# M$ Office preview



## Randman (Mar 16, 2004)

Here


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## Viro (Mar 16, 2004)

I don't see any reason to upgrade from Office v.X


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## Giaguara (Mar 16, 2004)

.. im sure we can finally see 20 GB big "word" files when some smart users add mp3-notes to them ..


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## fryke (Mar 16, 2004)

Well, that's actually a feature instead of just bulk. I like the thought of voice-added office documents. Makes some sense (instead of using those dictating devices etc...).


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## Zammy-Sam (Mar 16, 2004)

wow, I liked powerpoints presentation mode. I am giving a lot of presentations and it's really helpful to see notes, preview, next slide and a time-counter at the same time. Darn I bought my office X before jan 2004


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## Urbansory (Mar 16, 2004)

Well I liked the flash presenatation...

But I llike Entourage, it brings all the other apps i need into, makes it much easier to manage my projects. As far as the other stuff, i won't need it, but I can see how others will benefit from the PowerPoint prsentation mode, i hope Macromedia gives us that ability in the next version of Flash.


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## jhawk28 (Mar 16, 2004)

Personally, as a college student, I think the idea of audio notes is really cool. I have a mic right on my laptop, and for those really important lectures, I can just save rather than hoping I remember.

Joshua


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## Satcomer (Mar 16, 2004)

I can only pray for better Exchange support.


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## Urbansory (Mar 16, 2004)

jhawk28, you can record audio for free with other apps, so paying  ... to do so isn't a benefit... but you did say u were a college student, and I know all about how that works out, lol


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## evildan (Mar 16, 2004)

wonder if date functionality is improved... I hate the way M$ Excel deals with dates... (see previous rants).


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## cockneygeezer (Mar 16, 2004)

Satcomer said:
			
		

> I can only pray for better Exchange support.



Same here dude!

Personally, I hope that they make Entourage 2004 a carbon copy of Outlook 2003. I am sick to death of not being able to do the same type of work as stuff as my PC counterparts in the office. Entourage, to me, is the most important program in the Office suite. I do love the new view layout, exactly the same, if not similar to Outlok 2K3. Excellent. Did anyone notice to the icons etc. Looks alot more polished...

As for Word and PowerPoint, you can have them. Don't really use them.

But, I will say the the Flash presentation was very professional and slick. Exactly was Flash MX 2004 Pro was designed to do, and has been done well.

Same that the release date of Office 2K4 is not for another, what, 4 or 5 months?


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## hulkaros (Mar 17, 2004)

I'll sound again like the usual anti-M$ but what the heck:
I don't care about Office anymore and I'm trying my best to convince my customers, friends, et al to not use ANY M$ products... YES, even in the Wintel/Amd side of the computing world... So, far I'm in a very good point:
Most of my friends are using some version of Linux, bought a Mac with NO M$ products installed and the poor souls who insist on keep on using Windows, they use other applications instead of the usual Messenger, Office, IE, WMP combo 

As for other companies that I co-operate with, I let them know that for them in order to exchange data with me I want their documents to be in a NON-M$ Office formats... And you know what? So, far so good! 

Go ahead and give it a try! Use the alternatives and convince others to do so! M$ is not the end all, be all... And while M$ Office has some amazing features over the alternatives, 90% of those features, if not more, aren't needed by even the "advanced" users out there... 

The funny part is that the MOST requested feature of the M$ Office from my customers, friends, et al, that they cannot find in the alternatives or it isn't that good in those solutions, is the Clip Art gallery + WordArt combo!!! 

Come on! Let everyone know this:
Alternatives exist that CAN replace most of what M$ products can/will offer to them!


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## MacMuppet (Mar 17, 2004)

Satcomer said:
			
		

> I can only pray for better Exchange support.



Thats funny, thats what my (NT) Server Manager has been saying for years....


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## powermac (Mar 17, 2004)

I think what I am reading from people are the features in X04 appear to be superficial. I have been saying this for awhile, M$ needs competition for the office suite market for the Mac. I use word everyday, that is only recently. I used Appleworks until late last year. The only other app I use is Xcel, which I feel is well done. I am not sure if I upgrade right away either. Still hoping for an alternative to Office. Come on Lotus !!!!!!


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## Ripcord (Mar 17, 2004)

Is there anything specific, feature-wise, that you guys are looking for in '04?

Some things so far look intriguing, maybe I just don't have enough imagination, but I'm trying to understand what it is you folks want =)


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## Urbansory (Mar 17, 2004)

I only used Word when I had to write papers in college, graduated, AND NO MORE DAMN PAPERS FOR ME!!!!!! Had to vent a little. But i only open it when i get a storyboard from a client, which is always a Word file, or they send PowerPoint presentations for me to look over. But I love Enoturage, I hate iCal and Mail, one app doing all the work and some is good for the way i work.

