Whats the word on Office X?

I just came back from an Apple Retail Store, where I specifically went to check out Office X.

It is definitely an excellent version of Office. By adopting the Aqua features, the UI has been dramatically improved and it looks just plain amazing to boot. I liked it.

I'm buying Office X for sure.

I have to admit that it does look nice (ok, ok, one of my good friends is on the team, heh). I will still not use it though =D

What do you want us to say about it? It's only Office, for pete's sake. It's not like it's the cure for cancer or something. :)

PS: For a small shock, put Excel and PowerPoint icons next to each other in your Dock. Do you think MS intentionally put this subliminal reminder about Windows XP in Office v.X? I had to move the icons to remedy the situation. ;)

Escher

[quote]Originally posted by Anders:
<strong>Eh? I fail to see the importans of this. Is it a way for MS to check if you are using a illegal copy?</strong><hr></blockquote>

Anders: It's good to see you back on AI. Office broadcasts its serial number over the local network. If you try to run a second copy on a different machine at the same time, you will get a message that you do not have enough licences to do that. See <a href="http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=5&t=000022" target="_blank">this thread</a> in the Mac OS X forum for a more elaborate discussion.

Escher

[quote]Originally posted by Anders:
<strong>

the above post was my first and last at the new AI.
</strong><hr></blockquote>

Damn :p

[ 12-05-2001: Message edited by: Anders ]</p>

[quote]Originally posted by Moogs :
<strong>Honestly, I'm surprised we haven't heard from more people about the new version. Has it been hard to find, and thus most upgraders still don't have it yet...or is it just that unremarkable? The reviews I read in MacAddict and Macworld seem to bear out that it's worth the upgrade fee, but still no one has said much about it...

<img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>

I wasn;t even aware an update was available...any word when it will ship as the default version?

Also, how compatible witht he Windows version is it really? Will I be able to save my documents to a CDRW or a Zip disc, stick it in a PC, and have it open flawlessly, saving all of my formating like margins, indents, lists, etc. etc.?

My only complaint about Word is the font isn't anti-alias, it doesn't look as good as it does in Apple Works.

I'm wondering how Entourage is (and compared to mail) cause I might start using it.

[quote] I'm wondering how Entourage is (and compared to mail) cause I might start using it. <hr></blockquote>

Don't switch, I did and am regretting it. As soon as they add multiple email address fields per card in Address Book I am going to go back to Mail.

Mail, as SMacSteve pointed out, has superior anti-aliasing at text. Also the interface is cleaner and more efficient. I just find Entourage too bloated: a lot of features I don't use. Plus to really use Entourage it must take up your whole screen, which I don't like again. I just find Mail a lot more fun to use, plus the icon changes in the dock to show how many new messages you have, something Entourage doesn't do.

Office X R0X0R5!!!!!!!!! :cool:

If I could only afford an arm and a leg to have a copy myself...

[ 03-01-2002: Message edited by: FreshApple ]</p>

Office V.X is what it should be, and what one should expect for the price. now if it were $50 then you might hear more of us actually get excited. Yes, you can burn a cd or email or whatever you want to do and it works with all pcs i have tried that with...from 95-xp. I personnally would not recommend using entourage as your mail client, it feels so bulky.
Powerpoint works well and ports over fine. xcell looks better on the mac than on any pc, there was a macros application i got from a friend and the buttons on my mac were cleaner and also lit up when i clicked on them,on his machine however, they were big brown boxes that did not light up. One thing that I did use entourage for that seems kind of odd was that i got an e-mail from a friend with some jpg pictures included in the body of the letter, in mail i coould not see them all i saw were question marks, but when i opened the e-mail in entourage i could see all of the pics. <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" /> My suggestion for anybody that can get away with it is having someone that teaches buy it for you because the education discount is large...and thats my 3 cents. ;)

I finally bit the bullet, and bought the education version Office v.x for $199 at the Apple Store. I don't see any feature differences from the full version, other than there's a label stating that you can't use the software for commercial purposes.

