Will Microsoft Office for Mac ever get ribbon?

[eclipse]

EDIT for clarity:

1. Why doesn't Microsoft Office for Mac have the ribbon tabs the same as MO for PC? Why does Word for Mac not have the major TABS across the top of the ribbon, but still uses the old drop down menu?
EG: Why are File, Home, Insert, Page Layout, References, Mailings, Review and View all not on the top of the Ribbon as in PC? This could be confusing for my kids who float between 2 systems.

2. Why are we paying for this stuff? Why not participate in the more democratic and FREE processes of Open Office which is (about) 4 years behind the rest but catching up.

Open Office are about to do a major upgrade in the next 6 months which will offer even more support for integration with Microsoft Office 2007+.

I can only see Open Office use growing in the current world market:-

IBM also announced 35 developers would be assigned to work on OpenOffice.org, and that it would join the OpenOffice.org foundation. Commentators noted parallels between IBM's 2000 support of Linux and this announcement.[111] In January 2012 IBM announced that they have donated Symphony's source code to Apache, which will be merged in OpenOffice.org 4 and that they want to release an "Apache OpenOffice IBM edition" and upgrade their users in early 2013.[112][113]

and...

Notable users

Large-scale users of OpenOffice.org include Singapore’s Ministry of Defence,[136] Bristol City Council in the UK and Banco do Brasil.[137] In France, OpenOffice.org has attracted the attention of both local and national government administrations who wish to rationalize their software procurement,[citation needed] as well as have stable, standard file formats for archival purposes.[citation needed] As of 2006 OOo is the official office suite for the French Gendarmerie.[138] Several government organizations in India, such as IIT Bombay, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, the Supreme Court of India, ICICI Bank,[139] the Allahabad High Court,[140] which use Linux, completely rely on OpenOffice.org for their administration.

In Asia, Thailand is another nation that has enterprises seriously migrating to OpenOffice.org such as Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and S&P Syndicate PLC (one of the largest restaurant chains). The adoption rate is relatively slow, especially for small businesses and state enterprises, but the number of success cases is growing steadily.[141]

 

[astrorider]

You want the Mac version to look the same, i.e. with the Ribbon interface, but you're resisting Office 2011 that includes that feature for some reason?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2395505

Or did I miss your point?

 

[MRU]

We have Ribbon in Office For Mac 2011 !!!

Office for Mac is as close as you'll get for the offices to look alike. Mac BU take the conscious decision when designing the GUI for Office For Mac to make an office product that looks and fits into the mac GUI structure. That operates in similar manner that MAC users have grown accustomed to, not just to be a direct GUI copy of the windows version.

But Ribbon is now present and works excellently, so I fail to see your problem OP.

Also how do Mac BU treat customers with disdain? By continually supporting the mac platform. By significantly reducing the cost of Microsoft Office 2011 so it is now cheaper than the previous upgrade cost alone, thereby opening it up to a wider audience.

Your argument is flawed on so many levels, I need an escalator to address them all.

 

[zuurbekje]

Your argument is flawed on so many levels, I need an escalator to address them all.

Lol!

 

[eclipse]

We have Ribbon in Office For Mac 2011 !!!

I re-wrote my OP to address the ambiguity in my question.

Office for Mac is as close as you'll get for the offices to look alike. Mac BU take the conscious decision when designing the GUI for Office For Mac to make an office product that looks and fits into the mac GUI structure.

OK, so are the menus exactly the same as the tabs? That is, if you click on an INSERT menu item on Mac will you get the same results as clicking on the INSERT tab for PC?

That operates in similar manner that MAC users have grown accustomed to, not just to be a direct GUI copy of the windows version.

But if they are floating between the 2, wouldn't it be better to keep it the same?

But Ribbon is now present and works excellently, so I fail to see your problem OP.

Thank you for pointing this out: only having a quick exposure to it in the shop, I didn't realise ribbon was a view function that can easily be activated. But my questions remain about the menu's.

Also how do Mac BU treat customers with disdain? By continually supporting the mac platform. By significantly reducing the cost of Microsoft Office 2011 so it is now cheaper than the previous upgrade cost alone, thereby opening it up to a wider audience.

I disagree on the cost. I wanted software for our 2 Macs, but because one of them is constantly in use for our graphic design business, that would cost $500 for the business pack 3 computer licence. That's a quarter of the price of my new iMac! Otherwise, I could pay for the Home User pack for $200 (Australian) and risk being sued for up to a $5000 fine for using the Home User Pack (Word, Excel, and Powerpoint) on my business machine now and then.

Or, in the next 6 months as integration with MO is improved, I could just use OO for free!

 

[eclipse]

Check out the differences:

Microsoft Office for PC

Microsoft Office for Mac

The tabs in PC replace the old drop down menus, but the Mac office still uses those! So the Mac tabs are totally different, the styles locations different, and who knows what else is different. I go out to work on PC, and then come home to my home design studio and use Mac. It's driving me a little nuts! Now they are both (apparently) great software, but I for one wish there were some standards between these 2 systems, and indeed, all systems!

