Office for Mac 2011 to Be 32-Bit Only

[Kristenn]

You really aren't paying attention then because Office 2011 is Intel ONLY.

There is no rationality to a pathological hatred for including PPC support in iWork. It shouldn't slow a well written app at all since there are two binaries and no emulation.

Office 2008 is "dog slow" because it's not "well written."

How am I not paying attention? I never SAID Office 2011 wasn't Intel only. Read my posts.

iWork is already faster than Office but it also has less features in Pages compared to Word. I don't have "hatred" for PPC but it's 2010 now, not 2005. PCC hasn't been in an Apple computer for a long time.

 

[satcomer]

Well I was ready to buy it but it's a no go. My 14G of RAM on my Mac Pro would have made a 64 bit version of Office run really fast since it could take advantage of my 8 cores. So no sale for me.

 

[kainjow]

Do that many people really not realize that 64 bit isn't just about memory space? That it generally gives a performance boost as well?

And also a 32-bit application on 64-bit SL requires loading the 32-bit frameworks if they haven't been loaded already, using additional memory. However since iTunes is 32-bit they're usually already loaded on most systems.

It's not really that important, but eventually 32-bit won't be supported out of the box, just like Rosetta is now, and previously Classic, going back to 68K, etc.

 

[milo]

Hey, at least the guys at Redmond are developing (developing! developing!) software for the Mac, unlike the good folks at Cupertino.

What exactly made you think that?

How am I not paying attention? I never SAID Office 2011 wasn't Intel only. Read my posts.

You said Office 2008 runs in rosetta. Which is impossible with software that is intel only. Maybe you should go back and read your own posts.

 

[Kristenn]

What exactly made you think that?



You said Office 2008 runs in rosetta. Which is impossible with software that is intel only. Maybe you should go back and read your own posts.

Why did I need to install Rosetta to run Office 2008 than? Was it a bug? Explain it to me like I'm a five year old.

Besides that it's a universal app sure. but it doesn't gain speed bumps moving from PPC to Intel.

 

[drtyrell]

I'm done with Office. It's an overweight hunk of ****. I just finished a book having spent 4 weeks trying to format the thing in Word. I finally for kicks dropped the thing in Pages and BAM! I was ready for the publisher.

Never again will I use Word to do my business from scratch. Only if I have to read a contract offering me MONEY.

 

[heisetax]

Mini Apps

I don't care as long as my 64-bit iWork is coming soon.

iWork for the most parts are just mini apps. If they went back to 8 bit many would not see the difference. Keynote is really the only one that Apple is serious about. Pages could be but it is meant to be a mini app to be used on the iPad. Numbers is still a joke for most.

Since most people that think iWork is the last word in suites software, they need to realize that many people, even many Mac Users need more than a mini app. I've used MS Excel since the beginning of it in 1985. There has been many spreadsheets on the Mac besides excel, but none of them ever would do what I needed to do like Excel will do. Because of the limits of Excel I had to break my income tax program into many pieces. I would like to put it back together again but Excel 2008 is just like any other spreadsheet, it will not handle my Excel spreadsheet that has transitioned from the beginning to the best version for me, Excel 2004.

I'll try Excel 2011 just like I tried all other Excel versions & many other spreadsheets for the Mac. I am hoping that I can replace Excel 2004. Like others I would like to have a 64 bit version, but a 32 bit version that runs at east as fast as Excel 2004 does would be good enough to make the transition. excel 2008 is so slow that moss grows on the North side of my Mac while I wait seconds or longer for things that have been done long before a second has transpired.

My main wish is for a version that works fast for me. Next would be compatibility with the Windows versions of Office. That would mean that we'd either gain a lot of useful features or that the Windows version would loose a lot of useful features.

 

[NeverhadaPC]

Latex - free, lightweight, quick, and very powerful.

 

[batchtaster]

I was formatting a 50 page document of 2008 Office for Mac and it's almost impossible to work. It lags while scrolling (badly) and eats 400 MB RAM (yep) only 3 charts and everything else text only. Finished on Pages in no time.

64-bit will not help you with that.

Why did I need to install Rosetta to run Office 2008 than? Was it a bug? Explain it to me like I'm a five year old.

Because.

Some. Helper apps. Are. PowerPC. Mr Microsoft Query? He's PowerPC. Does it matter? No. Mr Rosetta, he comes over and he helps with Mr Query. We like Mr Query, but he needs a little bit of help, which doesn't make him a bad person, because we don't judge him. He helps us out with our Queries and he's very good at it. Can you say "Query"?

 

[milo]

Why did I need to install Rosetta to run Office 2008 than? Was it a bug? Explain it to me like I'm a five year old.

Because the installer isn't universal. The app itself doesn't require rosetta to run, just the installer.

So sure, the performance of the installer may be pokey. But that makes zero difference when running the app itself.

Simple enough for you?

 

[aegisdesign]

All they've got to do for me is fix the stupid startup times where the Office apps go through every font in your system building the font menu.

Each time I get a Word or Excel file sent to me in Mail.app and I absentmindedly click on it to open it it takes 5 minutes to start, Mail.app spindumps for all that time and I'm left there cursing myself for not right clicking and selecting Pages/Numbers.

