Im ready to buy my first MBP but MS Office does not release until late October. I must have Office compatability because of work. I know MS is offering a free upgrade to Office 2011 if you have an existing Office Suite but MS Office 2008 Business is over $300 while the new 2011 will sell for less than $200. Aside from waiting until late November to purchase any ideas?
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MS Office Delaying my Purchase of MBP
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That depends on what kind of compatibility you're after. For instance, if you need to have features like Word's change tracking, you are not going to find it in either iWork or Open Office. However, if you want a standard Office Suite that's got relatively decent compatibility with MS Office (particularly Word & Excel), I'd use OpenOffice in the interim.
PS. I think you'd get more of a response if you posted your query in the Mac Apps forum instead.
PS. I think you'd get more of a response if you posted your query in the Mac Apps forum instead.
why not just get iWork?
Change Tracking is in iWork.
With Bubbles Turned On:
That depends on what kind of compatibility you're after. For instance, if you need to have features like Word's change tracking, you are not going to find it in either iWork or Open Office. However, if you want a standard Office Suite that's got relatively decent compatibility with MS Office (particularly Word & Excel), I'd use OpenOffice in the interim.
PS. I think you'd get more of a response if you posted your query in the Mac Apps forum instead.
Change Tracking is in iWork.
With Bubbles Turned On:
its not like there aren't other office solutions for you to use in the meantime. if you want to wait, then wait, but there are alternatives.
and 08 isn't bad at all imo. its slow to open, and that has been my only major complaint with it since it came out.
and 08 isn't bad at all imo. its slow to open, and that has been my only major complaint with it since it came out.
To me it would be a compatibility thing. I need to be absolutely certain docs open on other computers without formatting issues etc. However, I don't now if iwork will do that since I do not own it myself..but just having office at least lets me be sure. That and when people use my computer at work and school, they would not be scared and befuddled with I open up iwork for them.
Aah man! Got busted on the tracking.
Exactly, the OP did not state the degree of compatibility they were after.
support VBA macros.
Exactly, the OP did not state the degree of compatibility they were after.
support VBA macros.
Crash constantly?
*zing*
Seriously though, I use Office 2008 because I have no choice. A lot of my files are best viewed in 2008 Office. Importing them into iWork, I lose a lot. Pagination, most notably.
Pages on iWork doesn't support the usage of form fields (as far as i know). For my business i need to have the ability to fill out forms in a word processor on a daily basis. So I am using Office 07 on a virtual machine via parallels 5. Do office 2008 or 2011 have form field functionality? I would like it if i didn't have to warm up the virtual machine everyday. Any apps for mac that would have some similar functionality in terms of form fields?
In my experience Office 2008 is comparable to 2007, just more clunky and difficult to navigate. 2011 looks more organized. Feature-wise I find nothing missing, at least in my personal experience.
Not to go off too far off topic, but does anyone know if Office 2011 is going to allow connecting to exchange over http(s) similar to the way Entourage does now? This is pretty much a deal breaker for me if it doesn't and I'll have to stick with Office 2008. I've searched online regarding this and found no answers, and I even tried a beta version to no avail (didn't have https connection options, just standard exchange server connection).
Use bootcamp or parallels or vmware in the meantime with Office for windows if its that big a deal, then switch over to the Mac version in October when it comes out.
Assuming: you have a copy of windows, you have a copy of office
Assuming: you have a copy of windows, you have a copy of office
Try firing off a tweet/facebook/email to officeformac. I have had a couple of responses back from them over twitter recently so its worth a shot as its quite an important feature.
you can always download Microsoft Office for Mac Beta through your local torrent/leeching site. then once Office comes out for retail, purchase it.
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5727925/MICROSOFT.OFFICE.FOR.MAC.2011.BETA-5.V14.0.0.BUILD.100709
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5727925/MICROSOFT.OFFICE.FOR.MAC.2011.BETA-5.V14.0.0.BUILD.100709
It's probably not 100% compatible (nothing is), but it might come close. Also check out NeoOffice. It's the same as Open Office but tweaked exclusively for Mac OS X.
Thanks. I'll give that a try. All the standard web searching I've done hasn't turned up a thing.
I know Outlook didn't have the simplicity of connecting via OWA (which is what you're likely referring to) on 2007 or 2010 that I recall, so it doubtful they have it in Outlook 2011. I'm with you though - it's that small feature that makes Entourage superior to Outlook for me, because I can get at my work email using Entourage on my personal Mac - negating the need for me to bring my work laptop home hardly at all and negating the need for VPN (I don't save many files except to my external hard drive). It's awesome.
I'd be interested to see what they say.
Based on your responses and comments on this thread i'm inclined to think you're a fairly logical decision maker. You obviously have a need for a new computer or you wouldn't be posting in this forum and asking these questions. It would seem logical that you also have a working computer that can do most everything you need. If you didn't you would be less willing to push off your purchase to late October... Now consider the opportunity cost of your time as part of your purchase decision. How much more productive will you be with your new machine and office vs your current setup? Do you think between now and November that you might accomplish 4 more hours worth of work because of your new setup? If you make 50K a year or $25/hr then you should consider spending that $100 to get office and the mac now. The marginal increase in your productivity justifies the purchase sooner than later.
Plus if you go to amazon.com you can buy the Business version of office mac for $244 and then you only have to justify $44 dollars over 3 months.
I've tried and didn't like both openoffice and iwork. I found that I spent too much time figuring out formatting and excel commands. They both have their place but they cost me too much time to be used on my personal work machine. This was two years ago so much has probably changed.
Just my two cents. Hope this helps your decision.
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Are you by any chance a student at a university? If so, then your university might be able to hook you up for free or extremely low charge. Mine has some kind of relationship with Microsoft to bring their software either right after release or even before official release (Windows 7 came 1 1/2 months before it was released to the public). I love university connections!
Excellent points and in reality we are not talking about alot of money. However, I'm not sure the new machine will make me more productive. At least in the short run-- probably less productive as I will likely spend more time playing with my new toy than working!
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