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Software : Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home & Student Edition
Rating: 
- Shadow of its former self....
When MS Excel was released first time in mid-Eighties, I got a copy the following day! Ever since then I have been an Excel user. I already had a copy of MS Word, and later added the other applications such as, Power Point, Outlook, and Access ( I think the DB application was Fox Pro then) to the MS Office Suite. In my business Excel got the heaviest use! I seldom used the DB application, and only simple routine use of Outlook.
Not only did I do heavy engineering calculations -stress analyses of raptor (F22) parts was one- but also I was in charge of cost analyses of the research and development of other important military contracts. Not trying to brag, instead I am attempting to say I used Excel's every capability the designers put in, and put in they did! Of course as the application grew and it became more and more sophisticated. It came with five volumes of manuals.
By then Excel was exclusive to Mac; in about six years MS ported the application for IBM machines. Then MS had given up on the DOS and started Windows 3.1, and soon after that they started stripping the Mac version's features away --even though MS made more money selling the Word and Excel, per Mac sold than the Apple making from the sale of Mac computers at that time-- and finally in 2008 Ms Office has been reduced to level usefulness only for a third grader may enjoy.
I recently changed from a Windows Machine to an iMac, Office 2007 for Windows can not be compared to the Office 2008 on the Mac.
MS removed every last useful and sophisticated financial functions as well as the engineering functions from Excel. My feeling is Apple threatens Windows machines more than ever before.
If you love Mac, and must use MS Excel, Word, Access, or Outlook you must install a Windows Vista in your Mac and run the Office over Vista. Again, for MS to drop XP Professional is as dopey as stripping Mac versions of the Office Software from its features.
Rating:
- Wonderful in many ways, but a genuine pain
I have had this cow for a little over a week, purchased together with my new MacBook, and I've gradually regained my sense of humor. Thank God I did this when I didn't have a project due where I'd actually have to USE the program right away!
I've used earlier versions of Word for Mac, way back to my first Mac Plus. I have also used various versions of Word at the office on a PC. This version takes the cake! The problem is that the most common and inoffensive commands are missing from any tool bar, and cannot be added in via a simple icon (e.g., spell check, line spacing, among others), and seem nowhere to be found without serious detective work -- a focused hunt for how to actually accomplish the functions that are needed. I go to the Help menu -- good luck with that. Nothing is ever there when you type in the search (try it -- type "spell check" or "line spacing" in the handy little search box). Then the next step is to go onto Google and see if any of the myriad Mac or Office:Mac forums have any mention. After reading through several, someone may actually mention something in passing that gives me a clue, which I hunt down like an obsessed bloodhound. I've been doing this all week! I finally ordered a couple of Office:Mac manuals from wonderful Amazon, and in the fulness of time they will arrive. Meanwhile, it's a veritable treasure hunt! Follow the occult clues!
This problem seems not to be confined to Office:Mac 2008, by the way. It's all over the Mac as well. I learned online that the way to change the settings on the Dashboard widgets is to wave your cursor carefully and quietly over the Widget and a tiny magic "i" appears, my portal to heaven. Why not just say so somewhere in the first place? And my new HP printer? I finally learned how to make it do "draft" (by reading online forums, naturally, since it isn't in the online user manual at all) by clicking a dropdown menu next to the name of the printer, instead of clicking "Options." Instead of getting a list of printers, which is what you would expect in any normal universe, you get your print-quality panel. I don't even remember what's under "Options" itself, but it ain't that. And let's not even get started on what I went through trying to load a digital audiobook into my MP3 player.
Why is everything ordinary and commonplace suddenly such a secret? Is this a No Child Left Behind kind of mental exercise snuck in by the electronic-device cabal to improve our critical thinking? Upon reflection, I think a better user manual would be Through the Looking Glass.
Rating: - Full of Bugs!
Microsoft has done it again. I am writing my thesis and there is absolutely no way for me to work with same document (word) both in PC and MAC without getting into formatting trouble. I had a nightmare experience with Office 2008 especially with equations, Table of contents, XML file errors, file corruption and spacing between words. In addition I can't add list of Figures or List of Tables.
EXCEL and POWERPOINT are no better either. I don't know what the heck Microsoft pays these super expensive engineers for?
Overall, I would give MS-Office 2008 a big zero.
Rating: - Not User Friendly
I recently purchased Microsoft Office 2008 thinking it would be like all the other "Word" processing applications I have used in the past from Microsoft. I have always found those to be quite user friendly. This version is anything but user friendly. For example, the margins on the various pages are impossible to set and as a result you are constantly getting columns instead of margins that normally fit an 8 x 11 page. The tool bars are impossible to find and it took me forever to determine how to access the short hand keyboard strokes. The "Help" tab is so detailed that it takes forever to figure out how it is responding to your questions and when you find what you believe to pertain to your question it doesn't correspond to your application. I am disgusted with this piece of software and would never advise anyone to buy it. Why they changed their product so drastically is beyond me.
Rating:
- Great software
Office for Mac is a really good software. In fact, I think this version is better than the MS software that installs on the PC. The floating palettes, the beautiful interface - is an improvement over the PC version.
The only slight drawbacks are that that the software has to "render" excel and word documents into it's own format, which takes a few seconds wait, and that Apple's own software is now becoming more compatible with MS Office files, therefore reducing the need for this software.
However, I really believe you can justify going out and paying the price for this software, it's really great. MS Office is still the standard for business-oriented document interchange. If your new to MAC and used to PC's and MS Office, then this helps in the transition.
