New Version of Microsoft Office for Mac Slated for 2014 Release

[Drewski]

If this upcoming Office for Mac runs as well as Office does via VMware Fusion, I might get it; I won't need to run a VM. I can do everything I need to via Apple software, except maybe to create sharable presentations and definitely to build complex spreadsheets (and share them, fully functioning).

I've tried the alternatives to MS Office, and I've found they just don't make the grade. I mean, I like my Mac a lot, but I'm not going to cut off my nose to spite my face.

 

[mjt57]

Or a version of Outlook for Mac that supports things like a full calendar and sync instead of having to manage it using the Apple Calendar.

This is what I'm hanging out for.

I moved from Windows to Mac last year. I was so disappointed when after buying Office 2011 to discover that I had no way of sync'ing the calendars between the Macbook Air and the Mac Mini that I'd purchased (along with Office 2011).

Since then I've been using Thunderbird and the Calendar addin Lightning to sync cals between computers and iDevices using Google Calendar.

Oh, and I miss Access not being on the Mac platform, too...

 

[MacBH928]

why do people still pay for this very expensive software? There are a lot of free and much cheaper alternative.

I am sure there is some one out there who needs every single feature of Microsoft Office, but I bet over 98% of the world doesn't need to pay the heavy price of $100 ->$200 .

Whats wrong with OpenOffice or LibreOffice ?
ASAP the only superior product MS Office has is Excel. IIRC Keynote is better than PowerPoint and every one hates on Word.

 

[harlanjmichael]

why do people still pay for this very expensive software? There are a lot of free and much cheaper alternative.

I am sure there is some one out there who needs every single feature of Microsoft Office, but I bet over 98% of the world doesn't need to pay the heavy price of $100 ->$200 .

Whats wrong with OpenOffice or LibreOffice ?
ASAP the only superior product MS Office has is Excel. IIRC Keynote is better than PowerPoint and every one hates on Word.

I will have to agree on Keynote > PP. After doing many many presentations for school and business, I have found that Keynote creates the "wow" effect. PP is...well, its PP. Not beautiful or exciting, it is just what every "other" person uses because they own PCs and they know of no other program.

 

[Digital Skunk]

why do people still pay for this very expensive software? There are a lot of free and much cheaper alternative.

I am sure there is some one out there who needs every single feature of Microsoft Office, but I bet over 98% of the world doesn't need to pay the heavy price of $100 ->$200 .

Whats wrong with OpenOffice or LibreOffice ?
ASAP the only superior product MS Office has is Excel. IIRC Keynote is better than PowerPoint and every one hates on Word.

It's really not that expensive considering how we Mac laptop users drop $2000 for a 15" machine.

Also, even in the long run $100-$200 isn't bad at all over the course of 5 or 6 or more years. Luckily we can still save and open and share .doc .xls .ppt files with decade old versions.

 

[j0ester]

ALRiGHT!!!! MS Office 2014 for Mac. I'm really happy this is coming out. I like MS Office 2011, but it's too outdated, and makes my work Retina Laptop choppy. I'm not a fan of Outlook and Word for Mac, but on Windows, works great! I really hope it's the same GUI... one can only hope. Maybeeee make Archiving EASIER FOR OUTLOOK 2014! kthx Microsoft.

 

[kingtj]

Yes... but at the same time ...

I'm going to defend my original statement that I.T. views Outlook as clunky and problematic. I'm hoping the next release of Office addresses some of this, but not holding out much hope for it -- because I suspect the limitations have a lot to do with the filesystem it uses.

EG. Outlook has a limit on the number of "unique objects" it can handle before performance drops off a cliff, and the app starts freezing up / hanging randomly. I don't think Microsoft even makes an attempt to put a specific number on this limit, but I've heard recommendations tossed around about "try to keep under 1,000 items in any given folder for best results". I know if we increase people's Exchange storage quota on the server to much more than about 5GB, we inevitably run into Outlook problems as users exceed that 5GB of total storage.

Outlook is a very powerful PIM client, offering very nice features to enterprise users. Administrators can manage it by using AD GPOs.
Outlook is the premier Exchange client and every company that uses Exchange Server or Office 365, also uses Outlook.

 

[igirlca]

In my experience, MS Office for Mac is a very poor piece of Software.

It comes with so much bloat (all I really want is Word, PowerPoint and Excel!) and it's extremely slow and laggy. It crashes all the time, takes forever to load files, and just doesn't seem like the usual polished "Mac app".

I hope this version is better! (Saying that, the only part of MSO I use is Excel)

I think it's time you find a more reliable computer. If yours came with "bloat" it's because you installed it. You absolutely have the ability to install only what you said you needed. I've been using office 2011 since its debut, in an office of people that mostly use window machines, and it works flawlessly between the two platforms. The same cannot be said for Apples "office suite" I've never had a crash, it loads in under a second. In fact I don't believe anything you typed is actually true. I think you loaded it up once, couldn't figure out how to use it, were upset that it didn't look cute, and bailed on it. This comment is disturbing, but typical.

 

[koban4max]

why do people still pay for this very expensive software? There are a lot of free and much cheaper alternative.

