New Version of Microsoft Office for Mac Slated for 2014 Release

[Digital Skunk]

They need to just start over again, to be honest.

Yes, and I am no software designer but they could do a better job of making both platforms of the app update at the same time and look the same across systems. Before the Office 2010 for Mac, we had to live with Office 2004. The PC version had two or three overhauls during that time, and by the time we got 2010 the PC version was on 2011.

Now, we still have 2010 (or is it 2009?) and the PC version of lightyears ahead.

In your unbiased opinion, how is iWork superior to Office?

That's the tricky part, iWork and Office and Google Docs, etc. are fine if all you need to do is punch out a few documents.

iWork is the only bunch of apps that I've ever used that can handle Alpha channels properly, but what niche group of people is dumping those kind of graphics into their docs on the regular? If they are, then they need to get InDesign.

Otherwise, the biggest benefit you get from Word is compatibility. No matter what i do, even if I try my best to get alphas to work in Word, it'll look exactly the same on the other end. No more sending out PDFs.

I'll save my gleaming review of Word and just sum it up. No there's nothing more superior to the Office suite of apps, and the online web versions put iWork to shame.

Can you do mail merge with latest Pages?

Nope! For some odd reason, Apple simplified Pages and Numbers down to the kindergarten level. Not that doing such and making the app free wasn't nice . . . . but we lost a lot of functionality to gain what I can only assume is a more consistent look with the iOS version.

yes.. it's not there anymore

It never worked that well when it did have it. I agree with you, and it was almost 5 years ago that I struggled to get Pages to do mail merge from .csv files. That was when i had to pick up my first copy of Office, and was blown away with how easy it was to do things like mail merge, and track changes.

 

[Sky Blue]

Before the Office 2010 for Mac, we had to live with Office 2004. The PC version had two or three overhauls during that time, and by the time we got 2010 the PC version was on 2011.

??

There was no Office 2010 for Mac, the current version is 2011.

There's been:

Office 2004 (Mac)
Office 2007 (Windows)
Office 2008 (Mac)
Office 2010 (Windows)
Office 2011 (Mac)
Office 2013 (Windows)

The Windows version did not have "two or three overhauls during that time", it had one.

 

[LagunaSol]

What business is that? Children's daycare?

MS Office is still king in the real world.

Ah, the classic "You can't do real work in the real world without Microsoft Office" chestnut. Right out of Microsoft's marketing manual. Well played.

 

[Powerbooky]

Can you provide a source on that 5% figure? Because I know for a fact every Fortune 500 company AND Gov't agency I worked for used:

Outlook
Word
Excel
Visio
OneNote
Lync/Office Communicator
Powerpoint

With Access (actually some departments still use this, for whatever reason), InfoPath, and Publisher being the outcasts I fail to see how you get 5%. TBH, I know of more shops that use Google Docs and such for their needs than I do any of the iWork stuff.

Well, that 5% is my guess based on what I see in my field of work (operations television broadcasting). Yes, most companies have all those software packages. But only because their IT manager just doesn't seem to know any better (its amazing how many IT guys are scared of software that is not from MS).
Something I see very often... something simple like address cards. Even though there is Exchange with the networked address list that anyone can access and edit, most employees keep their data on paper or in a separate Excel sheet. Only because Outlook is not clear with address data (quick pick, personal contact sheets, global address lists).
Same for planning departments I worked with... they tend to do everything on paper (often a printed empty Excel sheet), just because it's a pain to quickly change meetings and projects (especially where lots of people are involved). That means that others never can check current planning over the network, resulting in lots of phone calls.

Basically... most office software (even SAP) have such horrible interfaces. Too much buttons, too much clicking through menu's just to do one simple thing. Some compensate it by using OneNote (or something similar) but it doesn't fix the mess.

Funny one on the list there (for television broadcasting)... PowerPoint... that software actually is made to do presentations, but have you noticed that most managers use it as a teleprompter? Embarrassing!