- Shadow of its former self....When MS Excel was released first time in mid-Eighties, I got a copy the following day! Ever since then I have been an Excel user. I already had a copy of MS Word, and later added the other applications such as, Power Point, Outlook, and Access ( I think the DB application was Fox Pro then) to the MS Office Suite. In my business Excel got the heaviest use! I seldom used the DB application, and only simple routine use of Outlook.
Not only did I do heavy engineering calculations -stress analyses of raptor (F22) parts was one- but also I was in charge of cost analyses of the research and development of other important military contracts. Not trying to brag, instead I am attempting to say I used Excel's every capability the designers put in, and put in they did! Of course as the application grew and it became more and more sophisticated. It came with five volumes of manuals.
By then Excel was exclusive to Mac; in about six years MS ported the application for IBM machines. Then MS had given up on the DOS and started Windows 3.1, and soon after that they started stripping the Mac version's features away --even though MS made more money selling the Word and Excel, per Mac sold than the Apple making from the sale of Mac computers at that time-- and finally in 2008 Ms Office has been reduced to level usefulness only for a third grader may enjoy.
I recently changed from a Windows Machine to an iMac, Office 2007 for Windows can not be compared to the Office 2008 on the Mac.
MS removed every last useful and sophisticated financial functions as well as the engineering functions from Excel. My feeling is Apple threatens Windows machines more than ever before.
If you love Mac, and must use MS Excel, Word, Access, or Outlook you must install a Windows Vista in your Mac and run the Office over Vista. Again, for MS to drop XP Professional is as dopey as stripping Mac versions of the Office Software from its features.
Rating:
- Wonderful in many ways, but a genuine painI have had this cow for a little over a week, purchased together with my new MacBook, and I've gradually regained my sense of humor. Thank God I did this when I didn't have a project due where I'd actually have to USE the program right away!
I've used earlier versions of Word for Mac, way back to my first Mac Plus. I have also used various versions of Word at the office on a PC. This version takes the cake! The problem is that the most common and inoffensive commands are missing from any tool bar, and cannot be added in via a simple icon (e.g., spell check, line spacing, among others), and seem nowhere to be found without serious detective work -- a focused hunt for how to actually accomplish the functions that are needed. I go to the Help menu -- good luck with that. Nothing is ever there when you type in the search (try it -- type "spell check" or "line spacing" in the handy little search box). Then the next step is to go onto Google and see if any of the myriad Mac or Office:Mac forums have any mention. After reading through several, someone may actually mention something in passing that gives me a clue, which I hunt down like an obsessed bloodhound. I've been doing this all week! I finally ordered a couple of Office:Mac manuals from wonderful Amazon, and in the fulness of time they will arrive. Meanwhile, it's a veritable treasure hunt! Follow the occult clues!
This problem seems not to be confined to Office:Mac 2008, by the way. It's all over the Mac as well. I learned online that the way to change the settings on the Dashboard widgets is to wave your cursor carefully and quietly over the Widget and a tiny magic "i" appears, my portal to heaven. Why not just say so somewhere in the first place? And my new HP printer? I finally learned how to make it do "draft" (by reading online forums, naturally, since it isn't in the online user manual at all) by clicking a dropdown menu next to the name of the printer, instead of clicking "Options." Instead of getting a list of printers, which is what you would expect in any normal universe, you get your print-quality panel. I don't even remember what's under "Options" itself, but it ain't that. And let's not even get started on what I went through trying to load a digital audiobook into my MP3 player.
Why is everything ordinary and commonplace suddenly such a secret? Is this a No Child Left Behind kind of mental exercise snuck in by the electronic-device cabal to improve our critical thinking? Upon reflection, I think a better user manual would be Through the Looking Glass.
Rating:
- Full of Bugs!Microsoft has done it again. I am writing my thesis and there is absolutely no way for me to work with same document (word) both in PC and MAC without getting into formatting trouble. I had a nightmare experience with Office 2008 especially with equations, Table of contents, XML file errors, file corruption and spacing between words. In addition I can't add list of Figures or List of Tables.
EXCEL and POWERPOINT are no better either. I don't know what the heck Microsoft pays these super expensive engineers for?
Overall, I would give MS-Office 2008 a big zero.
Rating:
- Not User FriendlyI recently purchased Microsoft Office 2008 thinking it would be like all the other "Word" processing applications I have used in the past from Microsoft. I have always found those to be quite user friendly. This version is anything but user friendly. For example, the margins on the various pages are impossible to set and as a result you are constantly getting columns instead of margins that normally fit an 8 x 11 page. The tool bars are impossible to find and it took me forever to determine how to access the short hand keyboard strokes. The "Help" tab is so detailed that it takes forever to figure out how it is responding to your questions and when you find what you believe to pertain to your question it doesn't correspond to your application. I am disgusted with this piece of software and would never advise anyone to buy it. Why they changed their product so drastically is beyond me.
Rating:
- Great softwareOffice for Mac is a really good software. In fact, I think this version is better than the MS software that installs on the PC. The floating palettes, the beautiful interface - is an improvement over the PC version.
The only slight drawbacks are that that the software has to "render" excel and word documents into it's own format, which takes a few seconds wait, and that Apple's own software is now becoming more compatible with MS Office files, therefore reducing the need for this software.
However, I really believe you can justify going out and paying the price for this software, it's really great. MS Office is still the standard for business-oriented document interchange. If your new to MAC and used to PC's and MS Office, then this helps in the transition.
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