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Microsoft Unveils Mac Office 2008 Packages, Pricing

syklee26 said:
anyone who thinks iWork is better than Office is either a fool or a fanboy. Neither is better than the other. they serve different purpose.

plus, if you are willing to forgo those $400 and $500 version, Excel itself is worth $150. I generally don't like MS products but Office is an exception.

plus, the notes layout only found in Mac Office is great when you are taking lecture notes for the class. iWork just doesn't give you as good of a tool when you are trying to word process. iWork is great at making pages, but it is not a good word processor.

I do agree that Keynote is better than PowerPoint but there is a compatibility issue too.
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Preach it man! I am a total and utter Mac love and MS hater - BUT - when it comes to Office software it cannot be beat - iWork has nothing on it, neither does NeoOffice, if you work in an office world like I do. Both of those are good enough for doing basic stuff, but Office has way more to offer. And the pricing is way lower than the Windoze versions. Professional is like $800 in Canada! That's crazy talk!
 
daveporter said:
Until I know that I will be able to save documents in standard old .doc file format I won't even consider purchasing Office.

I currently use Pages and NeoOffice for word processing and I have no problems sharing documents with anyone on any platform. For spreadsheet work I often have no choice but to use Excel 2004 due to the lack of support for many scientific functions and graphing capabilities in Numbers and NeoOffice.

If Office requires that I use their new file format as the default file formats then I will not purchase the new Office and continue to use the old Excel when I need to and begin using Numbers when ever I don't require the scientific functions and graphing features.

Dave
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Whoa, new file format? That goes against my previous post. It would cause no end of hassle.
 
MattyCurry said:
Onenote! My Kingdom for Mac Onenote!

Communicator is like a business version of messenger but it also plugs into VOIP to do voicemail and does a nifty presence thingy.

I'm also surpirsed that the mac creative community isn't crying out for Groove. There used to be a mac version before Microsoft bought the company behind it.
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No publisher? But I need Publisher!
 
CrzyCanuck72 said:
you can change the dictionary to British English, I just forget how..
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British English is just as different. It's just different in different ways.

When I was a teaching assistant I told my students that when they go to a US school they can use the default Microsoft Word spellchecker all they want, but any papers that come to me will lose marks for spelling if it's not properly spelled for the country they are studying in.

They f*in' hated me.

I also made them shut off the stupid auto-hyperlink feature because it made their bibliographies unreadable. Why does Microsoft think that URLs in printed documents need to be underlined and blue? It just has to be an inside joke among Microsoft programmers, and they snicker quietly to themselves thinking about the number of people who absent-mindedly try to click on hyperlinks on a piece of paper.
 
I will be one of the first to buy this as a student.

I tried iWork and really, really hated it. I gave it a try too for a little while.

I guess I am just hooked on Office and the way I get around with it.
 
jonnysods said:
No publisher? But I need Publisher!
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to be honest, I think in the next version of Office, Publisher might go the way of frontpage. The only reason I ever have to use Publisher over Word is when I want to merge with dynamic images, which Word complains about, a bit.
 
Orng said:
British English is just as different. It's just different in different ways.

When I was a teaching assistant I told my students that when they go to a US school they can use the default Microsoft Word spellchecker all they want, but any papers that come to me will lose marks for spelling if it's not properly spelled for the country they are studying in.

They f*in' hated me.

I also made them shut off the stupid auto-hyperlink feature because it made their bibliographies unreadable. Why does Microsoft think that URLs in printed documents need to be underlined and blue? It just has to be an inside joke among Microsoft programmers, and they snicker quietly to themselves thinking about the number of people who absent-mindedly try to click on hyperlinks on a piece of paper.
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British English a strange term that I'm sure never existed before computers! Still, at least it's not 'English English'

Agreed on hyperlinks - they're a pain.
 
ifjake said:
i don't even think it was that hard to get the student edition anyway. maybe you've got a kid or something. or maybe you could just order it online no questions asked.

but is the removal of exchange support new for the student version? .
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I think those two things are related. Too many people who weren't students/teachers were buying that version.
 
"Buyers of Office 2004 from here on out will be eligible for an upgrade to Office 2008 for only the cost of shipping and handling."

