Simplify your laptop buyingMicrosoft Office for Mac 2008 (Home and Student Edition)
Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp. Part number: GZA-00006
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Product series
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- Office for Mac 2008 may be the best pick for business users, but most people can get by with less costly alternatives.
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CNET editors' review
Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 (Home and Student Edition) price range: $89.99 - $149.99
- Reviewed by: Elsa Wenzel
- Reviewed on: 01/07/2008
- Released on: 01/15/2008
The good: Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 offers good looks that encompass deeper features than other Mac productivity software; business users get full Word mail merge, robust Excel spreadsheets, and better tools in Entourage; amateur desktop publishing features more polished documents; runs on Intel-based Macs.
The bad: Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 is pricey; saves work in new file formats by default; Excel drops Visual Basic support; features don't match the depth of those in Office 2007 for Windows.
The bottom line: Office for Mac 2008 may be the best pick for business users, but most people can get by with less costly alternatives.
After a series of delays, Microsoft plans to release Office for Mac 2008 to brick-and-mortar and online stores on January 15, making this the first update in nearly four years.
Office for Mac includes Word, Excel for spreadsheets, PowerPoint for presentations and Entourage for e-mail and time management. There's no Microsoft Access database application for the Mac, although Filemaker's upcoming release of Bento offers Mac users a new choice.
Unlike Microsoft Office 2007, the interface changes don't look radically foreign next to the 2004 edition. That's good news for anyone who doesn't want to relearn the locations of common functions. The 2007 applications for Windows arrange functions within tabs, while the 2008 Mac software largely clusters functions within the same drop-down menus including File, Edit, and View.
By and large, most of the changes focus on attempting to help users craft more attractive documents. For instance, Office for Mac features the same templates and Smart Art graphics as the Windows counterparts. These are premade templates with 3D and translucent designs.
There are more welcome and substantial changes as well. Now you can save to PDF, and Automator actions are supported. The new My Day widget for Entourage floats on the Mac desktop displaying calendar items and to-do lists. This is handy if you rely on Entourage but don't want to run it all the time.
Office 2007 for Windows clusters functions within a contextual "Ribbon" toolbar that displays different options. Office for Mac lacks the Ribbon, but some menu items appear only in step with the task at hand. We found the shape-shifting neither terribly distracting nor useful. For simple tweaks such as changing fonts, you'll need to consult floating formatting boxes. Being accustomed to Office for Windows, we'd rather find all these options at the top of the screen.
Office for Mac saves work in the same, new Open XML formats used by Office 2007 for Windows. We're not thrilled about this being the default option, even though you can save your work in the older DOC, XLS and PPT formats. Free file conversion tools won't be available until as long as 10 weeks from now, or 8 weeks after the applications are available in stores. That means for now, should you save work in a new OOXML format in a hurry, someone with the older software won't be able to open it. Although we're glad that Microsoft offers free converters, we find the forced extra steps annoying in Office 2007. That said, the new document types are smaller and purportedly more secure than their predecessors.
You'll need a Mac with 1.5GB free on the hard drive, running at least OS 10.4.9, with 512MB of RAM and a 500MHz Intel or PowerPC processor. Installation took about 20 minutes on our MacBook running the Leopard operating system.
The least expensive option is the $150 Home and Student edition (formerly Student and Teacher), which lacks support for Exchange and Automator. At $400 or $240 to upgrade, the full Office for Mac that we reviewed feels pricey, even though it includes Exchange support. The $500 Special Media Edition handles Exchange and adds Microsoft Expression media-management software. Fortunately, those who have recently purchased Office for Mac 2004 can upgrade for free.
Still, the fees feel hefty next to the $80 Apple iWork '08. Indeed, rivals to Office for Mac seem like a bargain, even though they offer fewer tools. Mac users can choose from iWork '08, the free OpenOffice 2, or tools with free online components including ThinkFree, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, and Zoho Office. These are all dandy for composing and editing text documents, juggling spreadsheets, and creating slide-show presentations.
Word
Although the look and feel are refreshed, Word isn't drastically different from its predecessor. Its changes should mostly please those creating documents they want to show off. We really like Publishing Layout View's elementary desktop publishing tools. Document Elements building blocks make swift work of adding cover pages, tables of contents, and the like. OpenType ligature support improves the appearance of fonts in Word.
Those in academia should appreciate new reference tools, although there are only four citation styles. Users who wrangle with form letters will find that Mail Merge has become more intuitive, with step-by-step instructions. Bloggers don't get a custom layout in Word as with Office 2007, but that's not a big loss given Microsoft's lack of support for the latest Web coding standards. Perhaps the biggest selling point for the new Word is the ease with which it can make documents easy on the eyes.