 

[Parise]

Well, that 5% is my guess based on what I see in my field of work (operations television broadcasting). Yes, most companies have all those software packages. But only because their IT manager just doesn't seem to know any better (its amazing how many IT guys are scared of software that is not from MS).
Something I see very often... something simple like address cards. Even though there is Exchange with the networked address list that anyone can access and edit, most employees keep their data on paper or in a separate Excel sheet. Only because Outlook is not clear with address data (quick pick, personal contact sheets, global address lists).
Same for planning departments I worked with... they tend to do everything on paper (often a printed empty Excel sheet), just because it's a pain to quickly change meetings and projects (especially where lots of people are involved). That means that others never can check current planning over the network, resulting in lots of phone calls.

Basically... most office software (even SAP) have such horrible interfaces. Too much buttons, too much clicking through menu's just to do one simple thing. Some compensate it by using OneNote (or something similar) but it doesn't fix the mess.

Funny one on the list there (for television broadcasting)... PowerPoint... that software actually is made to do presentations, but have you noticed that most managers use it as a teleprompter? Embarrassing!

SAP is hands down, the ugliest AND most confusing thing I've ever used (maybe outside of Peoplesoft)

And you're right, they should probably rename Powerpoint at this point lol

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Ah, the classic "You can't do real work in the real world without Microsoft Office" chestnut. Right out of Microsoft's marketing manual. Well played.

Well, you can do it for roughly 200 bucks (computer and all) if you use Google Docs. Unless you're eluding to iWork, then at that point you can do real work in the real world for roughly 2 grand per person.

 

[LagunaSol]

Number one reason? Everyone needs OSX, meaning everyone needs a 2,000 dollar computer. Even the data entry types.

http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/mac-mini

And I agree iWork isn't enterprise-ready. That said, 99% of Microsoft Office users don't use 99% of Microsoft Office features (arbitrary numbers concocted from my own anecdotal evidence from years of providing training support for these computer-illiterate ding dongs.)

Office is expensive overkill for many organizations' needs (and they're finally starting to realize it). The old "You can't do 'real' work without Microsoft Office" canard is crumbling around the edges.

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Unless you're eluding to iWork, then at that point you can do real work in the real world for roughly 2 grand per person.

So we're buying fully-loaded 27" iMacs for everybody?

 

[Parise]

http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/mac-mini

And I agree iWork isn't enterprise-ready. That said, 99% of Microsoft Office users don't use 99% of Microsoft Office features (arbitrary numbers concocted from my own anecdotal evidence from years of providing training support for these computer-illiterate ding dongs.)

Office is expensive overkill for many organizations' needs (and they're finally starting to realize it). The old "You can't do 'real' work without Microsoft Office" canard is crumbling around the edges.

I don't disagree with this, however, the price of MS Office is kind of offset by most of those 99%ers using hand me down computers that some guy got off the corner store or one of his buddies for 300 bucks. Your link, after adding a mouse, keyboard, and monitor came out to: $1,696.00.

I think the bigger argument here too is, most third party software is not readily available for OSX. We are arguing the point of people buying Macs when we should REALLY be arguing the point that iWork should be open to ALL operating systems. Kind of like FaceTime. And iMessage. Oh wait.

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So we're buying fully-loaded 27" iMacs for everybody?

You laugh.

I'm actually trying to get my boss to do that for me right now.

 

[LagunaSol]

Your link, after adding a mouse, keyboard, and monitor came out to: $1,696.00.

Why would you buy an uber-expensive Apple display for a data-entry person?

 

[RobertMartens]

'fanboy brownie points' Professional haters

That's your take on this? Seriously? Maybe they really don't like Microsoft.

Tell me more about those brownie points. Are they only good on iTunes?

 

[Michael Goff]

Why would you buy an uber-expensive Apple display for a data-entry person?

Why would you buy a Mac period for a data entry person?