1 request, i notice Word will eat a lot of the CPU more than other apps, and it litearlly does nothing, such a waste.


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## Big Max (Mar 17, 2004)

I communicate with others who use MS Office by using Open Office for Mac.  It's free and it works.


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## kcmac (Mar 17, 2004)

Have any of you tried AddressX and GroupCal from Snerdware? They work seemlessly and silently with the Exchange Server. I have no need for Outlook with GroupCal. Can do it all with iCal. AddressX grabs all of the Global Contacts and puts them in AddressBook. 

The Powerpoint presentation feature looked pretty good. But we are moving away from PP. Not to go with Keynote. We are just tired, as are clients are, of these types of presentations. 

Word needs big file name capability. 

The Notebook app is similar to Notebook and Notetaker. I have tried both of these apps and for the most part, they are just another place to store information, in another format. Eventually after the luster wears off, I quit using them and went back to more specific use apps. 

Other than liking the newest version of almost everything, it will be pretty tough for me to justify the new Office after it comes out.


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## Randman (Mar 17, 2004)

Pricing? March MacWorld says upgrading from the same edition of v. X to 2004 will be free, $90 to upgrade to the pro edition which will include VPC/XP. Anyone able to confirm/dispell this? From what I've read and heard, I'd think twice before paying a good amount of $$ for an upgrade, but if it's free? Then I'd say bring it on.


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## Ripcord (Mar 18, 2004)

kcmac said:
			
		

> Have any of you tried AddressX and GroupCal from Snerdware? They work seemlessly and silently with the Exchange Server. I have no need for Outlook with GroupCal. Can do it all with iCal. AddressX grabs all of the Global Contacts and puts them in AddressBook.



Unless it does MAPI it doesn't do much good for me or, I'd expect, the vast majority of Exchange users.  Windows Outlook still uses MAPI, and admins see absolutely no reason to turn on LDAP, SMTP, and IMAP, especially for security reasons.  This means lots of extra work/risk to support Mac clients, which means Mac clients are out of the MS-Exchange enterprises, like mine...


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## kcmac (Mar 18, 2004)

Maybe you should give them a look Ripcord. I don't work for Snerdware but you might just be surprised at what these apps do. I know our IT guy sure was.


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## mindbend (Mar 18, 2004)

That presentation interface was awesome. I'm going to steal that look for something...


I like Office pretty well actually. I would use other options, but it would just make my life more difficult than it needs to be. Too many clients using Office. Sure, I can use Word files in TextEdit, which is cool, but it's not a full implementation. Can't depend on it completely. Same for the other apps. Using PPT files in Keynote isn't exactly a perfect science. As for Excel, there is no better spreadsheet IMO, so I would not even want to switch.

My biggest concern is this whole XML file structure which will eventually cripple cross platform compatibility. My understanding is that most of the Office apps for Windows will use XML, while the Mac versions will not. Right? Which means eventually my Windows clients will start sending me XML files that I can't open, so I'll have to ask them save down, which will be really annoying all around. Am I understanding that XML thing correctly?


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## Captain Code (Mar 18, 2004)

I think they would make an update to the Mac version once they bring out the XML format on Windows.  

The bad thing about it is, MS patented their XML format for Word documents so Open Office and other projects won't be able to open the files without licensing from MS ::evil::


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## fryke (Mar 18, 2004)

... which will probably lead to people using .doc instead of Word's new format. Just make that clear to your customers from the very beginning. ;-)


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## karavite (Mar 18, 2004)

fryke said:
			
		

> Well, that's actually a feature instead of just bulk. I like the thought of voice-added office documents. Makes some sense (instead of using those dictating devices etc...).



Fryke, this is driving me crazy, because there was an app you can add voice recordings to - I remember doing it! Wait, it was/maybe still is Tex Edit!!!


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## gilga000 (Mar 18, 2004)

Those transparent excel graphs are pretty sweet looking though.  Are they not?


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## karavite (Mar 18, 2004)

Man, they "stole" my idea in the Word search option that highlights the tabs with the search terms present! I was thinking of this for web site searches!


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## fryke (Mar 25, 2004)

A first look at the MS Office 2004 :mac Preview version on macnews.net.tc: http://macintosh.fryke.com/cgi-bin/macnews.cgi/2004/03/25#20040325_officepreview - not much, but nice.


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## hulkaros (Mar 25, 2004)

For those NOT with LOADS of money but with Panther installed there is a very serious contender in the Office area PLUS it is free!

Find more here:
http://www.openoffice.org/

There is an older version there which is VERY easy to install... I'm saying this because the newer version isn't THAT easy to install 

Enough with M$... There ARE alternatives out there! Support them by start using them and spread the word to your friends, customers, et al.

