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Third Office for Mac 2011 Beta Reveals New Icons, Splash Screens, and More

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AppleFreak89 said:
wtf seriously? whats that about? and then they wonder why there is such a strong apple following. if it wasn't because im a university student I would be on iwork.
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You seem to have forgot that Apple is the ONE with only ONE price. That price is the same whether you have a previous purchase or not. MS may have a strange & a not for you pricing structure but on the surface they appear to give you a discount like those other than Apple do.

That is why on the Mac OS many call the price an update price as you were supposed to be purchasing the new OS to update your current Mac. Other software has different pricing structures. Items like iLife & iWork have the same price whether you have an older version or not.
 
If I may bring up the incredibly vapid subject of icons again just momentarily... :rolleyes: In Microsoft's defense, I haven't been able to find any aftermarket Office icons on the web that look all that much better than MSoft's. I just stuff them all in a folder so I don't have to look at them-

80919513.png
 
Word really needs to take on more desktop publishing capabilities like Pages for me to really use it and WANT to use it. The problem with many word processors these days is that people have changed the way they word process. Apple has been very smart about this, so Pages is great for 'just typing' but it is extremely flexible when it comes to formatting, inserting images, etc. People don't want to have to get on the phone with a publisher, who is probably using InDesign, to have to EXPLAIN how a page should look, people want to show (the publisher, editor etc.) how a page should look. Formatting using Word is an uphill battle that usually isn't worth the time.

At the moment, here's how I work:

I type and format with Pages (no images at this stage usually)
I then export to word and have Word check for extra spaces, whoopsie grammar and spelling, etc.
I then reopen document in Pages, add images and whatever else I need to do.
I then pdf the document and send it out.

This is not a flawless process. I keep hoping that one day some company will get it right, but this hasn't happened yet.

Also, I love the full screen on Pages. Second only to WriteRoom!
 
Dang it, I want them to hurry up and release it already. I can't wait. :) I am still using 2004 and that is feeling really dated.

So, any word when it will be released?

Thx
 
heisetax said:
You seem to have forgot that Apple is the ONE with only ONE price. That price is the same whether you have a previous purchase or not. MS may have a strange & a not for you pricing structure but on the surface they appear to give you a discount like those other than Apple do.

That is why on the Mac OS many call the price an update price as you were supposed to be purchasing the new OS to update your current Mac. Other software has different pricing structures. Items like iLife & iWork have the same price whether you have an older version or not.
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There's also the fact that most universities and community colleges offer heavily-discounted MS software for both Windows and OS X, and so the "outcry" from "students" on here claiming that MS' software costs so much, is typically ridiculous-sounding to me.

Where I went to school, an OEM copy of Office for Mac was typically around half the price of iWork. People can say what they want about Microsoft, but they typically do practically give away software to students. Admittedly it's in their long-term interests to do so.
 
Bafflefish said:
There's also the fact that most universities and community colleges offer heavily-discounted MS software for both Windows and OS X, and so the "outcry" from "students" on here claiming that MS' software costs so much, is typically ridiculous-sounding to me.

Where I went to school, an OEM copy of Office for Mac was typically around half the price of iWork. People can say what they want about Microsoft, but they typically do practically give away software to students. Admittedly it's in their long-term interests to do so.
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True here we get Office 2008 Business edition for £35 or 3 licences of the student edition for £98.
 
Bafflefish said:
There's also the fact that most universities and community colleges offer heavily-discounted MS software for both Windows and OS X, and so the "outcry" from "students" on here claiming that MS' software costs so much, is typically ridiculous-sounding to me.

Where I went to school, an OEM copy of Office for Mac was typically around half the price of iWork. People can say what they want about Microsoft, but they typically do practically give away software to students. Admittedly it's in their long-term interests to do so.
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Fun times getting Office and Windows for $5 a pop.
 
Finally some information or retelling of information

batchtaster said:
It's not in this beta though. They ran out of time, and Beta 2 expired before they could get VBA done. Another build is expected soon.



No, they don't do that. This is a closed beta. Whoever you get it from has broken NDA.



More-or-less. Both Messenger and Communicator will support video via their respective networks, as well as integrating presence from Communicator into Outlook (ala iChat availability in Mail.app).



That's no different than Beta 2.



I assume you've got a pirate copy then, as you would otherwise know from the beta site that Project Center is history. As is Encarta, although that's across the board not just Office 2011.



Of course you'll have to buy it. It's an upgrade, not an update. Just like Mac OS X.



Outlook for Mac imports PSTs, it doesn't use them. And since it can import them, there's no reason for it to use them directly. The new storage allows Time Machine and Spotlight to work with them correctly, which would not be possible with PSTs.





There is no legal public beta.





Demonstrates you don't know anything about the beta program. Beta 2 was feature-incomplete, with large numbers of unimplemented features and non-functional buttons. Beta 3 is intended to be feature-complete (VBA notwithstanding). But yes, the icons, sure.





The Ribbon is on by default but optional. You can collapse it so it's no more intrusive than the collapsed Elements Gallery in 2008, or turn it off altogether. It does not replace the menubar. That was well publicized, so people shouldn't still be wailing about this.
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You've given the best post of all so far. I've used Excel for the Mac since version 1.0 back in 1985 or so. I have my income tax program written in Excel for nearly that long, probably 1987. I've always looked for something better, but all I have to show are a lot of unused floppies, CD's & now DVD's including MS Office 2008. Probably close to 10 years ago my program needed more in certain areas than S Excel could deliver. Excel 2008 should have been the answer to most of my needs. Even the elimination of macro support was only a more minor reason for not using Excel 2008.

I know that I will be in the early part of the waiting list for my copy of Excel 2011. My original reason for owning Word & PowerPoint was because it only added about $10 to the upgrade price of Excel. I'm not sure what version it was for Excel, but Word was version 6. We now have version 112 of Excel usually called Excel 2008.