 

[RobertMartens]

most third party software is not readily available for OSX.

I have been using Macs since 1989. Exactly which software have I been living without. And how did I make it this far?

 

[Parise]

I have been using Macs since 1989. Exactly which software have I been living without. And how did I make it this far?

Oh, great.

A one person sample size. A die hard Apple fan's last resort.

 

[Deguello]

I actually find office 2011 to be pretty stable
im still on office 2010 on the windows side and im thinking of trialling SkyDrive.

Does anyone have any experience with using Skydrive in conjunction with Office 2011 on the mac?
is it seamless ala. dropbox where as soon as you save a file, it syncs up?

It was kind of flaky at first... files copied into my SkyDrive folder wouldn't sync on my Macs but they would on Windows machines. If the file actually got created in the SkyDrive folder, everything was fine.

After a couple of back and forths with support and a couple of new versions of SkyDrive, now OneDrive, it works very well.

 

[Powerbooky]

That said, 99% of Microsoft Office users don't use 99% of Microsoft Office features. Arbitrary numbers concocted from my own anecdotal evidence from years of providing training support for these computer-illiterate ding dongs.

LOL. That last sentence made my day. Always good to end the day with a good laugh. Thanks.

 

[winston1236]

I think 29 dollars is the appropriate price for this. Of course I'm sure they will price it in the hundreds.

 

[Digital Skunk]

??

There was no Office 2010 for Mac, the current version is 2011.

There's been:

Office 2004 (Mac)
Office 2007 (Windows)
Office 2008 (Mac)
Office 2010 (Windows)
Office 2011 (Mac)
Office 2013 (Windows)

The Windows version did not have "two or three overhauls during that time", it had one.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[hansonjohn590]

Ah, the classic "You can't do real work in the real world without Microsoft Office" chestnut. Right out of Microsoft's marketing manual. Well played.

Because as we all know, Numbers works great with Excel workbooks, right?

Try again.

 

[Michael Goff]

I think 29 dollars is the appropriate price for this. Of course I'm sure they will price it in the hundreds.

You're not serious, are you?

:|

 

[Parise]

You're not serious, are you?

:|

I've seen iPad apps more expensive than what they think the "appropriate" price for a full on productivity suite is. Thats nuts.

I do wish Logic Pro was only 29 bucks tho.

 

[Michael Goff]

I've seen iPad apps more expensive than what they think the "appropriate" price for a full on productivity suite is. Thats nuts.

I do wish Logic Pro was only 29 bucks tho.

It hurts my head when people come up with such small numbers for an entire office suite.

 

[69650]

Well you might as well stay away from iOS, Mac OS, Final Cut, iTunes, Logic Pro or anything else. Microsoft's system and software awaits you. Oh I love how you never said a thing as to what is actually wrong with iWork. Nice..

Do you actually use any of the software mentioned above? I was hoping that Apple would develop iWork such that it would be a genuine replacement for Office but they haven't. What's wrong with it? Are you joking? The latest version has virtually no features other than basic stuff. It's pathetic. Even Google Docs has more features.

As for iOS have you used any of the apps?. I've used Calender, Contacts, Reminders, Notes. I would not exactly call them comprehensive apps. They are so very basic. Handy to get you started or if you don't need many features but they don't exactly blow your socks off which is why most people switch to something better as soon as they can.

I use iTunes every day and it's total crap now. It's slow, full of bugs and it's just about impossible to find anything in the iTunes Store. If there was a decent alternative I would happily switch.

As for the rest, maybe you didn't see all the stories about how many people were upset with the changes they made to FCP.

The simple truth is that Apple is not interested in software. They see themselves as a hardware company. The software only exists to make the software look more attractive. Apple are quite happy to provide a basic level of software so you can get up and running on your new machine but then just take their 30% cut of all the much better software you eventually download.

