New MS Office 2008 12.1.7 Updates

[cosmokanga2]

New updates, 12.1.7 for Office 2008 have been released! Lets see if it does anything.

268mb

Link to MS

UPDATE:

Link to update information: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968694

Update details
The Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.7 update contains changes that improve security and performance. This update also includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of a computer's memory by using malicious code.
Back to the top
Improvements that are included in the update
The Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.7 update includes the following improvements.
Improvements for all Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac applications
Security is improved.
This update fixes vulnerabilities in Office 2008 that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory by using malicious code. For more information, see the security bulletin that is mentioned in the "Introduction" section.

 

[illegallydead]

Here's hoping there is a fix for the spaces issue? Maybe? haha I'm not getting my hopes up though

 

[cosmokanga2]

Here's hoping there is a fix for the spaces issue? Maybe? haha I'm not getting my hopes up though

Spaces is still f****d Nothing noticeably different.

 

[illegallydead]

Spaces is still f****d Nothing noticeably different.

Well I kind of figured, just the typical security update BS from M$.

I think they are waiting to fix the issue in the next version, like Office '10 or something.
That or they just won't as they are simply incapable of programing around the intricacies of Apple's Spaces frameworks...

 

[nadyne]

I think they are waiting to fix the issue in the next version, like Office '10 or something.
That or they just won't as they are simply incapable of programing around the intricacies of Apple's Spaces frameworks...

The Spaces issue isn't ours to fix. It's Apple's. We've shown them our windowing code and they can't make any suggestions to us that will completely fix the problem. For the gory technical details, check out this blog post from one of our senior developers: risks and rewards.

Regards,
Nadyne.

 

[illegallydead]

The Spaces issue isn't ours to fix. It's Apple's. We've shown them our windowing code and they can't make any suggestions to us that will completely fix the problem. For the gory technical details, check out this blog post from one of our senior developers: risks and rewards.

Regards,
Nadyne.

I am well aware of where the issue supposedly lies from your posts in numerous previous threads similar to this one. My point has repeatedly been that numerous other vendors have been able to get around the issue.

So maybe you need to move away from the toolbox idea, as that is one of the major points of contention with users of Spaces, especially if Apple really cannot help you adapt it to work. Either that or there is just something fundamentally poorly written in this version of Office. Or maybe it is a conspiracy from within Apple itself to draw people toward iWork

 

[ShinySteelRobot]

My guess is the reason it's not working for Microsoft is because Office 08 is programmed using Apple's semi-deprecated Carbon API (basically Toolbox for OS X). If Microsoft had switched to Cocoa lo those long years ago (like 7 years ago) instead of sticking with Carbon, then Spaces would "just work". That being said, Apple probably ought to fix any bugs related to Carbon and Spaces. IIRC, MS Office is being ported to Cocoa so hopefully the issue will soon be moot.

 

[illegallydead]

My guess is the reason it's not working for Microsoft is because Office 08 is programmed using Apple's semi-deprecated Carbon API (basically Toolbox for OS X). If Microsoft had switched to Cocoa lo those long years ago (like 7 years ago) instead of sticking with Carbon, then Spaces would "just work". That being said, Apple probably ought to fix any bugs related to Carbon and Spaces. IIRC, MS Office is being ported to Cocoa so hopefully the issue will soon be moot.

Thus making me think that the issue is really being put on the back burner. After all, it's good business (money wise, I won't go into the ethical part) to keep '08 the way it is and have '10 be the magic man that fixes everything. Just fork over a benjamin or two and everything will be great

 

[Achiever]

Thus making me think that the issue is really being put on the back burner. After all, it's good business (money wise, I won't go into the ethical part) to keep '08 the way it is and have '10 be the magic man that fixes everything. Just fork over a benjamin or two and everything will be great

I'm no apologist for MS, but do you have any idea how many lines of code are in the Office Suite. From what I recall reading, upwards of 30,000,000+. Do you have any idea how long it would take to move all of that code from Carbon to Cocoa? They were obviously well into development on the Office 08 suite when Apple introduced Leopard and Spaces to them (likely 18-24 months ago), which is nowhere near enough time to convert all of that code. Plus, they couldn't reasonably stop all production on an Office 08 suite release in order to re-do everything in Cocoa. There is already bitching on forums like these about how long MS goes between release dates, etc. Can you imagine if they had to put off the Office 08 release for another year or two solely to make it play nice with a limited function app like Spaces???

Like I said, I'm no MS apologist, but given how close to the vest Apple likes to play things with its software releases, there is really no way MS could have reasonably been expected to make Office 08 Spaces compliant given the shortcomings and the timeframe. If in the NEXT office release (2010/2011??) MS hasn't moved the code to Cocoa and made it more Spaces compliant, then I think the criticism is fair.

 

[miles01110]

I updated, but then the registration/"Check for Updates" screen kept popping up and applications wouldn't launch. Had to trash

~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008/Microsoft Office 2008 Settings.plist
/Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/Office/OfficePID.plist

in order to get it to work, but of course I have to re-register. Serial number is at home... how annoying.

 

[yoppie]

Just updated here and so far I haven't noticed much difference. Those of you complaining about spaces, need to give it a rest. It's been said many times over that the spaces problem will not be fixed in Office 08.

 

[cmg]

This excuse doesn't fly

The Spaces issue isn't ours to fix. It's Apple's. We've shown them our windowing code and they can't make any suggestions to us that will completely fix the problem. For the gory technical details, check out this blog post from one of our senior developers: risks and rewards.

Regards,
Nadyne.

I have many applications from other developers, but Apple's "issue" only impacts Microsoft? Give me a break!

- Chuck

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I have many applications from other developers, but Apple's "issue" only impacts Microsoft? Give me a break!

- Chuck

No, it effects all developers using the Carbon API set. Give me a break!

- Drew

 

[illegallydead]

I'm no apologist for MS, but do you have any idea how many lines of code are in the Office Suite. From what I recall reading, upwards of 30,000,000+. Do you have any idea how long it would take to move all of that code from Carbon to Cocoa? They were obviously well into development on the Office 08 suite when Apple introduced Leopard and Spaces to them (likely 18-24 months ago), which is nowhere near enough time to convert all of that code. Plus, they couldn't reasonably stop all production on an Office 08 suite release in order to re-do everything in Cocoa. There is already bitching on forums like these about how long MS goes between release dates, etc. Can you imagine if they had to put off the Office 08 release for another year or two solely to make it play nice with a limited function app like Spaces???

Like I said, I'm no MS apologist, but given how close to the vest Apple likes to play things with its software releases, there is really no way MS could have reasonably been expected to make Office 08 Spaces compliant given the shortcomings and the timeframe. If in the NEXT office release (2010/2011??) MS hasn't moved the code to Cocoa and made it more Spaces compliant, then I think the criticism is fair.

I am certainly not slamming them for not doing a re-write of the entire framework on short notice, and certainly not just for spaces. But as ShinySteelRobot mentioned, Cocoa was released how long ago? ~7 years ago? Maybe it would have been in their interests to start porting stuff over much longer ago, so they would be ready for '08, instead of '10 or beyond.
I have no doubt that doing so entails all sorts of pain-in-the-@$$ work, but being the software giant that M$ is...

And yes, part of the problem is with Apple's secretive nature. God forbid you let developers know what to expect (even a "hey, porting to Cocoa for the next build would be a good idea" a year + in advance would be great).

Anyway, I feel like I have sufficiently veered off the topic of "they released an update"
Back on topic: woohoo! if I were to somehow get the Devil's spreadsheet it won't mess up my computer. Great!