If you’re a regular reader of the blog, or you’ve spent any time on the Mactopia site, you may have noticed some changes recently. I’m the Site Manager for the Mactopia website, and wanted to spend a little time on the blog telling you what we’ve been up to lately. Most obviously, we moved the blog here onto the Mactopia site from its former home on MSDN, and since we launched Office 2008 we’ve noticed some interesting things happening in the comments. Many of you have technical questions, or are asking for help. And others have some remarkably strong opinions about what we should do in future versions of Office for Mac. While the blog is a great place for casual conversation, especially for us to communicate with you about our products and the MacBU team, it turns out we’ve got a few more powerful options available for you when it comes to getting technical questions answered or telling us what you think about our products.
The biggest difference for Mactopia, and Office 2008, is the inclusion of all our help content online. You can find that all in the Help & How-To section here on Mactopia, and in our new Help viewer available from the Help menu in any of our products. In the past, we’d write all that help content before the product ships, and then we’d only be able to refresh it in select update releases. But now we’re going to be updating that content in an ongoing manner, and it will be automatically showing up in the Help viewer and on Mactopia. We’re using your direct feedback to continually update this content, so it becomes even more useful over time. Plus, there’s even some content that’s available only on Mactopia, such as a host of interactive courses. Here’s a great course that shows how to use some of the features in Word, like applying templates or recording audio notes.
So Help content is one great way to find answers to questions you have, or help solve a problem you’re experiencing. In the same Help & How-To section, you’ll also get access to the product forums, which we’ve now incorporated directly into the site and brought into a really easy-to-use web format. It is a very dynamic place, frequented by avid Office for Mac users like yourself, along with our MVPs (Most Valued Professionals). MVPs are passionate technology experts (but not Microsoft employees) who revel in helping people get answers to all kinds of questions about Office for Mac. Employees from the MacBU also monitor what is happening in the forums, and may jump in to help answer questions as well. When you’ve got a technical question, the forum is the place to take it—you’ll get really detailed, useful information from other real people who use Office for Mac. And you might even discover that someone has already asked the same question in the forum before you get there, which means an answer might already be at the ready and waiting for you to discover it.
Earlier, I’d mentioned that we’re using feedback to refine and add to our help and how-to content. The product forum is one place we’re looking to get that feedback, by seeing what kinds of questions people have; another is the content-specific feedback buttons provided at the bottom of every help topic. In addition, we’ve provided two locations explicitly for you to give us direct feedback; one is for sending us product feedback and suggestions, the other is for the Mactopia website. This is the most straightforward way to tell us what you think can be improved, what you really like, and what you want to see from us in the future. While we can’t provide an individual response to any of the feedback we receive from these forms, we can reassure that we’re looking at your suggestions and hearing what you have to say.
As part of the "update" to the Mac Mojo blog, the feed now only contains partial content. Please return to full content in the feed.
Thanks
Mark
technosailor
Feb 22, 2008
4:56pm
We need a demo
As a loyal Apple guy, I have no reason to pay $250 for the upgrade to MS Office. That's not to say that it's not a kick ass product. It probably is. In the past (Office 2004/Mac, Office 2007/Win) you've offered trials. Why would I buy a product without a tase when iWork '08 is already a kickass product - and if I didn't already own it, I could download a free 30 day trial.
Microsoft has to give us a real taste if we're going to buy a product at full price when a comparable (better?) product is available for over $150 cheaper.
Eh? Just give me a demo key. That's all I ask.
paLux
Feb 26, 2008
5:11pm
Entourage start up time
Cannot belive how LOOOOOOOOOONG Entourage now takes to start up. I can literally boil a kettle and make a cup of tea and STILL wait for it to open!
Not Good.
davidwb
Feb 27, 2008
5:06pm
Where to Start?
The Blog
Fire the designer. The fixed width is great for those of us who are using the Asus EePC, oh right, it doesn't run the MacOS so why would anyone need a design that doesn't take advantage of a modern Mac display? And the font is too small for old eyes like mine.
Office 2008
My boss bought it and its on my desktop but 2004 is on my MacBook and there it will remain. Let me put this as politely as I can. The idiots who decided it was acceptable to release Office without macro support need to join the blog designers at the unemployment office. Excel is totally useless for me. I don't believe I've designed a single spreadsheet that doesn't make extensive use of macros. Write them as AppleScripts you say? Assuming I could make that work, the loss in productivity isn't worth it. For now, I'll use 2004 and in the meantime I am looking for a replacement for Excel. In short, you've just made my case to the boss for dumping Office. Nice job.