Anyway, it's great. I was able to transfer all contacts from Address Book, all email from Mail, and it's working perfectly.

If anybody wants a copy of Office v.X I can put it up on Hotline or Carracho or some other file sharing place. Or I can transfer it to you on AIM.

[quote]Originally posted by gobble gobble:
<strong>[QUOTE]Originally posted by gordy:
[QB]I finally bit the bullet, and bought the education version Office v.x for $199 at the Apple Store.
Other than honesty, what's to keep me from purchasing the academic version of MS Office from the Apple Store when, in fact, I'm long out of school?</strong><hr></blockquote>

I can't answer that, I'm a student...still.

[quote]Originally posted by gobble gobble:
<strong>

Did Apple make an attempt to verify that you're actually a student at the university you claimed? I started the purchase process to see what would happen and it didn't look like they really check this. At some later point do they check a stundet ID number or something?</strong><hr></blockquote>

I've bought stuff from Apple's education store. As far as I can tell they never actually check to make sure that you're a student. That doesn't mean that they don't check, just that if they did I never heard about it. Since you have to give them the name of your school, I'd imagine that they just call them up and ask.

It's free on Limwire ;) <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />

Word v. X is possibly the the most productive program I have ever worked on... it was expensive, but worth it.

[quote]Originally posted by SMacSteve:
<strong>

I've compared the two. I think the Entourage isn't as stable as Mail, I've had to quit the Entourage whenever waking from sleep. It will act as if it's retrieve mail, but just keeps going. The only thing to stop it, is to quit and relaunch. Also the anti-aliasing isn't as smooth as Mail.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Actually, I've found quite the opposite to be true. Not that I had Mail.app crash on me a lot, but there's a lot of general flakiness about the program, it just isn't quite there yet. There's that weird problem where it will sometimes corrupt attachments you send. I also have problems displaying graphics in HTML emails sometimes. And then there's annoying little stuff like not being able to set multiple criteria when you set up a Rule. Mail is a fine little program, but power users will be disappointed with it. :rolleyes:

Entourage, OTOH, has been around for a few years longer than Mail. It's stable, it's feature-complete, and it's well thought out. Sure, there's a bunch of features that I'll never use, like the calendar stuff. But I think it's the best email program for the Mac. <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />

If you were using Netscape Messenger for email, then Mail.app is probably a step up. Anyone who was using Outlook Express needs to get Entourage, because Mail isn't going to satisfy. <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />

Office v.X is the same old bloatware that Office 2001 was. It's crap, but since M$ polished the interface, lots of people dig it.

Let me put it this way...most people who use Word only need about 10% of its features. I would rather M$ put their effort into making the important features work well, work stabily without crashing, and integrate well with the rest of Office. Instead, it feels like Office was designed in a board room by a bunch of overpaid, underthinking executives without an ounce of creativity. They checked off features from their marketing suveys and in doing so Office became more and more bloated. It sucks.

To put it another way, why do I STILL have problems copying a table from Word into Powerpoint?!?! WTF! This should be foolproof, yet M$ doesn't even care if it works or not, they would rather add more features that I don't need.

In fact, I have so many problems with Powerpoint, it is such crapware. It is NOT compatible with the Windows version of Powerpoint, I've made many presentations, only to load them onto a Wintel and find out that my figures are all corrupted and my tables are dorked out. All this from a $500 application that M$ has had YEARS to fix. But they don't fix it.

Instead of making the existing features work better, M$ chooses to add more features. So what we have is a bloated bundle of features that all work ok, but not well.

And don't even get me started on how bad Excel is for graphing. It's enough to make you want to suck on a shotgun, the graphs are horrid, and making them is even more difficult than passing a kidney stone.

I don't understand why everyone likes Office so much...I guess if you don't give a person any choice, they will assume that what they have is the best. :rolleyes: Wake up, people, Office is the product of a monopoly and that's why it's overpriced crapware.

