What's Office 2008 Like?

[cbrain]

Hi,

I was thinking of buying Office 2008, but I've heard it can be slow and it crashes allot.

What is it like? Am I better of trying to get a hold of Office 2004 from eBay?

Thanks.

Please don't recommend me alternatives to office.

 

[Tonerl]

I've got the Home-&-Student version (bought from Amazon).

So far, I've been using Word & Excel with no problems at all, apart from Word crashing once, and am very pleased with both of them. My previous version of Office was 2003 on Windows; so, I've had to adjust to a few changes but not as many as I'd have seen in 2007 for Windows. I've had none of the speed troubles that others have reported. Because some have stated that they had font troubles after installing Office 2008, I chose not to install any of the Office fonts - this has not proved to be a disadvantage so far.

I have little need for presentations; hence, I've not touched PowerPoint yet. There are problems synchronizing Palm PDAs and smartphones with Entourage (part Apple's fault, part MS's), which has kept me away from that app so far (I may use it if the sync problems are solved).

HTH

 

[Merlish]

In addition to that, Jonas Rask made the icons, so the whole thing is beautiful. ^_^

 

[thesdx]

I've always used iWork, but I decided to give Office 2008 a try a couple days ago. It's not worth it. It does have a prettier user interface than 2004, but the layout of the program is completely redesigned, causing a bit of a learning curve. It also seems pretty slow. All the programs take a long time to open, and PowerPoint is so painfully slow, it can't even keep up with your typing. Even though Office 2004 is not Universal, it's still faster than 2008.

 

[cbrain]

Thanks for the replies. I work with Office 2003 at school, so which is better for compatibility? Office 2004 or 2008?

 

[pjrobertson]

Here's my story:

Installed Office 2008. Uninstalled it.

As simple as that

Coming from iWork, it's just too slow, and feels like bloatware - Microsoft even manage to force aliases onto the dock during installation, like the annoying shortcuts that always appear on Windows desktops.

 

[Tonerl]

Pages in iWork 08 doesn't have full mail merge, which Word does. That's a deal-breaker for me. Some folk are a bit Apple-centric in their thinking and tastes; nothing wrong in that but it tends to colour their views. I use what works for me, whoever makes it.

There are flaws in Office 2008, flaws that are surprising given the length of time MS has taken in developing it and the Mac BU's obvious pride in the product. User pressure and publicity may well ensure that MS fixes the flaws.

2008 uses the same default format(s?) as 2007 (docx etc). If you have to send documents to users of 2007, 2008 may be the right choice on the Mac. For older versions, you need to choose the appropriate format in the Save As dialogue box. I tend to use RTF for text as many versions of Word, NeoOffice, etc can read it.

 

[snakedoctor]

Office 2008 can be slow. I see the slowness on the first load of an application. Word is the worst for me. Once its bee loaded, closing it and restarting if much faster. That said, iWork is faster.

I have had no crashes at all. Powerpoint once fully loaded is really fast for me, I see zero lag.

The BIGGEST thing that causes problems is left over MS-Office 2004 crap stuffed in your libraries folder. Remove Office 2004 via the 2004 uninstall, search for Office 2004 crap (download a eval of PathFinder, its search will find anything). If the install of 2008 finds stuff from 2004....have it remove it. I cant stress this enough, its all over the forums at MS.

My basic opinion is that if you need 100% compatibility with Office docs on a PC for work or school, then get the student version. If you need Exchange support, then get the standard version. I think Entrouage is a horrible application, and it changed the least. Outlook 2007 on the PC is far, far better email application. Mail/addressbook/iCal is also way better.

I use Office 2008 when working with stuff that needs office compatibility, and iWork the rest of the time.

 

[Hankster]

I wanted to get Office 04 but from all sources it was the same price as Office 08. I got 08 from Amazon and installed it, the programs run fine...no problems and I have yet to have a crash. The UI is very different from Windows so there will be a learning curve. But, it's not hard to pick up. The biggest thing is all files are compatible with other Office files.