With the return of VBA so that my hundreds of macros will work more speed is what I'd like to see. My program runs so slowly in Excel 2008 that I only use it when my file has problems working correctly with Excel 2004. I've taken many MS Office courses at the local tech college. These courses were taught in Windows. Because I only have a Mac I could only use the Mac version for the 1st of 2 or more courses on one MS Office program. My final project for PowerPoint lost a very good transition sound & action that my PPT needed to give the best effect. For these reasons high on my list of changes will be a Mac version that has at least the same features as the Windows versions less the viruses. Its one thing to run Fusion or Parallels Desktop to do my efiling, but it just seems to be unneeded use of Windows on my Mac to run MS Office.

I've done some beta testing for QuickBooks but have never been asked by MS to do any for Excel or the whole office suite. It would be interesting to do. I always worry whether I do enough different things really to help. That means the more things that every beta tester does the better chance there is of finding the many hard to find bugs that always seem to make their way through every companies beta testing, Apple's & MicroSoft's included.

Here's for a fast, useful feature rich, bugless release of of MS Excel 13 as well as versions of Word, PowerPoint, & Outlook. Mainly being an Excel User I have trouble remembering all of the other programs that will be in MS Office 2011 for the Mac, but the better they are the better it is for the Mac. The better for the Mac the better for you & me. The better MS makes this version the better their Mac sales will be. But what will that do to Windows sales & MS Office for Windows sales.
 
- icons (each to their own - the 2004 Office icons looked better but heck even Windows' icons look better!)

+ speed (Why TF does my Word 2008 feel so sluggish on my BTO i7 MBP??)

+ compatiblity (it IS a MS product so you'd hope a Windows pptx. files would behave exactly like Mac's versions. I hate how in Excel 08 it doesnt even support the more diverse colour options (not to mention gradients) that Windows users enjoys)

I'm all for iWork but half the powerpoints and docs people send me just dont play nice in iWork so I'm hoping compatibility is 100%

Hopefully the student editions will be sold at compelling prices like the Windows counterparts.
 
Majority of people's taste

Since we all know the majority of people have bad (or no...) taste I think we can conclude the new Office 2011 icons look quite good. ;)
 
allmIne said:
Christ, some of the comments on this thread are embarrassingly childish.
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Boston007 said:
Welcome to MacRumors
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agree - i rarely find myself reviewing the comments - esp from the news page which are always rants, raves, and trolling...however the non-news forums on here are quite helpful and informative...


back to topic, i'm just glad that MS will be continuing to provide mac office products - regardless of the icons and such - options for productivity suites are always useful - iwork, ms office, neo office, google documents, etc...
 
quantum003 said:
If I may bring up the incredibly vapid subject of icons again just momentarily... :rolleyes: In Microsoft's defense, I haven't been able to find any aftermarket Office icons on the web that look all that much better than MSoft's. I just stuff them all in a folder so I don't have to look at them-

80919513.png
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great idea - you bring up an excellent option - hmmm...maybe i have some icons that could be grouped...or do i really use that many different programs regularly enough to not just access them through the applications folder...
 
As part of the shakeup within Microsoft, the company will be moving its Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) into the company's Business Division. The unit is currently part of Microsoft's Specialized Devices and Applications team, which also contains Embedded Auto, Surface and Hardware divisions.

The move will put MacBU into the same division that is responsible for the Microsoft Office suite of productivity applications. A spokesman suggests the company has yet to determine where the other Specialized Devices and Applications teams will be moved, according to ZDNet.



Read more: http://www.macnn.com/articles/10/05/25/move.to.follow.executive.departures/#ixzz0ozUdeUZ1
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The question is how will it affect MacBU directly, I hope they get more funding and more resources, hopefully get OneNote on the Mac.
 
Icons Bad!

I can't believe no one has mentioned the atrocious new icons yet! They won't be sitting on MY desktop.

I agree with the people who were complaining how gawdawful slow 2008 is. I think it's partly intentional and partly incompetence.

. . . Those icons! (shudder)

bot
 
Fraaaa said:
Wow, people care more about the icons than the content... I don't mind those, but I prefer the previous more. Anyway, I'm waiting for iWork to come.
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If iWork came out with built in bibliographical support for Chicago style citation/biography I would drop Microsoft Office almost immediately. It annoys me that this is a well known feature lacking from iWork and with each release Apple adds pointless crap no one gives a toss about and leaves out a feature that a large number of students need.
 
Analog Kid said:
I still expect Outlook for Mac to be crippled. Just calling it "Outlook" doesn't make it the same.

Not that I really care-- I won't use it. Just find the constant clamoring for vaporware sad.
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It's hardly vaporware, when it's an actual product running on my computer. Entourage's problem was carrying over code from all the Entourages before, which hark back to Outlook Express 5.x for Mac. Outlook is a full rewrite (they have already said this). It also ditches the crippled WebDAV access protocol, which was one of the biggest causes of the whole thing being held back (this is also well documented), in favor of EWS which has far closer feature parity, more capable and more scalable. Without implementing the entirety of MAPI, of course the damn thing's not going to be exactly the same, but there are many reasons, all of them well known, why Outlook is not just the rename you, for some reason, think it is.

Ex2bot said:
I can't believe no one has mentioned the atrocious new icons yet! They won't be sitting on MY desktop.

I agree with the people who were complaining how gawdawful slow 2008 is. I think it's partly intentional and partly incompetence.

. . . Those icons! (shudder)

bot
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You've GOT to be kidding.

a) that "no one has mentioned" the icons.
b) that, above all else, is your priority. No wonder Windows users make fun of us. I sure has hell want to.
 
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