Rating:  - Not as bad as I expected, not as good as I had hoped
This is my first MS Office for Mac, so I won't be able to make any comparisons between 2004 and this new version. The first thing I noticed about Home/Student versus the full version is that you get 3 licenses with this one, but only one in the full version. What is up with that? Why punish users spending more money on a full product?
With so many Apple users apprehensive at best about Microsoft in general, this is not the way to make friends. It's also not as nice as Office 2007 for Windows, lacking many features included in the Windows version, and I can't think of any good reason why. There is no support of Exchange or Sharepoint. I spend a lot of time in Word, and frankly, the number of crashes were inexcusable. Stability got much better with an update, but it doesn't make up for the lost features.
This is worth having if cross-compatibility of files is an issue for you, or if you don't want to use Open Office. For the casual user doing average projects, the product delivers, and that's why I'm awarding the three stars-- that, and using Office on a Mac is really a dream come true for me as a writer. Advanced users looking for all the bells and whistles of the Windows version may be disappointed.
Rating:  - This is what I expected
I use this almost entirely for spreadsheets and I'm pleased. Over all I think that this whole package is well designed. I guess I'm more of a casual user because I do not notice a lot of the flaws that others have pointed out. I'll update my review if I see anything else, but so far I'm very pleased.
Rating: - Nice Software Suite but Unintuitive Design Inefficiencies
First I want to disclaim something: I have never used Office on Mac prior to my review so I only really have my Windows experiences to compare it with and cannot speak for past versions offered (which from a quick look at the reviews seems to be one of the biggest issues).
As a new user to Office for Mac I must say the idea of being able to finally work on my word documents without using any built in editor is exciting in itself. Given that a lot of websites, especially for submitting applications whether for resumes or college acceptance, require word documents it means I don't have to load up one of my old PCs with Windows for the purposes of writing one. I feel like I have more control over my documents and finally feel like my Mac holds its own over my Windows box in all areas outside of video gaming.
Without getting into too much detail, and effectively repeating what other members have all too well explained, the suite is pretty sound if you're looking to accomplish simple tasks related to each program. I personally, although some other reviewers disagree, think the new look is horrid and hard to use but perhaps it's something that would grow on the user as they continued to use it.
I just think that the prettiness of office to match Mac should be a lesser concern over making sure Office is up to the power of previous versions and the Windows equivalent. I have no idea how to do a lot of the things I can easily do on my older versions of Office for my PC so I feel like this could be a disadvantage for users switching over to the new system and likely could cause some inefficiency with little benefit. Who wants to pay an additional cost to their employees to train them on using a new system when the marginal benefits are so near nothing?
In general, it's a solid suite and definitely something to get if you're looking for your first look into the Office Suite from a Mac perspective (given in the future they'll likely continue with the horrid design) but I'd suggest holding off on buying if you already use an older version of Office and waiting until they polish it off some first.
Rating: - Because it seems most people are using it, so I have to as well...
There are a lot of good in-depth reviews already posted. I personally find Word and Excel to be the most useful programs in the suite. The other programs included are Powerpoint, Entourage, and Messenger for Mac. I think that the most compelling reason to purchase this product is compatibility with other business and educational users. Really, Word, Excel, and PDF (Adobe) are some of the most common email attachments I come across. It's possible to convert files back and forth between formats using other software, but isn't easier to just click and open it right away? Caveat is that you need to make sure that you are saving documents in a format that older versions of Word will also recognize.
Rating: - Good Value for Vital Software
I have both versions of Microsoft Office 2008, having bought the full version several months ago and just recently obtaining the student edition. The primary difference is that Entourage cannot join a domain in the student edition version, but if it truly is used by students, that's probably okay because students primarily will use the product for Microsoft Word and Powerpoint. Most students use the email provided by school, and that email is usually web-based or a POP account.
As a trade-off, the software is much cheaper than the full version. So, if you have a home office and don't use a domain for your email, this version is probably good for you as well. Likewise, I had an Office 2003 version for students that I used very well in my home office on a p.c. in such a scenario.
The primary target for this software, I think, is the person who has used Office on a p.c. and is unfamiliar with the Mac counterparts (such as Keynote and Numbers) or just wants all options available. I like having the Mac products and the Office products installed, but find I default to the Office ones because of familiarity and because of interoperability when sending or receiving files to p.c. users.
One thing I noticed with Office for Mac: Microsoft does check to see if the software is installed on more than one computer. While you would expect this, I ran into a couple snags in my home. One occurred when I copied an entire Mac to a new Mac as its first image and the other when I installed a student version and then later over-installed a full version on one Mac and later re-installed the student version on another Mac in my house. In both cases, Microsoft doesn't allow a document to be opened because it detects (unfairly, I think, in these cases) the software installed elsewhere. Until you can sort this out, you can still get to a document in an emergency by disabling your wireless network so the software can't check nearby computers. That will enable you to edit the document you need to get to at that moment.
Overall, if you have used Microsoft Office products, I think you'll be happy with any 2008 version and, in fact, I think the transition from an older to the newer version for Mac is much easier than the transition of Office 2003 to 2007 on a p.c.
|
