Office for Mac Isn’t an Improvement

Office for Mac Isn’t an Improvement
Office for Mac Isn't an Improvement - NYTimes.com

I think I kind of agree with them, but I haven't used it enough yet to really give my thoughts on it.

I did have a very hard time formatting a simple research paper. I ended up opening pages and just typing it in there. >_<" Was trying to do a hard return, for just only one paragraph and it decided that it would do it for the rest...and that's not what I want.

David Pogue said:

Then again, I work at home. I don’t crunch numbers in Excel, I don’t collaborate on a network, and I wouldn’t know a pivot chart if it landed on my forehead.
...I don’t use Outlook’s built-in calendar — it doesn’t sync with Google Calendar, and the other members of my family can’t consult it on their computers. (We use BusyCal, which is fantastic.)

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In other words, Office is still a suite for business users, and he is not one. One wonders why he bothered with a review.

In related news, the Adobe Creative Suite is an overpriced, cluttered piece of crap that offers no advantage at all over iPhoto. Oh, did I mention I wasn't a graphic artist?

technologist said:

In other words, Office is still a suite for business users, and he is not one.

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While I don't disagree, the Student and Teacher edition isn't aimed at business professionals but one can bet that all of what he wrote, at least regarding Word, will apply there as well. My point is, it's not just business user who use it, especially on the Mac.

Personally I don't put much stock in anything Pogue has to say any more. He's kind of a hack IMHO.

baggss said:

While I don't disagree, the Student and Teacher edition isn't aimed at business professionals but one can bet that all of what he wrote, at least regarding Word, will apply there as well. My point is, it's not just business user who use it, especially on the Mac.

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Pity there's not a suite better suited to them. I think Apple could make some money selling a slick, easy-to-use productivity suite for consumers and home users.

technologist said:

Pity there's not a suite better suited to them. I think Apple could make some money selling a slick, easy-to-use productivity suite for consumers and home users.

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And yet Mac-Office still sells well among non-buisiness types. Just because there's a better way doesn't mean people will use it.

And better is pretty subjective. 90% of the time I find Office much better than iWork, but it all depends on how and what your use it for.

I'm not a big fan of recent versions of office, and specially how they have everything on a ribbon now. However, that is what we use at the job, so that is what I have to use. Office was simpler and a lot more intuitive before they went to the ribbon configuration. And the applications are still are finicky with legacy documentation.

I have no problems using the Ribbon. Granted, it took three years to figure it out, but I much prefer it over the menu style. How the Ribbon will play in Mac OS X though..well...

Luckily, the menu bar is still available in 2011, unlike 2007/2010.

The thing I hate most about the Ribbon is that it makes giving directions so hard. Instead of "Go to the Data menu, and then Text to Columns" it's Click on that thing on the middle...no, the blue one...." Also, it's harder to see the keyboard shortcuts.

I don't mind Pogue or anyone else calling out the flaws in Office, but 2011 is definitely an improvement over 2008 just for Visual Basic compatibility, if nothing else.

Personally once I got used to it, I love the Ribbon. I find it so much easier to get stuff done now. But as I said before, everyone is different in how they work.

The Ribbon was hard for me to get used to in Office 2007, so hard in fact that I installed a free utility which reverted the Ribbon back to the old menu style. However, the new Ribbon in Office 2010 is an absolute pleasure to use. It's user configurable (you can actually add or remove items from it) and takes up less space. Also, it's my understanding from reading reviews that the Ribbon in Office 2011 is optional.

chscag said:

The Ribbon was hard for me to get used to in Office 2007, so hard in fact that I installed a free utility which reverted the Ribbon back to the old menu style. However, the new Ribbon in Office 2010 is an absolute pleasure to use. It's user configurable (you can actually add or remove items from it) and takes up less space. Also, it's my understanding from reading reviews that the Ribbon in Office 2011 is optional.

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The 2011 Ribbon is not very customizable, but the regular Mac-style toolbars are still present, and those are customizable...in the Microsoft add-remove dialog box way, not the Mac drag-and-drop way.

You can turn off the Ribbon completely in 2011, except in Outlook, where you can only collapse it. And Outlook's Mac-style toolbars have also been stripped of almost everything. You can't even get a darned Send button outside the Ribbon.

What follows, then, is an extremely personal review of Word and Outlook. A rant about polish and priority, really.

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That killed any credibility I may have given the review. We all know their is subjectivity in reviews but not only acknowledging it but embracing it takes away any value that review has. I don't care how it works for you. The least he could have done is tried to be objective and cover features that may or may not interest most people. On top of this, as a reviewer, you don't have the luxury of covering only particular elements of the product. Sure, you don't use Excel and PowerPoint but others do and some people may be looking for a review of those. Perhaps it would have been best if he hadn't reviewed it in the first place. I wouldn't review a new Mac and only comment on the keyboard for the entirety of the review.

Enough of my ranting. I plan on getting it tomorrow when I get a chance so we'll see how that goes.

Think it is great and by far the best office suite on the market. Use both PP and Excel and find them okay and van you are not ranting my lad!

iWork does not even compare to Office.

We'll go with the Home and Student version (family pack x 3). The pricing for that is $149.95 which is comparable to what I paid for the 2008 Home and Student version which also had three installs. I probably wouldn't bother to upgrade had it not been for the restoration of macros. We have macros that we use in Windows that couldn't be used in Office 2008. And since we do not use Outlook, there's no reason for us to purchase the Home and Business version.

chscag said:

We'll go with the Home and Student version (family pack x 3). The pricing for that is $149.95 which is comparable to what I paid for the 2008 Home and Student version which also had three installs. I probably wouldn't bother to upgrade had it not been for the restoration of macros. We have macros that we use in Windows that couldn't be used in Office 2008. And since we do not use Outlook, there's no reason for us to purchase the Home and Business version.

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I sent in a copy of my receipt for 2011..I wonder how that will pan out. I had to buy a three-copy license Home & Student version of 2008 for Basic Computer Skills class…then I forgot that the 2008 version doesn't have the ribbon. *facepalm*

I'll be getting the $99 academic version as soon as Microsoft starts selling it on their site (I'm assuming probably tomorrow).

You and me both although I'm hoping that my school has it tomorrow so I can test it this week (it's reading week so I don't have any classes and I therefore have some time to work out any bugs/issues).