Microsoft to End Support for Office 2008 for Mac on April 9

[CReimer]

I wonder if they will discount it.

If I'm the lucky bidder, I'll get a copy of Office 2008 off of eBay for five bucks (includes shipping).

 

[joekun]

I think the only tough choice here is whether to go to Open Office or Libre Office.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

2011 doesn't even work right (doesn't save window positions, Fonts in Outlook are still messed up, auto-correct randomly capitalizes a letter after an apostrophe, etc).

They don't really seem to support any version of Office for Mac.

Are all of your software up to date? I never have those problems runnung Office 2011 on my MBA. Altough I prefer iWork and rarely use Office nowadays.

 

[Daveoc64]

You are complaining that Microsoft is stopping support for a five year old product when Apple routinely drop features and support systems for hardware and OS that was released a couple of years ago?

Quite. I'll take Microsoft's clearly published (and generous) lifecycle over Apple's "updates when we feel like it" approach.

 

[bdkennedy1]

Office is basically useless unless you're a business that requires compatibility. I have to have Excel on my Mac because it supports formulas.

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You are complaining that Microsoft is stopping support for a five year old product when Apple routinely drop features and support systems for hardware and OS that was released a couple of years ago?

I have a 2007 iMac that is 6 years old that OS X supports. Additionally, iOS 6 supports the iPhone 3GS which is 5 years old.

 

[RMo]

I would use MS Office if it were a complete package that could be bought rather than paying a subscription. I want a set of program's that is the final product, and I don't want to $10 a month for MS to fix its bugs. Subscription is a stupid business model that alienates people.

I agree with your sentiments, but I'm not sure how they're applicable to Office since it is (still) available as a boxed (or download) product for both Windows and Mac.

 

[goodcow]

Office is basically useless unless you're a business that requires compatibility. I have to have Excel on my Mac because it supports formulas.

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I have a 2007 iMac that is 6 years old that OS X supports. Additionally, iOS 6 supports the iPhone 3GS which is 5 years old.

The 3GS was released in June 2009, so it isn't even four years old yet. It's almost certain iOS 7 won't support that device either.

 

[BBCWatcher]

To clarify, Microsoft is ending Mainstream Support only for Microsoft Office 2008. According to Microsoft’s published support policy, Extended Support for Microsoft Office 2008 begins on April 9, 2013, and it lasts a minimum of 5 years (i.e. until April 9, 2018). During the Extended Support phase Microsoft will provide security fixes.

Please update this blog post to clarify this issue. (And yes, Microsoft Office 2008 is a “Business” product. Otherwise Microsoft would not have Microsoft Office 2008 Business Edition, for example.)

 

[DblHelix]

They need to revamp office for mac. The pivot tables suck, it runs slow and my company houses all of our data in SQL and we access it through OLAP cubes which are not supported on mac office

 

[chadua]

Didn't they have their support lifecycle as 2 years (or was it 4) after the product after the one released is released, or when this product is 5 years old, whichever is later?

Eg, Office 2004 supported until 2 years after 2011 is released, 2008 supported until 2 years after 201x is released (probably 2014).

True, its been 5 years, but there is no new Office.

The policy is 5 years or 2 years after the next version (not 2 versions). They used the phrase N+1 (where N is the release you are buying).

To clarify, Microsoft is ending Mainstream Support only for Microsoft Office 2008. According to Microsoft’s published support policy, Extended Support for Microsoft Office 2008 begins on April 9, 2013, and it lasts a minimum of 5 years (i.e. until April 9, 2018). During the Extended Support phase Microsoft will provide security fixes.

Please update this blog post to clarify this issue. (And yes, Microsoft Office 2008 is a “Business” product. Otherwise Microsoft would not have Microsoft Office 2008 Business Edition, for example.)

There is no extended support for Office 2008 they are just ending support for it. If you look in the chart the article links to about the support cycle it says that extended support is not applicable to this release.

 

[alphaod]

They're still supporting Windows XP, and they won't support Office 2008? That's a shame on people who can't/won't update to the recent version.

The Mac team has like 5 people whereas the Windows team has probably 100x as much.

 

[BBCWatcher]

There is no extended support for Office 2008 they are just ending support for it. If you look in the chart the article links to about the support cycle it says that extended support is not applicable to this release.

Yes, and that's incorrect -- their support policy requires business products to be supported for a minimum of 5 plus 5. (Microsoft Office 2008 is a business product -- at least the one called Business Edition. The words "Office" and "Business" are pretty big clues.)