Excel
As well as making charts easier on the eyes, Excel for Mac 2008 adds tools for stepping through complex formulas. Formula Builder walks you through building calculations, keeping recently used ones at the top of its memory. As you type in the Formula bar, Excel will autofill values that may match. Excel has expanded and can now handle a total of 17.18 billion cells, as many as its Windows cousin. The Elements Gallery offers Ledger Sheets, templates for commonly used tasks such as juggling a household budget or managing company payroll. We find these handy for getting started with a project. However, we prefer the elegant layouts, outside-the-grid setup, and print preview tools within Apple's Numbers for light users of spreadsheets.
Probably the worst thing about Excel 2008 overall is its lack of support for Visual Basic. While power spreadsheet users will find Excel richer than other programs, those who rely upon macros are sure to be disappointed and may be better off keeping Excel 2004 or even switching to Excel for Windows.
PowerPoint
Microsoft continues to tout its Smart Art graphics, which can turn a bulleted list into nearly any kind of diagram or flowchart with a few quick clicks. However, as with Office 2007 for Windows, we find Smart Art initially a bit less intuitive than advertised. The Toolbox's new Object Palette keeps formatting options in one place. You can resize elements with a zoom slider in a snap, just as Dynamic Guide lines help to align text boxes and pictures.
PowerPoint stands out from Apple's Keynote and other competitors in key areas, such as control over audio narration. And there are more layout and slide transition themes.
While making a public presentation, a detailed digital clock is meant to help keep you on track. A Thumbnail View like the one in Office 2007 may help to keep from losing your place. You can flip through slides on location using an Apple Remote. And there's an option for sending a presentation to iPhoto, making it accessible as a PNG or a JPEG for iPod viewing.
Entourage
Although Mac users can rely upon the free Mail, Entourage offers more features fit for business. The 2008 upgrade offers more practical functions than its 2004 counterpart, such as an Out of Office assistant that lets you craft vacation messages specific to the recipient. Filters for junk mail and phishing are beefed up. There are To Do lists, accessible in the My Day widget along with appointments and the color-coded calendar. You can accept or reject a meeting directly within a calendar event. Meetings can be forwarded directly to others, and conflicting and adjacent appointments are better managed. The workspace is more customizable overall, thanks to toolbar tweaks and the Favorites menu.
My Day is a helpful snapshot of upcoming To Do items and appointments, although its bluish appearance can't be customized. We just wish that it showed an entire day's events instead of hiding the morning's appointments in the afternoon and displaying overdue appointments in a separate pop-up window.
Setting up Entourage for a Gmail account took no time. However, after claiming to have succeeded at setting up our Hotmail account, Microsoft failed to explain why it couldn't do that after all. For that, we searched Help and learned that Hotmail's lack of free POP support was the culprit.
Messenger for Mac
Microsoft also throws in this free instant-messaging application, which enables users of its IM tool and Yahoo Messenger to contact each other. Messenger for Mac enables users to check spelling, pick from among many emoticons, and see what others are listening to on iTunes. Companies using Live Communications Server 2005 can encrypt their messaging, and users can chat with those using iChat, AOL, AIM, Yahoo, and MSN.
Service and support
Microsoft offers searchable inline and online help menus, which answered most of our questions, as well as Web-based community forums. Live e-mail or phone help costs $35 for a pair of requests, not cheap but still less than Apple iWork's fees. Video support is not (yet) available.
Conclusion
Overall, we found ourselves wondering why someone would splurge for Office for Mac 2008. Sure, it's a step up from the 2004 version, and the only one that runs natively on Intel-based Macs. But other companies serve up software that's compatible with Office documents and costs half as much, if not less--or nothing at all. iWork '08, for one, handles the newest, XML-based Office files pretty well.
Office for Mac also skips some niceties that give its Windows counterpart an advantage over rival software, such as the interface slider bar for zooming in on a document. The document element templates may be attractive and helpful, but the selection feels skimpy next to Office 2007 for Windows, and Smart Art isn't as intuitive to use as advertised. It's too bad that the easy-to-find metadata inspector and other touted security features for saving work in Office 2007 are absent. Plus, we'd like to see more integration among the applications. For example, in Office for Windows, a chart pasted from Excel into Word will change when you manipulate its underlying data set in Excel.