<img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />

[quote]Originally posted by Junkyard Dawg:
<strong>Office v.X is the same old bloatware that Office 2001 was. It's crap, but since M$ polished the interface, lots of people dig it.
</strong><hr></blockquote>

thats cuz Microsoft, instead of making a OS X-compatible version of Office, was too busy STEALING apple's new operating system and cloning their own piece of shite. oh sorry, it's XP, as in extra piece of ...

btw, i actually do have Office, but the pre-OS-X version. but i dont use anything except Word. does anyone know-- if i just get the less-expensive Word upgrade, instead of the entire Office upgrade, will it work?

MS Office X is good suite of office apps. Sure, it could be better, but it runs circles around the competition. Office XP for Windows is much better with more features (and has excellent integration with Windows XP which the DoJ cant seem to understand the fact that we LIKE this idea!). The Mac version is terribly cut down in terms of features, but it adds the ease of use. It is overpriced, but you are getting 4 major programs for the money. Also, dealing with Apples insane over-pricing (not expensive, over-priced) for their products, this should be nothing new. ;)

Liking the added or many features of this suite is up to the type of user you are. If you just make chart lists with Excel and write up an occasional memo with Word one might think that it's bloatware. If you're a power user, you realize those 'stupid features' are often a godsend. If you think Office X is bad, just take a look at the competition. Appleworks is a joke and was deleted from my Mac for good!

If it werent for MS Office X for Mac I wouldnt own an Apple Computer. There are many peole out there like me and dont think Apple doesnt realize this! My theory is, if so many people think that there is better out there, why the hell arent they making the products? Netscape failed because it S U C K S! Their lawsuit is embarrassing for them and AOL (perhaps a soon-to-be bigger monopoly than Microsoft) who won't even bundle their OWN browser with AOL software! Now Real is crying the MS blues but their technology is the shoddy pits too. These companies kill me. They should put their time, energy and money into making better products rather than trying to blame others for their failures. The irony of it all is maddening!

I use products that work and are quick and easy to use. I don't care who wrote them, or how the company behaves in the marketplace. MS needs to be controlled a bit and have more competition so there is more flex in product pricing and a higher level of quality, not so that other companies can do the same and roll out their own shit products and make money off of them.

[ 03-17-2002: Message edited by: Patchouli ]</p>

[quote]Originally posted by JLL:
<strong>
First you say that you don't care how MS behaves and next you say that you do?

And why do you need competition? You say because of higher quality and cheaper products.

Didn't you say that Office was cheap?</strong><hr></blockquote>

I do care, that's why I posted that they need to be controlled. My point was, do this for the consumers - not companies who make shit products. In other words, I don't hate MS and all their products simply because of their market share and their business tactics. I own many MS products over valid competition because I find they have better features and GUIs and work better in Windows (just like Apple's Apps are optimized for it's own OS).

I know they are in court because of IE, I was using integration as an example. Integration in Windows is a good thing that works very well. If you (not you, but in general) are a Windows hater, then there's really no point in trying to explain.

No, actually I said Office WAS expensive, but to remember that it's just not ONE program you are getting, it's 4 (plus the hordes of extras which you may or may not use).

Ok, so I agree that MS Works would be the better competitor for Appleworks. That doesn't change anything. MS Works includes a full version of Word 2002, a dumbed down and 100% compatible version of Excel 2002, as well as Money 2002 (which blows Quicken away), Encarta Encyclopedia 2002 (which is an insanely good and fast reference tool), MS Picture It! 2002 (a full featured easy to use photo app with a great GUI), and they even throw in the excellent Streets & Trips 2002. All these programs (which I have and use obviously) are very simple to use, well integrated, very stable and compatible. This entire package (5 + full programs) costs $109. Sure, Apple includes great programs with their OS for free, but that is to move the OS out and win over users. You also have to admit, iPhoto is weak and needs work as well as features.

At the end of the day it's all about personal preference, tastes and opinion. I like and enjoy both platforms and see the good and bad in both. So, in the future, please don't misquote me.