 

[cbrain]

Thanks for all the replies!

I think I'll get Office 2008; I'll probably get the Student version, as I don't need Exchange support.

 

[Island Dog]

There are trials available for both Office and iWork. Try them out and see for yourself.

 

[wayland1985]

I was just going to post something similar to this. I have office 2004 on my powerbook with 1 install left. I have had a few issues where I have had to go to a windows computer to re-save a docx file into a regular doc file. (Last minute projects... I always forget to tell the other user to save teh files for my compatibility)

For that reason, I was going to buy Office 2008, but now that I hear it's buggy, I'm not so sure. Ohhh, what to do?

 

[72930]

I was just going to post something similar to this. I have office 2004 on my powerbook with 1 install left. I have had a few issues where I have had to go to a windows computer to re-save a docx file into a regular doc file. (Last minute projects... I always forget to tell the other user to save teh files for my compatibility)

For that reason, I was going to buy Office 2008, but now that I hear it's buggy, I'm not so sure. Ohhh, what to do?

The official converter for docx->doc files should be done soon. I recommend NeoOffice. Office 2008 hasn't yet crashed for me, but it is ridiculously slow to start.

 

[wayland1985]

The official converter for docx->doc files should be done soon. I recommend NeoOffice. Office 2008 hasn't yet crashed for me, but it is ridiculously slow to start.

I see... Well iWork is always an option, but I feel like it's not as feature rich as Office. Also, I'm very worried about compatibility. Quite often I need to share documents with other people using word. Also, many of the professors I deal with send copies of their notes in Word or Powerpoint format. Will I be able to access those?

Also, does iWork work with the new .docx format?

 

[snakedoctor]

I see... Well iWork is always an option, but I feel like it's not as feature rich as Office. Also, I'm very worried about compatibility. Quite often I need to share documents with other people using word. Also, many of the professors I deal with send copies of their notes in Word or Powerpoint format. Will I be able to access those?

Also, does iWork work with the new .docx format?

iWork can open the 2007 formatted documents. It will pop up a box for problems it might have had. Heavily formatted documents and spreadsheets can have problem. Normal stuff if fine.

iWork cant save in 2007 document formats. It must save in its own format. You can export to 2007 format. So if you created a document in pages, you would save it in its own format then export it. It is an extra step, but it works. The same probably applies when it comes to complexity.

 

[James17]

This is weird. I installed Office 2008 and decided to uncheck the box for installing Office Fonts as I have read so many problems after installing them. Every time I opened Word or Excel it would sort of hang for about 10 seconds before it let you use it, I put this down to fonts as when I opened them it said "Optimizing Font Menu Performance". I installed the Fonts and the problem has gone away, I can start typing as soon as Word opens.

 

[kuwisdelu]

I see... Well iWork is always an option, but I feel like it's not as feature rich as Office. Also, I'm very worried about compatibility. Quite often I need to share documents with other people using word. Also, many of the professors I deal with send copies of their notes in Word or Powerpoint format. Will I be able to access those?

Also, does iWork work with the new .docx format?

It's not quite as feature-rich, but it has more than enough for what I need to do. If you're in university, I can't imagine it missing too much of what you need. That's where I am.

As for sharing with other people with Word--if they need to edit it, you can export to the 2003/4 formats, which they can open with either Office 2003 or 2007. If they don't need to edit it and just view it, export it in PDF format and send them that. That's pretty much standard when the person on the other end only needs to view it.

And you can always download NeoOffice to open any Word or Powerpoint file if iWork can't handle it, but if you have Leopard that isn't even necessary if you don't need to edit them. Remember,you can just QuickLook them if you only want to view those.

 

[Pucas]

Cbrain

Go buy Office 2008!
- I am using it every day for 6-8 hours, and I am very glad with it

I think Pages does not have the some options as Office!