That's one thing Microsoft typically does beter than Apple. One they anounce a new product and set a date and feature set they offer these free upgrades. They are smart. If they didn't make this offer no one would by Office now, everyone would wait. With the offer MS makes more money (or at least avoids having months of near zero sales) and customers are happy.

I bet Apple is not selling many copies of Tiger right now except for the free copies that come with new computers. In fact I'd bet hardware sales are depressed as people wait for Leopard. But if they offered a free Leopard upgrade they be selling.

What they both should do is offer to sell you software with a 90 or 120 day free upgrade offer so if anything comes out during that time you are covered. Without this no one buys during the last few moths of an older version.
 
Row missing on table.

Version Notable Features Price

iWork Microsoft-free! (Thank God Almighty) $79 (already got it.)


Now I've got to learn where iWork docs and Word docs are truly compatible, so I can go back and forth from the office to home and back.
 
Y'know, the whole iWork vs MS Office discussion is just dumb.

I'm a video editor, therefore iMovie is useless to me.

I know some sound engineers. Garageband is a toy to them.

My neighbour is a photographer. iPhoto? pfah.

And do you think you'd catch a web designer using iWeb?

These are all good programs though. I use iPhoto, and I play with Garageband. They're good programs designed to bring basic creative functions to average home users wanting to do average home things with a bit of splash.

iWork is no different. Basic office functions with a bit of Apple pizzazz for the masses. You say you need an office suite with more features and options and footnotes and all that technical stuff? I understand, I need to edit video with Avid or Final Cut Pro, because iMovie makes me pull my hair out. You say iWork has all you need? I understand that too, I have friends and relatives who can use iMovie to create exactly what they want to create.

There are different types of users, and different software to meet their needs.


acslater017 said:
haha i hate these grammar wars as much as anyone...but i think "spelt" IS ok... :)
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I thought spelt was a hardy European wheat...?
 
zephead said:
Holy frick. M$ (yes, emphasis on the $) is charging an extra $250 just for Exchange and to be able to use Automator, something you already have?! What, $60 billion isn't enough for you, Bill? :mad:
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No, they're charging $250 for Exchange, Automator and a license to use it in a for-profit business. The Home/Student edition is not legally able to be used in a business.
 
syklee26 said:
anyone who thinks iWork is better than Office is either a fool or a fanboy. Neither is better than the other. they serve different purpose.

plus, if you are willing to forgo those $400 and $500 version, Excel itself is worth $150. I generally don't like MS products but Office is an exception.

plus, the notes layout only found in Mac Office is great when you are taking lecture notes for the class. iWork just doesn't give you as good of a tool when you are trying to word process. iWork is great at making pages, but it is not a good word processor.

I do agree that Keynote is better than PowerPoint but there is a compatibility issue too.
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well, 149 bucks for Excel and the world standard presentation and wordprocessing software is actually quite cheap. i agree with syklee that excel alone is worth 149 bucks. and word and powerpoint is good to have to open documents that people send you.

i most likely buy iwork first and then i see how long i can get buy with my old office under rosetta. maybe eventually i'll buy the new office if i find that excel is too slow under rosetta.

if apple would just bring back macwrite pro and a real spreadsheet program and put them into iwork. but real productivity software is always steves stepchild.
 
nigrunze said:
Hmm. $80 versus $150. I think the choice is pretty obvious for most people.
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It sure is. $150 for Office '08 is the way to go. Not only do you get a better product, but you get what, better or worse, is the industry standard. Sorry, but iWork '08 is a joke compared to Office.
 
Orng said:
There are different types of users, and different software to meet their needs.
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Indeed.

I'm a professional journalist, so I do all my word-processing in... TextEdit. No kidding. :)

Though I too would kill for the return of MacWrite Pro.
 
if they say there's a technology guarantee in a blog or announcement. but there isn't anything about it yet in their official sites, is it safe to assume that if one buys a copy today they'll be able to upgrade it later and only pay shipping?
 
Darkroom said:
hummm.... let's review:

NeoOffice = $0
iWork '08 = $79
Microsoft Office '08 = $150 — $500

need i say more?
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Yes, just one more thing:

Excel = Priceless

For me there is no substitute for Excel on Windows. I tried NeoOffice and iWork. I tried Excel on OS X. Finally, I broke down and got Parallels and pulled out an old copy of Windows just so I could run Excel.
 
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