Nevertheless, people who rely heavily upon productivity software for such tasks as bulk mailings or crunching scientific calculations in spreadsheets may prefer Microsoft's package over others. Although we like Apple's attractive, introductory Numbers spreadsheet application, for instance, Excel for Mac is more robust, handling a million rows of data. At the same time, Excel 2008's lack of Visual Basic support is a serious flaw that shafts power users. Still, Entourage's update may motivate more businesses to use Office on a Mac. Word also offers richer features than Apple Pages, such as mail merge form letters that can accept data from sources other than the Mac Address Book. There's better support for long documents as well.
File compatibility is another reason to skip, say, iWork or ThinkFree Office, which can read Office's new files but can't fully edit dynamic charts and Smart Art graphics. If you and fellow project collaborators plan to alter all elements of documents saved in Microsoft's newest formats, you'll have to spring for Office for Mac 2008.
User reviews
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Improved usability but serious, painful bugs found out of the box
by vivideaux on February 5, 2008
Pros: Better tool palette organization for improved productivity; 3-user license; cleaner install process; a few more capabilites than Office 04
Cons: Serious Mac Keychain bug (masquerading as Safari bug) created when simply trying to register product online; bug in MS website won't LET you complete registration; price for marginal amount of benefit
Summary: I bought this upgrade in the hope that I could do three things I couldn't do with Office 2004: 1) Create keyboard shortcuts in Powerpoint (to improve my speed ...
Summary: I bought this upgrade in the hope that I could do three things I couldn't do with Office 2004: 1) Create keyboard shortcuts in Powerpoint (to improve my speed of use); More easily edit and manage animations on a slide (Office 2004's interface for this was primitive, clunky and laborious for even the smallest changes) and create animations with elements on a slide such that I could move one or more elements from one area of the slide to the other.
The first feature I expected, given that this is the first upgrade in 4 years, and Word 2004 and Excel 2004 both had this capability. Microsoft has graciously provided this feature.
Feature #2 I noted from a friend's Office 2007 for Windows; I simply assumed that Microsoft would give this upgrade features similar to those in Office 2007. I was wrong.
Ditto with Feature #3. While MS has revamped *where* this information is displayed (now in the tool palette instead of a dialog box that goes away once you're done), the user is still, frustratingly, required to move elements in the order of animation window up and down via two up and down arrow buttons -- not by dragging and dropping the elements in the list themselves. This interface *has* been marginally improved by the ability to reorder multiple selected elements in the list at the same time -- but that seems to be it. No Feature #2 at all -- i.e., no ability to specify so-called "sprite" movement (elements on a slide that can move around the screen a user-specified amount.
Very little progress in 2 years -- despite the appearance of all these features in Office 2007 for Windows. Keeping such features out of their software on purpose, for use later in subsequent versions of the product -- so-called "dry powder" -- is inexcusable in today's climate of innovation.
But what I didn't expect was to find that my attempt to register the product -- be a good doobie and check in with Microsoft about my purchase -- not only resulted in an inability to register after going through a multi-step process (MS "failed to recognize" the product ID its own install disk gave me once I put in my license key), but it created a bug in my Keychain. The only fix that worked, after combing discussion lists for several hours, mind you -- was to delete my keychain. This confusing process wound up erasing all my keychain data.
In sum, beware registering this product, until Microsoft publishes a fix for it, and publicizes it. And, as a new user to this version, I can only imagine what other ugliness lies in store.4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Unimpressive
by Joe M on November 15, 2008
Pros: Long list of features.
Cons: Sluggish, poor OS integration, compatibility problems with other Office versions.
Summary: I bought Office:mac 2008 Home and Student Edition because I use Office on a PC at work, and I figured it was the best way to assure compatibility between ...
Summary: I bought Office:mac 2008 Home and Student Edition because I use Office on a PC at work, and I figured it was the best way to assure compatibility between home and job. If I had it to do over again though, I would not.
12.1.7 update won't install. Says product to which it applies is not found. That's it. I'm done. Bye bye Office...
The applications are sluggish and clunky. Integration with the operating system is inconsistent, and not all the menus and dialogs are very ?Mac-like.? Even after installation of the Service Pack and numerous (large) updates and patches, Office:mac 2008 seems like a beta release.
Aside from the much-complained-about omission of VBA, there are numerous other incompatibilities with Windows versions of Office, and older Mac versions, that are not as well-known, but possibly even more problematic. Look at some of them here: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/help.mspx?MODE=pv&CTT=PageView&clr=99-0-0&target=a6423962-3417-4974-b489-479794e52dcd1033
In short, even though I use Office at my job, even though I?ve used Office for years, and even though I?ve already spent money on Office:mac 2008, I now use Apple?s own iWork 2008 on my Mac and am much happier with it. I manage to share files and data with everyone I need to, and no one knows (or cares) what software I?m using to do it.