I am sure there is some one out there who needs every single feature of Microsoft Office, but I bet over 98% of the world doesn't need to pay the heavy price of $100 ->$200 .

Whats wrong with OpenOffice or LibreOffice ?
ASAP the only superior product MS Office has is Excel. IIRC Keynote is better than PowerPoint and every one hates on Word.

because i could get it for FREE...referring to Office.

 

[laurim]

I will have to agree on Keynote > PP. After doing many many presentations for school and business, I have found that Keynote creates the "wow" effect. PP is...well, its PP. Not beautiful or exciting, it is just what every "other" person uses because they own PCs and they know of no other program.

I'm always amused when my PPT clients come into contact with Keynote because one of their invited keynote speakers used it or because I used it during their show. Inevitably, they ask me about it and how hard it would be to start doing all their presentations in Keynote instead. And every year, I get more and more people going against the grain and bringing their presentation on their personal Mac so they stand out from the rest of the people at the meeting. People are always trying to "up their game" when it comes to presentations and when they see Keynote, they want to use it but face the uphill battle against entrenched software habits that ONLY exist because changing on an enterprise level is so hard and usually blocked by a pc-centric IT division. Microsoft only exists because it sold Windows cheaper than Apple software did back in the day. Inertia keeps them there (and I don't mean the moving kind of inertia).

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It's really not that expensive considering how we Mac laptop users drop $2000 for a 15" machine.

Also, even in the long run $100-$200 isn't bad at all over the course of 5 or 6 or more years. Luckily we can still save and open and share .doc .xls .ppt files with decade old versions.

I guess you haven't experienced the compatibility issues I have when opening older ppt files in new PowerPoint. And you certainly have trouble going the other direction. This is true for most software but please don't make it sound like Office is better than anybody else, because in many instances, it isn't. Don't get me started on how often being able to edit a chart breaks in PowerPoint because it no longer has access to the data that made it. I have many stories about how awful PowerPoint is to work with on show site.

 

[MasterHowl]

I think it's time you find a more reliable computer. If yours came with "bloat" it's because you installed it. You absolutely have the ability to install only what you said you needed. I've been using office 2011 since its debut, in an office of people that mostly use window machines, and it works flawlessly between the two platforms. The same cannot be said for Apples "office suite" I've never had a crash, it loads in under a second. In fact I don't believe anything you typed is actually true. I think you loaded it up once, couldn't figure out how to use it, were upset that it didn't look cute, and bailed on it. This comment is disturbing, but typical.

A more reliable computer? Please, it's hard to find a piece of hardware or an OS more reliable than a Mac and OS X.

And no, I uninstalled all the bloatware that came with MS Office for Mac, and then Word/Excel/PowerPoint stopped working due to "missing files" and "the database being incomplete" or crap like that.

I (unfortunately) use Excel every day (I'm a planetary geology undergrad, I do a lot of physics) and it's absolute bollocks, not just for me but for my other friends who also use MS Office for Mac.

I don't really know what you're trying to achieve by suggesting that I'm lying (what could I possibly gain from lying?) but I think you need to get off your high horse and chill a bit

 

[JonneyGee]

I feel like each edition is worse than the last. I'd still use 2005 if I could, and my only real complaint with 2008 is that it doesn't support retina displays. In 2011, the software got slower, the ribbon grew larger, and the bloat grew exponentially, all unwelcome changes in my book. They've either got to right the ship in 2014 or they'll lose the market for the long haul. My expectations aren't high, but I'd love to see them release an amazing suite and raise the bar for Apple and Google.

 

[Traverse]

Business School professor here.

Exactly. Accounting major here and I can assure you that you must use Word. Also, excel is used a lot and numbers won't cut it. I don't know why people hate it, I find Mac excel decent (not as good as the Windows version).

 

[laurim]

Exactly. Accounting major here and I can assure you that you must use Word. Also, excel is used a lot and numbers won't cut it. I don't know why people hate it, I find Mac excel decent (not as good as the Windows version).

I admit I've never been in a profession that used Excel in a super complex way but it seems to me that the way I use it to manage my business finances and the way most people I've come into contact use Excel (scientific data crunching, simulations, budgeting, graphing), Numbers would work just fine for them. It has the ability to do cell formulas, sorting and conditional formatting and I find it infinitely easier to create graphs than when I had to use Excel. Plus, you don't need to leave the program to create a full (attractive) final report around your data so there's no issues with losing a link to an Excel data sheet like when you embed it in Word. Granted, if it needs to connect to an external database it falls short so if that's what you mean, then yeah, it's not good for accountants in particular.

 

[gpatrick95]

Also, even in the long run $100-$200 isn't bad at all over the course of 5 or 6 or more years. Luckily we can still save and open and share .doc .xls .ppt files with decade old versions.

The problem I see is that Microsoft only supports Office for Mac products for ~5 years from release. Unless you buy early in the release cycle, you only get 5-6 years use if you're willing to risk going unsupported for several of those years.