Word is two steps forward and one step backward, I'm surprised. In another two or three iterations of Mac Office (assuming you guys are around that long) you might actually wind up writing a decent Mac program. I'm not fighting toolbars as badly as I used to and more of the tools I use are easier to get to. But why no services support? Why the non-standard interface. You are writing a Mac program, not a Windows program on a Mac. Well, you should be doing the former but you seem to be doing the latter.
PowerPoint is too little too late. If you'd gone this route with Office 2004 you might have kept me from adopting Keynote. But now that I'm a Keynote guru there's no reason to come back. Sorry.
Entourage is too much. With Office X I was a huge fan of the program but when I began developing Entourage database issues (shortly before Tiger came out) I was on the lookout for a change. I was tired of fixing the database every month or more and then Tiger was released and I moved to iCal and Mail. They kick butt. I've decided that several small nimble programs beat the crap out of one monster program.
So what Office 2008 offers is an Intel Native program that is somewhat faster than 2004 without all the VBA goodness of 2004. This isn't what I wanted or needed. This isn't what Mac users needed. I hope your sales reflect this and that the bean counters learn the correct lesson - you know - that lesson you had to learn from Word 6?
I know this sounds like a Microsoft basharama but the truth is I like Office. I spent years learning how to bend Excel to my will. The macros I designed in Word let me get to the tools I needed, to slice and dice the data I used, and let me get on with the work, leaving the drudgery to the computer. But you stole that away. Now Office just blends in with all the other software that's okay but not quite up to snuff.
rscrimger
Feb 29, 2008
11:55am
Features Needed List
-Full Exchange functionality
-Open Shared Calendar functionality (a la Outlook)
-Sync notes
-Sync Tasks
-Resource booking in calendar
-Sync pictures in Contacts (Exchange has all my photos!)
-Scalable calendar
-Right-clicking calendar doesn't grab correct :30-min increment when creating new event
-Entourage: Eliminate "Show in Groups" as default.
- better handling of the "Automatically accept meetings as tentative" feature
Bert de Weerd
Feb 29, 2008
11:55am
Small text. Why?
Why the small text? Is it cheaper to use text small like this? I do like the new design, but the small text makes me get my glasses...
Quentin T
Mar 04, 2008
11:17pm
The differences between office 2004 and 2008
I would like to see the differences in software in text somewhere.
Great there's a new version but why do I need it. what changed?
Louis S.
Mar 10, 2008
12:38pm
Migrating from PC based Outlook to Mac Entourage
I just bought a new Mac Book Pro and installed a licensed copy of Mac Office 2004. I previously ran MS Office on a PC for years and used Outlook. I thought I would be able to migrate/export my email, addresses, calendar, etc. over to the MBP but cannot find any information on doing this procedure. I would have thought this would have been an obviously needed utility.
Kris Kelleher
Mar 11, 2008
4:03pm
Still waiting for Office 08
I submitted my rebate over 2 months ago and still no Office 08. I checked the rebate status page and it says it has no record of my submission. Could someone please help me get to the bottom of this? Thanks.
Dude
Mar 20, 2008
9:56pm
Seriously
Ok, was someone sniffing glue in the parking lot and not sharing when they redesigned Mactopia?
Old site, easy to find information.
New Site, can't find any information
Could be please turn down the eye candy of this sit from garish to readable.
This remind me of This is Spinal Tap" Yes, but these go to 11... same with the site "design".
Justin
Feb 22, 2008
12:53pm
I'll tell you what is not new...
What is not new is the version of Mac Office running on my computer. Why? Because I ordered it back in December and it still hasn't arrived!!
colin
Feb 22, 2008
12:53pm
full text rss feeds please!
Can you return to full text rss feeds? When you use partial feeds I skip over most of the posts.
TJ1243
Feb 22, 2008
12:53pm
Trial
Where is the trial? Seriously, even us professionals want to give it a try before we have our organization dive in.
Allan Crowson
Feb 22, 2008
12:53pm
Small text
The default print size is WAAAY too small on my MacBook, at default Safari settings.
Chris
Feb 22, 2008
12:53pm
Great!
