Upset about MS Office 2008 for Mac

I think MS Office 2008 for Mac is a step back. I use particularly excel at university and there are a lot of utilities missing in this version (data analysis), despite all this functions were included in the old 2003 version for windows. I've read a lot of threads in this and other forums trying to find how to solve the mess. The solutions can be summarized in: 1. Use other program (iworks, open office, neo office..., but none of those programs have what I need: a power tool of data analysis and 100% compatibility with MS Office). 2. Install XP or Vista in my new MacBook Pro.

My question is, does anyone know if there will be a new version of MS Office for Mac soon?

(If the answer is yes, I won`t make any move, otherwise I`ll have to think of installing XP or Vista, bad thing for me, after three weeks I`m getting the hang of the OS X and I`m very happy with it).
THX

 

You could grab parallels and install the Windows version of Word '07 for far more functionality.

 

Doubt it. Office for Mac '08 was a rather recent release. Maybe updates will help, but I doubt it. I also hate using office... so I've started to learn pages/keynote/etc. You can give Parallels/VMware a try and install XP + office. That would be the best short-term solution in my opinion.

 

i simply installed Office 2004.

 

I have both iWork 09, Microsoft Office 08, and Open Office and I like iWork 09 the best. It has the best UI, and is very fluid on my MB.

 

How do you like the new iwork? Noticeably better than the '08 version?

 

I am interested in trying iWork, so can you save files as .doc .xls .ppt?
is it compatible with Office 2007? will is open .xlsx .docx and pptx files?

 

Very much so, It seems like it has more in-depth features. I would upgrade to 09, but I wouldn't make a mad dash to the Apple Store to get it. You can try the demo out to see if it fits your needs for 30 days, then you have the dreadful decision to make.... "Do I go with 09 or stick with 08?"....

 

Yeah, it will save files as .doc, .xls, and .ppt. Not quite sure if it is fully compatible with Office 2007, but I am going to see how compatible it is with Office 2008 and I'll let you know.

 

i'll pick up ilife 09 and iwork 09 when they are (both) out in one quick trip.

hopefully that will calm all my word processing needs.

 

I'm sure it will work great for you!

 

Can it actually work with .doc, .xls, and .ppt files directly? I thought iWork converts files to it's own native format and can then export it back to other formats. But that isn't quite the same as just opening Office files and working. As the saying goes, things can no doubt get lost in translation, especially if you have to do an import and an export every time.

 

Yeah, iWork 09 saves files as it's own format, and when you need to send something onto a PC computer with Microsoft Word, you have to export it to a readable format, or else it will show up as a .txt with a bunch of unreadable code. There's always a chance of losing data through exports, but I've sent a ton of stuff to MS Word already, and haven't lost anything.