I'd delete the thing but I know that someone would then send me a file that Pages/Numbers doesn't quite open right.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

How am I not paying attention? I never SAID Office 2011 wasn't Intel only. Read my posts.

iWork is already faster than Office but it also has less features in Pages compared to Word. I don't have "hatred" for PPC but it's 2010 now, not 2005. PCC hasn't been in an Apple computer for a long time.

The transtion to intel did not start in hardware releases until 2006. It was not completed until close to the end of 2006. That means the computers that were bought in 2006 are between 4-5 years old. Well with in reason for them to still be in use and being able to run the newer software. Apple is more forcing obsoletes in how they are doing the change.

 

[bwillwall]

Retards...

Microsoft microsoft microsoft... seriously? you gotta make urself look good when ur designing for the mac. Nobodys gonna choose Office over iWork if you cant keep up with us apple fanatics. also, i was so impressed with the office for mac icons you made before but look at that hideous design compared to it. Its such a step down that its almost sad.

 

[Tomeg]

How many years...

...has it been since Cocoa was born in Mac OS X???

 

[alhedges]

A less than exciting news blurb about a dying company....yawn.

iWork satisfies all my "office app" needs.

Don't get too carried away by market cap - MS is still substantially more profitable than Apple...

 

[kainjow]

...has it been since Cocoa was born in Mac OS X???

Part of the blame is on Apple. They provided Carbon to ease the transition from OS 9 to X. They kept adding new features each year. Then they said it'd be available for 64-bit, but a year later flipped on that decision, and now Adobe/Microsoft get all the blame...

 

[Lord Vader]

64-bit will not help you with that.

I'm not asking for 64 bit, just saying that Mac Office is slow and eats RAM like a pig. That's all i'm saying.

If you cant spare 400mb's of RAM for the current active application you are running, then you need to look at upgrading. 400mb RAM usage isnt a lot anymore, and hasn't been for a while.

I'll admit, I find Word a bit laggy, but you do have a choice: put up with it, or use iWork and stop bitching.

Sorry to put it so bluntly, but this is NOT a major issue, its a smart move from Microsoft. Work on getting the compatibility right before adding in something that will only have an impact on about 1% of its users.

You have no idea what you are talking about. First of all 400 RAM usage is unacceptable while editing 2 MB file. Second find where i'm writing that 64 bit is a magical problem solving solution (yep i don't). Third this is just my experience: slow, leaks memory like a pig, slow, strange behavior when switching between two or more documents, slow, doesn'r play well with Spaces.

I payed for it, one would think that gives the right to "bitch".

 

[3YearsOfHell]

Okay, so who in this thread works with gigantic PowerPoint presentations or huge Excel files?

The PPT presentations I use in the 3 hour courses I give are very often bigger than 10Go ( a looooot of videos). I don't know if that qualifies...

But wait... my being absolutely fed up with powerpoint is the main reason I just bought my first MBP

I loooooove Keynote !

 

[PsudoPowerPoint]

Steve Jobs, if you are listening...

I've spent a lot of time in the last 20 years with MS Word running in front of me, and despite all the money I've spent on upgrades, it still sucks. It amazes me that it is the de-facto standard for document creation.

SJ, if you're listening, Pages is nice, but it still looks and acts like a Word wannabe. Word processing would be a nice place to bring the Apple innovation mojo.

 

[spf250]

Funny - I was working on a 600 page word document loaded to the tits with all sorts of formatting, on a Win XP computer no less! - still works better than iWork stuff

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Part of the blame is on Apple. They provided Carbon to ease the transition from OS 9 to X. They kept adding new features each year. Then they said it'd be available for 64-bit, but a year later flipped on that decision, and now Adobe/Microsoft get all the blame...

I really wish Adobe/Microsoft and others who got screwed by that come out and very strongly point the finger back and Apple for breaking the promise and 100% blame Apple for the reason they could not complete it. They did a lot of work to prepare for a Carbon 64 bit and then it does not come.

 

[PsudoPowerPoint]

I just hope its faster. I swear Office 2008 runs just as slow as Office 2004 under Rosetta. Especially the slow load times.

I was hoping a full transition to Cocoa which would speed it up, but it sounds like they haven't done that. So more than likely more slow bloated junk as usual.

Agreed. While there were a few nice improvements in 2008, MS removed features that are important to my work flow. I continue to use both 2004 and 2008. There is no obvious speed improvement in running 2008 native, compared to 2004 under rosetta in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.

 

[toastr]

Big whoop. It's not like you need to take full advantage of your processor to do basic things like word processing.

I hope this means that their putting more time into make Office more stable, and not take forever to load (then crash a minute after that)...

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

How long until Ballmer is 'disappeared' by a rogue group of Microsoft stockholders?

 

[ph900921]

i know that at the end of the day this really doesnt matter, but I cant help but think that Microsoft is always gimping their programs on Macs out of spite. Maybe in this scenario their story is plausible but how about the fact that the microsoft messenger is totally handicapped compared to windows live messenger on windows. It cant be THAT hard to add webcamming or stable features like not logging off randomly or getting error messages on a day to day basis. They just put so little effort into their programs on Macs. Maybe its because they think its not a significant market enough who knows, but especially with the market cap announcement and stuff I think that Microsoft is trying to gimp programs on Mac to prevent users from moving. Haha maybe i just like conspiracy theories.