I like how I can find all this support in one place, and I often find articles that I wasn't expecting.
When I replaced my Thinkpad with a MacBook Pro I considered using Neo Office, and I *did* find that it worked well for me. After a while though, I craved the familiarity of Word and visted Mactopia to see what was available.
Now I'm using Office 2008, I'm back browsing Mactopia to see how to get the most out of my software.
You bstrd!
Feb 22, 2008
1:28pm
Glad to see forums, but...
It is nice to see you actually have forums instead of pointing people to News groups (BTW- 1997 called- they said they want their NNTP bandwidth back) and 3rd party MVP sites. However, I don't find them very easy to navigate at all. It would be nice if you stuck to standard forum formats like almost everyone else in the world.
Joe
Feb 22, 2008
3:11pm
Wrong Time Zones
Caracas (Venezuela) and La Paz (Bolivia) are NOT in the same time zone. The former is GMT -4:30 the latter is GMT -4. I don't know how to tell MS about this so I'm posting it here.
Nick
Feb 22, 2008
3:11pm
Mactopia is
This is a suggestion for the Microsoft Office:Mac 2008 web site (aka Mactopia).
Why do I have to learn about Office:Mac 2008 developments elsewhere? I just read that XML file converters won't be available until June (http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/16477/ and http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9876508-56.html).
Hello! Shouldn't such an announcement be made on THIS web site? After all, isn't this the central point for Office:Mac 2008? I just searched the Mactopia web site, and all of your items in "News and Press" are from 2007. Didn't Microsoft just announce yesterday that they would be more "open."?
Was this web site developed for Mac people such as me? Or is it merely "Windows dressing"?
Hi Nick, in fact we did announce that yesterday on the blog right here (it's the post just before mine). Both news articles you mention came out afterwards, and even reference that we released this info "in a blog post" so you're in the right spot for keeping up to date. And as for our News & Press section, you're right, and I'm in the process right now of getting it updated with plenty of new reviews and articles about Office 2008.
Lawrence Margulis
Feb 22, 2008
4:56pm
Registration
I recently purchased Office 2008. It installed perfectly. However, I tried numerous times to register the product. I copied the product ID into the registration form , which constantly rejects it as being incorrect. Is there anything I can do to be kept informed of updated and bug fixes?
officewhore
Feb 22, 2008
4:56pm
few notes on 'notes'
in the 'notes' module of entourage 2008 i'd love to see a display that offers a preview pane so you can scan easily scan through your notes without having to open each note in it's own window. also in 'notes' i'd love to see you implement clickable hotlink URLs like you get in the entourage 'mail' module. this would also be a hugely useful improvement (addition) to the 'calendar' module so users can click through directly from a calendar event window and/or (if possible) click URLs directly from a reminder popup window. does anyone else agree with me or am i struggling on my own with this?
Nice to have a blog for new desired functionality, but oh boy, I am disappointed not seeing macro's in excel.... most all my work is NOT upgradable, so no use spending the money for an upgrade.
I feel like the new version is no longer Excel. It is like announcing a new Ford Mustang only to find out the engine drives only the windshieldwiper! Good view, not what I want!
If the Excel functionality is not cross platform interchangeable then do not call it excel; and it looses a lot of value within the communities where I am active and share information. Mactopia manager, use your influence and correct this mistake!
Kidbonz
Feb 24, 2008
10:29pm
Very DIsappointed
I have been very disappointed with this new version. Because of syncing issues, Entourage is useless with multiple copies of every event. I am having problems copying to Word with hanging several times a session. I am going to try to return to Office 2004.
Shawn
Feb 24, 2008
10:29pm
Messenger ??
I know this topic was beaten to death on MSDN, but I'm posting here because I haven't found any kind of status update on this current site.
Have you got any news for us?
I assume you still consider Messenger part of Office...?
Great! I though. Now I can finally use Messenger 5.1.1. But hey, when I started the application, it told me that I had to update to 6 to continue using the app.
Please remove that auto-update warning! I really need 5.1.1 and I DON'T want to use version 6.
Otherwise there's no point having the links on this site....
MVP William Smith
Feb 24, 2008
10:29pm
Re: Glad to see forums, but...
It is nice to see you actually have forums instead of pointing people to News groups
The Mactopia forums are just a portal to the NNTP Usenet newsgroups. You'll see the same messages in both places.