Look at Aperture for example. They made a big deal of trying to get Adobe users to switch and then they just leave them all high and dry with no new software versions or upgrades for ages. How long before that's free to. So now people are having to go through the hassle of switching back.

I'm happy with my Mac and iOS devices but I'm not happy at the way Apple is all to willing simply to drop a software product leaving it's users high and dry. Look at iWeb. All that effort and thousands of people had to switch and build a new site from scratch.

My point stands. I like Apple software but I just don't trust them anymore. How long before they stop developing software altogether and just provide a suite of free apps with every new hardware purchased (including Logic and FCP).

The annoying thing is that it could be so different. I use Filemaker. It's a great product. Why don't they spin off all their software products into a wholly owned but arms length company like Filemaker and build a suite of software and apps that I would happily buy.

 

[teknikal90]

That's pretty much the case. It's like Dropbox in that you can download a client, choose which folders you want to sync, and access them via a web browser. When working on a document, you can point it to your OneDrive to save it, and it will get uploaded. Naturally, the integration is much tighter with Office 2013, the OneDrive client, and Windows, but it's perfectly functional on OS X. The OneDrive mobile website and iOS app suck, but I can't say I didn't expect that.

I've pretty much ditched Dropbox because I have an Office 365 subscription, which comes with an extra 20 GB of OneDrive space.

very interesting
when you say integration is much tighter with office 2013, what do you mean by that?

for example, im currently using dropbox. as soon as i press cmd-s, i see the drop box spinning and uploading, followed by a notification that its uploaded.
if i were then to go to the dropbox website, i would see that latest version of my documents. download, read it...etc.

what I'm expecting/wanting: exactly the same behaviour as above, except with onedrive/skydrive, when i go to the skydrive website, i would then be able to edit the documents further using word/excel online, potentially on my ipad when im on the move

is this a reasonable expectation? on my windows computer at work I'm on office 2007.... on my mac at home, I'm on office 2011

no reason why what I want wouldnt work...right?

Thank you!

 

[Digital Skunk]

very interesting
when you say integration is much tighter with office 2013, what do you mean by that?

for example, im currently using dropbox. as soon as i press cmd-s, i see the drop box spinning and uploading, followed by a notification that its uploaded.
if i were then to go to the dropbox website, i would see that latest version of my documents. download, read it...etc.

what I'm expecting/wanting: exactly the same behaviour as above, except with onedrive/skydrive, when i go to the skydrive website, i would then be able to edit the documents further using word/excel online, potentially on my ipad when im on the move

is this a reasonable expectation? on my windows computer at work I'm on office 2007.... on my mac at home, I'm on office 2011

no reason why what I want wouldnt work...right?

Thank you!

It works like that for me with both Dropbox and OneDrive. In fact, I can give a presentation in PowerPoint, edit formulas in Excel, track changes, have two or more editors working on the same doc and see what others are doing, etc. when I use OneDrive.

If I have the People app synced with Facebook and Twitter I even get updates while using the online OneDrive app.

I don't know how iCloud works, it was too closed off for my tastes, but I think OneDrive is close to pushing me to replace Dropbox when my 2 years of free 50GBs are up.

 

[69650]

That type of mentality helps Microsoft maintain the monopoly they have.

They have a monopoly simply because nobody else makes a serious alternative to Office. I remember using WordPerfect many years ago and that was much better than Word. Lotus 123 was a great product. Harvard Graphics was another. All great alternatives but all sadly gone now.

I did switch and try some of the freeware like OpenOffice but switched back once MS woke up and reduced the price of Office to make it much more affordable.

If someone made a serious competitor to Office and made it such that you could open/save/send Word docs to someone without any formatting problems, they would have a long line to customers. Daft really when you consider how much money Microsoft makes from Office.

 

[Michael Goff]

That's a pretty arrogant statement. Thanks so much. That type of mentality helps Microsoft maintain the monopoly they have.

No, Office being the better product helps them maintain a monopoly.