 

[DoctorCrap]

I use iWork instead of Microsoft Office.
Pages and MS Word are nearly equal in abilities.
Keynote and MS Powerpoint, Keynote is over-powering.
Numbers and MS Excel, Exactly the same. Numbers just copied 95% of MS Excel but I still use Numbers.

Windows and Mac versions of Microsoft Office have have functions but the Mac version has less and/or different ways to doing it. If the menu-bars were the same then it would be too easy for Microsoft Office wouldn't it?

 

[neonblue2]

I understand where you're coming from but how do you propose the menubar should be used other than the way it is now? If every function in the menubar were put in the Ribbon and all the menus in the menubar were scrapped then that would be a massive waste of screen real estate.

 

[astrorider]

Maybe consider installing a Windows virtualization environment (Parallels or Fusion), and installing the same copy of Windows and Office under that. Each has a mode that allows you to run your Windows apps side by side with your Mac apps, including having their icons in the dock, copy/paste between apps, keyboard commands like cmd-c for copy while using the Windows app etc. That will get you the near identical environments you're after while using your Mac.

 

[robanga]

If i was that enamored of Windows office, i would install VMware or Parallels and run it in coherence mode from Windows. I had a choice recently of doing that but just found that the 2011 version for the Mac was good enough.

 

[OnceYouGoMac]

I thought the 2011 version had the ribbon? I must be in a minority here, but I can't stand the ribbon. It drives me mad. It's one of the reasons I still use Office 2008 on my Macbook Pro and LibreOffice on my Air.

 

[eclipse]

I thought the 2011 version had the ribbon? I must be in a minority here, but I can't stand the ribbon. It drives me mad. It's one of the reasons I still use Office 2008 on my Macbook Pro and LibreOffice on my Air.

Interesting. Why did you choose LibreOffice and not OO? OO has the backing of IBM and could be growing soon with corporate support.

 

[simnew]

Office for Mac is better than for Windows

Having spent my entire life writing documents on Word for Windows and then Microsoft intro the 'ribbon bar' and remove all the menus, I am someone who is over the moon that they did not do it to the Mac version.

Everyone I talk to that uses Office on Windows finds almost everything takes longer as they hunt around for the tiny icons and drop downs on the ribbon bar. Of course you do get used to it, but at least on the Mac version (where the ribbon bar is present and very similar to the Office for Windows one) the menus are still there and all the commands learnt over previous 20 years can be quickly found.

Office for Windows is also full of stupid design issues and you really notice it if you design something on Excel on the Mac and then move it to the Windows release. Simple things like data validation lists (from lookup tables) display perfectly on Excel for Mac - the content of the combo box scaling properly with the zoom used in the spreadsheet. Ordering in these auto combo boxes also works properly, with the values 'first' in the list appearing first in the combo box. Now move to Windows and you will find that everything still works but the two following disasters occur:

1) data validation auto combo boxes - the fonts in there are scaled according to the screen zoom. So anything less than 80% zoom and you will find that you cannot read the combo box. You can change the default font, but that does not fully fix the problem as it STILL doesn't scale things up properly.

2) Data validation lists, which are ordered properly on the Mac version are completed screwed on the Windows platform. Imagine you have a named range in a data lookup tab (showing a list of parts) and you have allowed the named range to be larger that the current data set so that your customer can input new data without causing a problem with a vertical lookup. On the Mac, the combo box sorts correctly with the blank spaces at the bottom of the list. On Windows, any blanks will cause the combo box to scroll to the bottom so that you cannot see the main entries at the top of the list. Can you believe it >??????????????

A simple thing, but so poor !

Microsoft should focus on quality and not quantity (of features) all the time. I realise they have to sell licences all the time to survive and therefore need to innovate and update their products, but some of the havoc they have wrought on Office users is an absolute disaster.

 

[Badrottie]

I didn't like new Ribbon from MS Office for Windows. It is hard interface. I prefer old standard one that I have been used to. I am glad if MS did make ribbon for Mac!

 

[eclipse]

Having spent my entire life writing documents on Word for Windows and then Microsoft intro the 'ribbon bar' and remove all the menus, I am someone who is over the moon that they did not do it to the Mac version.

Everyone I talk to that uses Office on Windows finds almost everything takes longer as they hunt around for the tiny icons and drop downs on the ribbon bar. Of course you do get used to it, but at least on the Mac version (where the ribbon bar is present and very similar to the Office for Windows one) the menus are still there and all the commands learnt over previous 20 years can be quickly found.

Hang on a minute... didn't they implement the ribbon after studying thousands of hours of use to come up with the most common features clickable the fastest way? Scanning down through menus and then sub-menu's where fine-mouse motor skills are required is eliminated by big clear buttons to click on. If that's not actually speeding us up then... I agree. What a waste of time and money and man-hours it was to get everyone re-learning how to suck eggs. But I thought once there were large buttons it would be faster? I'd love to see some kind of speed trials.

