Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac

Really, the only reason I use mac:office is because I still work with people that are set on their Windows system, and while the Mac counter applications are good, there are times that they just cannot read these files correctly. The Mac:office suite serves that function quite well. I've not received a complaint about files that I've updated using this program. Everything works as I would expect and meets my needs. Entourage is a nice replacement for Outlook, doing a better job of mail and tasks than the Windows counterpart.

If you love your Mac and still have to interface with the Windows world for documents, presentations and spreadsheets, this is the solution you need.

While visually Office 2008 for Mac is quite attractive, one of the things that is bothering me is it seems to be taking almost twice the amount of time to start up one of the 08 programs than it did with 04. It's a minor thing to some (I'm using a Macbook Pro, by the way), but when you're using a powerful laptop, you kind of want the speed that you're used to that you received from the older version of the product you are using. This tells me that Microsoft was more interested in getting the visual look down, rather than some of the basics. At least the various apps are prettier.

Also, I would have liked to have seen Communicator offered for Mac and bundled with this package. Unfortunately, Communicator is not available for Mac OS X at this time, so I'm missing out on some work-related goodness the Windows Office suite offers.

Additionally, I can't seem to get SP2 installed for MS Office 2008. It simply hangs there no matter what I do. This is a big issue for me as Microsoft is notorious for releasing buggy software and fixing/breaking with new updates. Oh, well.

I've been teaching for many years and have depended on Office 04 to make the best of my presentations and of student projects for evaluations and for parents during conference and have been pleased. But I must admit that Office 08 was a must needed improvement.

The main goal of Office 08 has to give your presentations a lot more pop and to make it easier to do so. The templates are better in Office but overall Word isn't drastically different. I didn't have any hiccups trying to kick off 04 for the newer version. It all went smoothly.

I don't have any issues with Office 08, in fact, I like it better than 04 just for its drop down menu alone. As I stated earlier, it's not a HUGE difference from 04 and for those who don't rely to much or need to upgrade will be fine with 04. But for those who found some nagging instances in 04 might want to upgrade. The price is worth it for more intuitive software, I don't have a problem paying for something that saves me time, 08 is definitely worth the price.

I have been using MS Office 2004 for several years. "Upgraded" to 2008 the other day... I guess I'm just not a power user because I had no installation problems and Word, Excel, & PowerPoint all work speedily enough for me. I am very comfortable using Word, Excel & PowerPoint and agree with the previous reviewer that if it's what you use (and have like me, always used since the first Word for Mac was released back in the Dark Ages), the transition is simple, quick, and effective. I was comfortable with Office 98, 01, 04, and am perfectly comfortable using 2008. I experienced no formatting issues (yet: very sorry to read the SA reviewer's trials with her book), either. I stopped using Entourage back when I upgraded to Intel machines, so I can't comment upon that.

People complaining about the price should be realistic... if it's necessary for your work, spend the money, get started learning the ins&outs, and move on.

BTW: icons for the various programs on the Dock don't bother me, saved me the time of putting them there myself. I was a bit surprised to see that smaller icons over folders (e.g., Documents folder) changed to MS icons, but I really don't care about that...

Bottom Line: it's a set of useful computer programs that installed easily on a device to make tasks easier, and it works. Whether it's a value-added upgrade is up to the individual, but if you're just starting with Office, go for this one.

I have two Macs, one big one, one laptop. I've been using Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac for several years. Anything I had an inkling to do or create in the Office suite, I could pretty much do.

I'm not someone who uses all the features of every application. I do the basic stuff, sometimes throwing in a little extra something when using Powerpoint, but that's about it. I use Word to create text docs, Excel for financial worksheets and charts for presentations, Powerpoint for presentations, and Entourage for email and small project management.

I've never been a fan of the interface Microsoft uses for their Office apps. Maybe they're to "Windows-ish" for me but they never seemed up-to-date enough.

Good news: the interface has been gussied up in Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac.

Bad news: that's about all that's been improved - at least from what I've been able to tell so far

I also had some trouble installing on both computers and like another reviewer was annoyed that it automatically added icons to my desktop. It took two tries to get the apps fully installed but they launched fine after that.

My favorite changes are that you can send documents within a word doc, and the updates to Messenger I can see being useful but I haven't really used it yet.

I'll update more as I use all the apps more heavily. But for now, if you're using Office 2004 for Mac, it's not worth changing to 2008 at this point.