Updated on Apr 26, 20093 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Best product for long-time MS users
by Florida Panther on January 25, 2008
Pros: Very polished, easy to get used to
Cons: Inscrutable documentation
Summary: I had used MS Office since the days of Win 3.1. When I switched to MAC a year ago, tried several products. OpenOffice (and NeoOffice) both work, but I ...
Summary: I had used MS Office since the days of Win 3.1. When I switched to MAC a year ago, tried several products. OpenOffice (and NeoOffice) both work, but I thought both a bit clunky; I experienced maddening printer problems frequently.
iWork looked very nice, but I didn't really want to learn another new application.
Since I own 3 Macs, I liked the 3-user license for $139.95 (at BB) and I bought it (after persuading the BB-brain that there was such a thing). I am generally very happy. I can do everything I want to - pretty easy to learn. I don't miss the VBA macros - those days are past me (I am retired). If I need one, I'll take e crack at AppleScript.
My problem is the truly awful manual - it might as well be in Sanskrit.3 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Reminds me why I support Apple
by shoutj74 on February 16, 2008
Pros: ...umm...looks a bit better
Cons: ....crashes like it's on a Windows OS
Summary: I purchased Office 2008 as I consider myself an advanced user of productivity software and wanted to have access to the latest suite.
In support of Office 2008, it looks ...Summary: I purchased Office 2008 as I consider myself an advanced user of productivity software and wanted to have access to the latest suite.
In support of Office 2008, it looks like Mac software and is not so different to office 2004 that it leaves you intimidated and confused as to what happened. I like the 3 user license available as well, which means if I go to a Intel Mac I don't need to buy Office 2008 all over again.
The negatives are numerous though. Whilst I appreciate that on a G5 iMac I might not own the best platform to run 2008, it is markedly slower to Office 2004 in everything it does; from starting up, to simply moving between sheets in Excel or e-mail messages in Entourage. Like others I cannot register the product, there a bugs all over the place and best of all, unlike any other Apple software on my iMac, it crashes all over the place. Ask it to do anything even vaguely taxing, such as deleting multiple files and down it goes, just like the bad old days when I used to be a PC user. My biggest concern is that it is so bad, that sales should be so low, that they wont do much to fix it for months. Like XP Service Pack 2, I expect the fixes will warrant a 200MB+ download.
They should also make it clearer that all default save formats are incompatible with any other software. I note on Mactopia they have at least started to list the known errors. At AU$229 the problems are bearable, just, but if you brought the full product at AU$600+ I would be absolutely disgusted at the issues. If you can wait - do. There has to be an Office 2008.1 coming along soon....please!2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Excel is a serious problem
by beng on June 5, 2008
Pros: The box is pretty
Cons: garbage compared to NeoOffice
Summary: Excel is unusable; extremely slow, I'm using NeoOffice until it's fixed. Word is just OK.
Summary: Excel is unusable; extremely slow, I'm using NeoOffice until it's fixed. Word is just OK.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Save yourself the headache and buy iworks!
by racheles109 on November 14, 2009
Pros: Not much but then again I did not really get to use it.
Cons: Does not work on MacBook Pro Leopard!
Summary: As a student I have been using Office for years. I recently bought the Office for Mac 2008 student edition (I was using 2004) online as I wanted to stay ...
Summary: As a student I have been using Office for years. I recently bought the Office for Mac 2008 student edition (I was using 2004) online as I wanted to stay with the same program that my school and professors are using. I downloaded the suite just fine and it worked for about a day. Then it decided that it did not like being on a mac even though it was Office FOR Mac. I call Microsoft and talked with the techs. Went through a bunch of steps including starting it in safe mode and deleting files. They finally told me that they did not know what was wrong and that it must be an Apple font issue and to call Apple. I call the tech at Apple and he was really nice doing what he could without making me pay $50 more to be told that I would have to reinstall my operating system. Seriously!! Reinstall my system without a guarantee that Office would work!!!! No product is worth that headache!!!!! I asked for a refund so now I have no choice but to switch to iworks which yes does save as word fine but does not hold the setting and formatting of a document. So now I have to go to a PC fix the document before giving it to my professors. I don't know who to be more frustrated with Microsoft for saying it's for Mac or Apple for wanting me to reinstall my system. Please one of you fix this!!!!
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compatibility issues with older docs, program freezes
by twooceans on November 10, 2009
Pros: contains powerpoint, excel and word which I use a great dea.