I'd love to get a new copy Office for Mac so I don't have to lug my heavy, work-issued Windows laptop with me when I need to do some work at home. However, I am having a hard time justifying dropping the cash for Office 2011 today when support is going to end in less than 2 years (1/12/16). Meanwhile the Office 2010 on my work PC will at least be on "extended support" until 2020. Office 2014 can't get here quick enough for me.

 

[Bibbler]

Your close-mindedness is what keeps innovation from happening. You're exactly the customer Microsoft wants, one that wants to keep them on top. In today's world MS Office is much less relevant. What made Office so relevant over the years was because Windows was the "defacto" standard. Now with the Mac, iOS and Android and corporations adopting these technologies it takes Microsoft off it's monopoly wagon.

Yeah, closed minded me!!! The whole corporate world is going to suddenly switch to iWork... And you guys talk about "fragmentation".. LOL

 

[johnnyturbouk]

lol only on this forum would meaningless hate-for-non-Apple-company be so popular.

I'm a huge user of Apple products, but have you tried to use Numbers? I know they're re-adding functionality over time, but to use it now for anything even remotely professional is a waste of time. In this case you get what you pay for.

Agree 100%

I only have mac products (minus a google nexus sitting in my bag as a 2nd tablet gathering dust - not a fan of android)

i tred to go without MS a number of times. Keynote is the only one imo as a serious contender. Pages just infuriates me, i have tried and tried, however, to no avail to get pages replace word, it can't. Not for serious work like thesis, academic journal writings, and projects.

Numbers is simple, user-friendly, but lacks so much functionality c.f. excel.

In closing, yes i agree with the tree hugging evangelist that a utopian mac-world, with iCloud and iWork, ms-devoid, would be ideal; in real life, drop box, google drive and ms office is needed for serious work, for this user!

 

[WallToWallMacs]

Yeah, closed minded me!!! The whole corporate world is going to suddenly switch to iWork... And you guys talk about "fragmentation".. LOL

Where did the original person even mention the corporate world? you do realise that there is a whole market out there of small businesses and families that use it as well?

 

[dannsh]

I deleted Office for Mac 2011 a few months back. So far it has been the smartest move I have made with my Air since I bought it in 2011.

I too deleted Office 2011. I strongly object to Microsofts new licensing practice.

 

[Traverse]

Seeing these posts, I wonder what kind of work MR posters do. I unfortunately produce documents that may be sent to others to edit.

I have to often make presentations on someone else's conference room computer which is not often a Mac.

If you live and work in an insular world where you don't have to interact with other businesses or non-Mac users then maybe these alternatives are possible.

For me, not using Office would be such a pain in the ass that regardless of how poor the software is, I have to use it because it is THE business document format.

I completely agree. And when I am sending a final version of a Word document, my "superior" wants a Word document so he can make comments or archive for potential later edits. PDF isn't always the key.

And as an Accounting student I simply can't risk iWork. I love Pages for personal use, but I can't risk Pages rending even one heading wrong when sent as a .doc(x) file. It would be utter embarrassment in a professional setting.

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Not sure about newer versions but 2011 for Mac is by far the best office suite I've ever used. Not sure what all the hate for Office is over outside of it being made by Microsoft... who is really no longer the "bad guy" lol.

I agree. The only annoyance I have is that Word 2011 has scroll lag with long documents that contain several graphics and Excel has general lag when using even basic formulas. They could use a performance boost, but they are still quality products.

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If i can't communicate thru iWork i will stop communicating!.

Good luck in any business or school environment.

 

[asteng88]

Done!

OneNote for Mac PLEASE!

Done! Free download too. Well done Microsoft.

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The new version of office will be here sometime soon (2014). If you don't want to use it because your allegiance to apple is so strong that you simply cannot use anything else then use pages numbers and keynote.
I use both. Both are great in their own way.

The point of all this is the software is 4 years old. Things have improved and if they make the same improvements that they did for office 2013 for windows I will be very happy, especially with outlook.

 

[Michael Goff]

I too deleted Office 2011. I strongly object to Microsofts new licensing practice.

New licensing practice? You do know that you can still buy a single license of Office for Mac or Office for Windows, right?

 

[mkent]

Fillable Forms

I like Pages just fine. It's clean, simple, easy to use. However, there is no way to produce a fillable form like Word allows. I realize that it is possible to create the form and export to Adobe. That doesn't suit my needs. Until Apple enables that feature, I will continue to use MS Word, limited as it is.

 

[Linus MacWinfre]

Where Mac and Linux Failed Us

Nowhere near Linux or Mac - my two pet OS's - is there even the remote dream of an MS Outlook equivalent come alive. This really is where both of the BSD babes lost the war as they never really went into battle.

Get me a standalone replacement of MSO with Outlook and I am a happy man.

Not to mention OnenOte!

 

[MRU]

Nowhere near Linux or Mac - my two pet OS's - is there even the remote dream of an MS Outlook equivalent come alive. This really is where both of the BSD babes lost the war as they never really went into battle.

Get me a standalone replacement of MSO with Outlook and I am a happy man.

Not to mention OnenOte!

wow digging up a thread from the past

I envision a sudden spout of enthusiasm that this has been brought back to life 6 months after it died - with people suddenly thinking it actually happened .... followed by disappointment when they find out its just a thread ressurection.