Also, one other VERY good "Office" is:
http://marinersoftware.com/
although NOT free and not THAT cheap


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## fryke (Mar 25, 2004)

I understand you are totally against MS Office, yet: There are enough threads about OpenOffice. This one's about Office 2004.


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## Randman (Mar 25, 2004)

I have to wonder if it's a conditional response that if it comes from M$, it's bad; if it's from Apple, it's good. I can see some arguments against Office '04 but from what all what I've seen and read on it, it seems as if there are some decent improvements that are worth considering upgrading for.


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## fryke (Mar 25, 2004)

Yep, I agree. I don't think the use of Microsoft software on the Macintosh platform is 'bad per se'. It's sad that for _really_ using OpenOffice.org, you'd have to switch to Linux or Windows right now, as the Mac port just isn't there yet. This means that, right now, for good interoperability with other Office users (PC or Mac side), you'll have to use Microsoft's Office v. X or later 2004.

I think Microsoft has done but good things for the Macintosh platform since Office 98 (which was one of the first products of the then created MBU at Microsoft). They even brought Office to Mac OS X in a reasonable amount of time (i.e. before Adobe brought Photoshop, long before Quark brought XPress). Of course Apple also helped Microsoft by creating and constantly improving Carbon.

Let's just say that Office is an important piece of software for the Mac platform. Whether you personally like it or even use it doesn't matter here. And seeing MS keeping Office (more or less) up-to-date with the Windows version is something that makes me happy. More happy than, say, seeing Adobe kill Mac versions of software.

Of course, MS is not doing everything they can for Mac users. Or we would already have a VirtualPC that works much like Classic in Mac OS X (i.e. rootless, which was rumoured for VPC 6 at Connectix, iirc).


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## Randman (Mar 25, 2004)

Consider Apple even mentions Office in its adverts for iLife '04, I think the powers-that-be at Infinite Loop would agree would you.


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## drunkmac (Mar 25, 2004)

I dont really use much other than MS Word. I bought Student edition of Office:mac v.X and i kinda regret it but whatever. Never a need to upgrade.


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## Randman (Mar 25, 2004)

> Never a need to upgrade.


 And that has to do with a preview of the new version in what way?   Maybe we need to do a thread on why people might or might not upgrade so people can make comments such as the one above?


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## Viro (Mar 25, 2004)

MS Office is a definite must have on the Mac. For the moment anyway. Without it, there isn't any other competitive office suite. It'll be a few more years before OpenOffice hits the Mac as a native app.

So right now, for those who need the ability to communicate with the rest of the world (i.e. save in Office formats), MS Office is the best, if not the only choice. All the other office suites still fall in terms of interoperability with MS Office.


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## Ripcord (Mar 25, 2004)

fryke said:
			
		

> Of course, MS is not doing everything they can for Mac users. Or we would already have a VirtualPC that works much like Classic in Mac OS X (i.e. rootless, which was rumoured for VPC 6 at Connectix, iirc).



Or, at the very least, one that actually *runs* on the G5???


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## fryke (Mar 25, 2004)

Well, we all know that that's coming with VPC 7, so that's been clear since January, hasn't it.


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## Arden (Mar 25, 2004)

Lemme put it this way:  the Mac BU makes some decent apps, though they suffer from being part of Microsoft (case in point: almost all of the viruses out there for Mac (OS 9 at least) are Word macro viruses); Microsoft overall is the spawn of Satan.

I still use Internet Explorer in OS 9, and I use Office in both OS's.  It's funny how little Office has improved over 98; there are a few things I like (that I've actually found), like the formatting palettes on the right, but overall very little has really changed.


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## hulkaros (Mar 25, 2004)

fryke said:
			
		

> I understand you are totally against MS Office, yet: There are enough threads about OpenOffice. This one's about Office 2004.



No! No way! I'm not against M$ Office! All I was trying to say is that there are some alternatives and just posted about them... You understood me wrong 

As for Office 2004 it seems that it will be ok with some nice features in but with some other features out!


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## Ripcord (Mar 25, 2004)

fryke said:
			
		

> Well, we all know that that's coming with VPC 7, so that's been clear since January, hasn't it.



Yeah, so we're told that we'll have it sometime this year (supposedly H1 2004, which means June at the earliest)

My speculation was that had the G5 incompatibilities been detected while Connectix was still at the helm (who had a MAJOR chunk of their revenues potentially affected by this, whereas it's not even a pittance to MS), there would have been scrambling to get a patch out to make it *work*, even if it wasn't perfect.  If so, I might have been able to run VPC 6+ months sooner.  That's 6+ months I haven't been able to do some of my work because I upgraded to a G5.


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## whytoi (Mar 25, 2004)

Ok, love those M$ bashing. But let's stay on the facts...
How's the stability of MS Office 2004 Preview? Any major problems so far?


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