1) data validation auto combo boxes - the fonts in there are scaled according to the screen zoom. So anything less than 80% zoom and you will find that you cannot read the combo box. You can change the default font, but that does not fully fix the problem as it STILL doesn't scale things up properly.

2) Data validation lists, which are ordered properly on the Mac version are completed screwed on the Windows platform. Imagine you have a named range in a data lookup tab (showing a list of parts) and you have allowed the named range to be larger that the current data set so that your customer can input new data without causing a problem with a vertical lookup. On the Mac, the combo box sorts correctly with the blank spaces at the bottom of the list. On Windows, any blanks will cause the combo box to scroll to the bottom so that you cannot see the main entries at the top of the list. Can you believe it >??????????????

A simple thing, but so poor !

Microsoft should focus on quality and not quantity (of features) all the time. I realise they have to sell licences all the time to survive and therefore need to innovate and update their products, but some of the havoc they have wrought on Office users is an absolute disaster.

I'm not familiar enough with the issues you're describing, but the last paragraph here is something I agree with passionately! It's behind one of my stranger rants on my blog, and why I hope eventually the world moves to uniform Open Source based on the best scientific and psychological and engineering and user-experience models available.

http://eclipsenow.wordpress.com/open-source/

 

[Miguel Cunha]

Microsoft Office for Windows beats Mac

Simnew,

I disagree with you.
Office for Mac doesn't even get closer to its Windows version in its GUI, functionality and features.

The Mac version is very unstable, the spelling checker is far worse and Outlook is unable to connect to certain exchange accounts due to extra layers of security it soes not support. Not to mention that its not localised in my native language - just to name a few drops on the ocean of problems.

I think its natural for Microsoft to give the best office experience to its Windows users.

Microsoft Office is the only software that makes me install a Windows virtual machine and I think I'll have keep it that way, since I don't forsee a good future for it on the Mac.

I just hope I'm wrong in my forecast...

 

[Robellyn]

I love the Ribbon myself and I DO find it faster ... I was very happy when Windows 8 brought it to Explorer too. A quick little customize of the office Ribbon so that all the items I use most are in the HOME ribbon and I'm happy as a clam.

Back in OSX though ... I find that Office 2011 is slower to start and somewhat more sluggish to respond. Not a surprise I suppose: I'm sure if a Windows version of iWork was made it wouldn't be as fast either. You cannot customize Office 2011's 'ribbon' either (just the order of the tabs). And while I really enjoy the 'notebook' mode of Word 2011, it's hardly a patch on OneNote (which is, of course, Windows only).

Finally, Open Office is okay ... I've used it on some of my work machines. It is VERY old school of course and it gets the job done. However you get 5 licenses of Office (Mac or PC) with my Office 365 subscription and I think I'll be sticking with that instead of 'free'.

 

[Pharmscott]

Just customize the ribbon on the PC until it matches Office for Mac. I was not a fan of the ribbon either until I customized it. Put all the commands from the various tabs that you use into one new tab called "Main" or whatever. You'll be happier and it'll be consistent for your kids.

 

[eclipse]

Just customize the ribbon on the PC until it matches Office for Mac. I was not a fan of the ribbon either until I customized it. Put all the commands from the various tabs that you use into one new tab called "Main" or whatever. You'll be happier and it'll be consistent for your kids.

I wasn't a fan of Open Office until I joined their forum and started asking questions. I guess the key with most of this software is familiarity and function. If it doesn't meet compatibility requirements for work, then you're stuffed. But if you have the option of using whatever you want (as I do at home) then you're free to use FREE!

 

[bluespark]

Hang on a minute... didn't they implement the ribbon after studying thousands of hours of use to come up with the most common features clickable the fastest way? Scanning down through menus and then sub-menu's where fine-mouse motor skills are required is eliminated by big clear buttons to click on. If that's not actually speeding us up then... I agree. What a waste of time and money and man-hours it was to get everyone re-learning how to suck eggs. But I thought once there were large buttons it would be faster? I'd love to see some kind of speed trials.

They did, and certain of their decisions reflect what they learned. For example, you're correct that large buttons for the most common features improves productivity, as does eliminating deeply nested submenus. But unfortunately, they didn't stop there. Under the pre-ribbon approach, a user who took the time to do so could customize his or her toolbars to display precisely the options needed, and in the place most logical for that user. With the ribbon, that's no longer possible. Also, some of the particular choices made by Microsoft are so illogical as to defeat some of the utility of other, better decisions. For example, there is a ribbon tab called "Insert." But if you want to "insert" a footnote, you counterintuitively do that under the "Reference" tab. Also, if you are a user that prefers keystrokes for most commands, you can no longer learn the keystrokes by looking at the menu items (except on the Mac). And if you need to work with multiple Office windows, each window gets its own ribbon, even if the presence of multiple windows requires that each of the multiple ribbons be truncated for size.

In short, the ribbon does some things well (better than before, even) and a number of things egregiously badly.