Cons: The word program has serious compatibility issues with documents created in office 2004 version of Microsoft Word. Causes program to freeze. Requires force quit, reopen saving document in new format if possible before it freezes.
Summary: Sorry I upgraded. Wish I had waited until the bugs were out, hoping they will be out soon,
Summary: Sorry I upgraded. Wish I had waited until the bugs were out, hoping they will be out soon,
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Crashes Constantly!
by iabreu on August 30, 2009
Pros: If you are used to using PC and just converted to Mac- it is nice to have it's familiarity.
Cons: I downloaded the free trial and it has been crashing constantly! I thought it may have to do with the free trial but looked up reviews and it seems that it is a chronic and pervasive problem.
Summary: Be aware that you may experience constant crashes with Office for Macs
Summary: Be aware that you may experience constant crashes with Office for Macs
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I would choose iWork
by Strega222 on February 5, 2009
Pros: I like the look and feel of the suite.
Cons: It can seem very difficult at times to find things and accomplish things. Also it feels like it lacks some features, and the ones that it does possess, are already built into Mac OS X.
Summary: Stability and Durability 3
Ease of Use 2
Speed 3
Features 2
I would most certainly recommend iWork for all Mac users. It does everything that Office does for $79 ...Summary: Stability and Durability 3
Sorry for the fluke in my review.
Ease of Use 2
Speed 3
Features 2
I would most certainly recommend iWork for all Mac users. It does everything that Office does for $79 instead of $149! Please go iWork, spare your wallet some bruises.
Looks 4
Overall I would really recomend iWork to all Mac users. It seems to have an easier workflow. Also it does everything that Microsoft Office can do for $79 rather than
Updated on Feb 5, 2009 -
kidding-me
by mdhmarlon10 on May 16, 2008
Pros: flexibility
Cons: lacks basic features
Summary: Office:mac overall is a joke, Entourage is pretty awesome, but besides that its productivity software to the bones, The 3 editions don't have much of a change and ...
Summary: Office:mac overall is a joke, Entourage is pretty awesome, but besides that its productivity software to the bones, The 3 editions don't have much of a change and Expression Media is like a better Finder. If you are serious about productivity use boot camp or a virtual machine (Fusion or Parallels) and install windows, then install Office 2008 (for windows).
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
- Part number: GZA-00006
- Description: Office 2008 for Mac features a leading suite of applications that Mac customers rely on to get their work completed with Word 2008, Excel 2008, PowerPoint 2008, Entourage 2008 and Microsoft Messenger for Mac. Mac users can simplify their day by using powerful new tools and easily located classic Office for Mac features. Office 2008 for Mac is designed to help users get more from their Macs by making key functions accessible through a more intuitive design and by introducing smart features such as Ledger Sheets in Excel 2008, My Day with Entourage 2008, Publishing Layout View in Word 2008 and SmartArt graphics in PowerPoint 2008 that are simple to use and yield powerful results. Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition provides the basics of Office 2008 for Mac for home and school users. This version includes three user licenses for use by consumers and students but does not include connectivity to Microsoft Exchange Server or support for automated workflows.
General
- Category Office applications
- Subcategory Office applications - office suite
- Language(s) English
- License pricing Non-commercial
- Localization English
Software
- License Type Complete package
- Software Suite Components Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Entourage, Microsoft Powerpoint
- License Qty 3 PC in one household
- License Pricing Non-commercial
- Platform MacOS
- Distribution Media DVD-ROM
- Package Type Retail
System Requirements
- OS Required Apple MacOS X 10.4.9 or later
- Min Processor Type 500 MHz
- Peripheral / Interface Devices DVD-ROM, XGA monitor
- System Requirements Details Apple MacOS X 10.4.9 - RAM 512 MB - HD 1.5 GB
Product series
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Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 (Home and Student Edition)
Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
Specs: 3 PC in one household, Complete package, Apple MacOS X 10.4.9 or later, 500 MHz, DVD-ROM, XGA monitor, MacOS
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Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
Specs: 1 PC, Complete package, Apple MacOS X 10.4.9 or later, 500 MHz, DVD-ROM, XGA monitor, MacOS
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Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 (Special Media Edition)
Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
Specs: 1 PC, Complete package, Apple MacOS X 10.4.9 or later, 500 MHz, DVD-ROM, XGA monitor, MacOS
Manufacturer info
- Microsoft Corp.
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Microsoft Corp. products on Shopper.com
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- Website: http://www.microsoft.com/
- Address:
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052 - Phone: 425/882-8080
- Fax: (425) 706-7329
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