Microsoft initially failed to follow their own support policy with Microsoft Office 2004, but they fixed it. (Office 2004 was governed by their previous support lifecycle policy, and they corrected the Mainstream Support period accordingly.) So this is par for the course with Microsoft to goof (or "goof").

Anyway, to net it out, if you've got Microsoft Office 2008, don't panic. Microsoft has to provide security patches until at least April 9, 2018. If they don't, lawyers will have a great lawsuit.

 

[Sy7ygy]

Pages, Numbers & Keynote suites my needs - Corporate & personal.

 

[funkypepper]

I think the only tough choice here is whether to go to Open Office or Libre Office.

NeoOffice is another good alternative with great OS X integration.

LibreOffice lacks OS X integration and lots of OS X specific bugs.

 

[RichardI]

Interesting. I will not be purchasing any more copies of MS Office. Pages will do everything I use Word for, as will Numbers for Excel; and they're a lot cheaper. I suspect a lot of others will do the same.

 

[Krazy Bill]

More predictable and narrow-minded views of MS Office rife with Apple fanaticism and inexperience in the real world. Office is what separates you "home" users from the rest of us in the enterprise and academia arenas. Keep your consumer crap like Pages and Numbers for garage sale fliers and those silly-assed home inventory lists. Those of us that need to exchange documents and interact with reality will continue to use the real thing.

Edit:

Thus, the point is that most of the rest of the world still uses Windows machines, and, in order to communicate competently and easily with that work world, some of us use - and have to use - Office for Mac. I do, and actually, professionally, it is a deal breaker for me, as every organisation and university I have ever worked for use hardly anything other than Windows. hence, Office for Mac will always be on my computer, irrespective of what else lives there.

^This

 

[JGRE]

Office for Mac 2008 was a disaster anyways

 

[pnoyblazed]

Doesn't your employer need to have an Enterprise Agreement in place to implement this?

I figure if you work for a company that uses a lot of computers that use windows, then I would assume so. Either way, it's a steal at that price point

 

[flottenheimer]

you can get MS Office for Mac 2011 for $9.99 via their Home Use Program.. just need a valid work email

Cool.
Do you happen to have a link? (crossing my fingers that it works for Europe too).

 

[pnoyblazed]

Cool.
Do you happen to have a link? (crossing my fingers that it works for Europe too).

http://www.microsofthup.com/hupus/chooser.aspx?culture=en-US


Should work in Europe too

 

[2457282]

So when you buy a Sony Blu-ray player, you should only connect it to a Sony TV, a Sony audio system and only watch Sony movies on it?

Actually yes. If you use multiple vendors in your example you end up with multiple remote controls or then you have to invest in a smart remote control that never really replaces them all. I have a samsung tv with a samsung DVD player and a Samsung surround sound -- 1 remote! and then the apple remote for the appleTV.

To be clear, I do understand that using best in class gives you something extra, but it also requires a lot of work. Using the walled garden or the all-in-one approach, means that you will not get the best in class on everything, but for some (like me) it is best enough and I dont have to worry about all the extra work to make it all work.

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Lucky for you that you only started using Apple recently. You would have been able to find no reason to use a Mac before Apple came up with this "walled-garden" approach.

Thankfully a few of us could come up with plenty of other reasons to use a Mac back then. Even if it did require using services from other developers. :gasp:

My first computer was an Apple II back in the seventies. as I have posted elsewhere, there has always been and probably always will be the argument between best-in-class and all-in-one. When I was younger, I loved to tinker and build my own computers. I was clearly in the best-in-class camp. Now, I have other things that take up my time and I am comfortable that the industry has matured enough to where the all-in-one is best-enough. So I have moved on over to the other camp.

 

[Breaking Good]

I wish Apple and Google would team up to drive a steak right into the heart of Microsoft's last cash cow and then just split the profits.

Apple and Google would gain new cash streams and it would finally spell the end ot Microsoft.

 

[cjmillsnun]

LOL, iWork is abandon ware along with pretty much all of Apple's desktop software.

That's why it gets updates through software update then

 

[a0me]

Actually yes. If you use multiple vendors in your example you end up with multiple remote controls or then you have to invest in a smart remote control that never really replaces them all. I have a samsung tv with a samsung DVD player and a Samsung surround sound -- 1 remote!

So, seen any good Samsung movies recently?

 

[FirstNTenderbit]

I wish Apple and Google would team up to drive a steak right into the heart of Microsoft's last cash cow and then just split the profits.

Apple and Google would gain new cash streams and it would finally spell the end ot Microsoft.

The Tonight Show may be looking for new comedy writers. You should definitely apply because that's pretty funny.