at work. I find everything about 2003 faster and easier to find.
What is the cheapest OS X MS Office available? I think I'll pick up a copy if I get a free upgrade to a top of the line 2007.
chillywilly
macrumors 6502a
It may be outdated, but it's stable and keeps my day organized (Treo 755p). And without Entourage syncing the majoring of my data to it, I'm pretty much lost.
I'll be trying the Sync Service / Address Book / Treo with my old 650 on the Mac mini to see what kind of data syncs over from Entourage 2004. If Entourage 2008 is pretty close, I may be able to make that work.
Given that Pages '08 supports MSWord docs (both saving and editing, I believe?), is there any reason nowadays to run MSOffice for Mac? I've been happy with Pages '08 and don't see any reason to buy Office, I have NeoOffice as backup incase Pages ever decides not to open a document.
Looks like Excel 2008 still needs some fixes, I can't open an xlsx file that I have a pw lock on, spits an error msg at me.
Overall, Mac Office 2008 is nice, but not nearly as good as the PC version.
Overall, Mac Office 2008 is nice, but not nearly as good as the PC version.
PCMacUser
macrumors 68000
I don't know about the RSS feeds, but I can say that Entourage in Office 2004 does not crash all of the time. I use it both professionally in my place of work as well as privately at home and find that it is remarkably stable. Perhaps there were issues with the earlier versions?