MS Office MAC Version

How is the MS office in your mac version?

Any problems when sending or opening word docs (or other office business apps.) to and from other pc's?

Is the user interface, options, menus, on each app (powerpoint,word,etc) exactly the same as the MS version? if different, please comment as the difference, pros and cons.

 

No problems really. Sometimes things look slightly different because fonts are display differently on the mac so the spaceing changes. Sometimes annoying because it can mess up the format. But mostly it works like expected which is good. Many macros that I use to automaticly great powerpoints out of excel files dont work in mac. Normal macros that only use one office program work.

 

Well, as far as working properly Office::Mac does everything it should do. I'm constantly making documents with it that are read almost exclusively by Windows users(there's one or two Linux guys in there too) and I've yet to have a problem.

When talking of looks, it looks like what Office should look like. It's not exciting by any means, but it's definitely not as bland as the actual Windows version. Everything is there, though, it just has it's respective place for the OS X layout.

If you're wanting really complete functionality and looks you may want to wait for Office 2008 later this year. It was made side by side with Office 2007 for Windows during much of it's development to ensure an easy transition.

 

Yeah, Office 2004 for OS X isn't bad. The main issue with it on current Intel-based Macs is that it isn't Intel-native, so it has to be run using the PowerPC emulation, which is a resource hog.

Office 2008 should be an improvement, as it will be Intel-native, and does adopt some of the Office 2007 UI concepts, etc.

One big thing to note though is that Office 2008 will not feature VBA support, which could be a big deal for some. If you do need that, your best bet is probably running Office 2007 using Parallels or VMware on OS X.

 

Wow... that is a huge deal for me! No more Macros? What is the point in MS Office then... might as well switch to OpenOffice....
Macro support in the MS office 2007 (windows version) was already pretty strange. Alot of my macros had to be fixed up but it wasnt too much of a problem. Now no VBA is a huge problem for me.

 

Yeah. The big thing is really it will make cross-platform macro support impossible.

Office 2008 in and of itself should still be scriptable with AppleScript though. This article actually deals with the particular issue of converting VBA to AppleScript:

http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/2007/03/vbascriptguide/index.php

But yeah, it's not ideal. I think it will really mean that you're better off just running Office 2007 through parallels/vmware.

-Zadillo

 

Maybe I can hire an intern to rewrite all my macros from VBA to Applescript. Interns are pretty cheap these days anyway.

How is this supposed to work? Can I create one document and have both Applescript and VBA code inside? And in windows office uses the VBA and in OS X office it uses the Applescript that does the same? Also means that any changes need to be made twice.

Office 2007 is not so great either. Maybe just stick with VMware and office 2003? I will feel pretty outdated in a few years.

 

Honestly I'm not sure. Frankly, I think for people that need cross-platform scripting, etc., it's just not going to be realistic (because of some of the issues you just pointed out).

-Zadillo

 

Also, Office 2004 (Mac) cannot open the new Office 2007 file format (.docx, .xlsx). You have to use a converter.

The interface is definitely different, but it's intuitive. It would be pointless to describe all the differences, and tedious. Office's interface changed in Windows from 2003 to 2007 and with virtually every other previous update. With Office 2008 on the way it be even more pointless to tell you about Office 2004. There is a Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Test Drive available for download. I would imagine the same will become available for 2008. Maybe you don't have a Mac.

 

I think that office for mac can really mess up the style that we created on pc.

 

What about running Office 200 3 using Parallels or VMware on OS X?

Will it run okay?

 

Yes I am running 2003 in VMware and it works. All VBA works too. Bit slower then bootcamp but not a problem.

 

Yeah. Another option might be Crossover; I think that would let you run Office without even having Windows (not sure how well it works with Office 2003 and 2007 though).

 

Can someone say... troll?

 

I don't get what fan of laptop said either...somehow Microsoft Office for Mac is ruining the PC?

 

What does this mean? Does it mean that someone on a PC wouldn't be able to open a document(that was sent as an attachment) that was created on Office 2004 for the Mac?

 

No, no, nothing to do with that. Office 2004 is essentially compatible with Office 2003, so people with Office 2003 or Office 2007 can open Office 2004 files just fine.

What I meant above was something else.

Essentially, Macs used to be powered by PowerPC chips, rather than Intel chips. So software written for Macs was compiled for PowerPC chips.

When Apple switched to Intel processors (Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, etc.), it meant that older Mac software wouldn't run natively. Apple came up with an emulation system that basically allows older PowerPC-written software (such as Office 2004) to run on Intel-based Macs.

The tradeoff is that these programs can run somewhat slower and take extra memory........ so the upcoming Intel-native version of Office 2008 will perform better.

-Zadillo