Think of Usenet as Central Park in New York City and think of websites like Mactopia and Google as companies who have built their own gateways into Central Park. The information is still the same and freely available to everyone regardless of how you get there.
Not Revealed
Feb 24, 2008
10:29pm
Re: What's New on Mactopia: Tell Us What You Think
I realize I'm not a product team development manager at Microsoft, but I think your need help. Why-o-why when I enter an item that I see in a menu or a dialog box INSIDE YOUR PRODUCT into the Help search, can I get "not found"? I think it's pretty straightforward, if there's a menu choice or option, it ought to be searchable in the Help functionality. Try "revision number". Nobody home there.
I don't want to post this comment anonymously, but I'm paranoid because of my position that there may be negative fallout if I identify myself.
Tom
Feb 24, 2008
10:29pm
Entourage Conduit
I've used Mac Office for many many many years, and have always felt it was a good solid product. BUT If you do not include the Entourage Conduit on this update, so I can sync with my Tungsten, I'm moving to Apple Mail and ICal for my Ipod Touch.
Vinod Ravi
Feb 24, 2008
10:29pm
Support for endnote
Word 2008 does not work with Endnote, a reference management software. In the scientific community, lack of this functionality takes Word out of grant writing and paper writing. Software is pretty useless without the support for endnote. Can you please address this
Etresoft
Feb 25, 2008
11:33am
Endnote problem
Vinod Ravi,
Endnote is not a Microsoft product. I suggest you contact the makers of Endnote and ask for an update. Considering that their business is 100% dependent on Microsoft, they really should arrange an NDA and beta agreement with Microsoft so that something like this doesn't happen.
In the meantime, try looking at the new, built-in Citiations feature of Word.
Mark
Feb 26, 2008
5:11pm
Sounds
I hope getting my alert sounds in Entourage
are part of the fix.
Dave
Feb 26, 2008
5:11pm
RDP doesn't work with Windows 2003 Server
RDP 6.0 does, but that's only available on Windows.
Stacey
Feb 26, 2008
5:11pm
Student Discount for Office
Microsoft offers a student discount (*.edu account and enrolled in school required) for Windows users on their Office 2007 Ultimate package for $59.95. Typically, that package is almost $680! Is there any way we could get a similar deal for the students who use MacIntosh? As of right now, I can no longer open any documents sent from my college due to Office 2004 for Mac not being compatible with Office 2007 for Windows. However, since Office 2008 for Mac is compatible with Office 2007 for Windows, offering the extreme discount on the software for Mac would make sense. Then, students using MacIntosh and students using Windows can all be on the same level again.
Fastred
Feb 26, 2008
5:11pm
Generally pleased
Our team are generally pleased with the upgrade. The more "Mac-like" feel of Entourage is great, as is the better speed of synchronisation. People also seem to like the changes to Word and other programmes. We didn't use macros much, so VBA isn't much of a loss for us.
We would still like to see:
* the ability to share / use public distribution lists.
* share tasks.
Thanks
Jeremy Baker
Jon
Feb 26, 2008
5:11pm
Stability issues
2008 is so unstable considering reverting back to 2004 - both Excel and Word. There is still the annoying issue with the long file names.
Andy K
Feb 27, 2008
9:32am
Feedback Submitted
Below is the feedback I've just submitted about the site. I'm posting it twice as we're always told that direct feedback is obviously the preferred method, but I like to have my opinions out in the open. Where people can either agree or disagree. (Black-hole feedback doesn't help me find out if I have a valid point or am just talking rubbish)
-----
I'm disppointed with the design of the new site. For one, the entire site is fixed-width rather than variable. I use a 20" monitor at work. Running 1600x1200 resolution. I run my webbrowser to not be full screen and STILL there is wasted black space at the sides of the page.
This is worst in the Mac Mojo blog where you have then decided to make the main content column only take up about 50% of the active panel - making it a tiny thin strip on my screen. Which, when the content can be very long, just wastes potential space on the screen.
Comments are hopelessly broken. Five comments before having to click 'next' really just doesn't work. I like to be able to see many more comments in one go. OK, so maybe all on one page can get unmanageable in very long discussions, but what about a more sane number per page. Like ten, or twenty.
Plus currently if, like me, you like to read multiple articles in multiple tabs, it gets confused at to how many comments and pages there are. This in in Firefox, by the way.
Finally, will any of the old content be being brought back? Please migrate your archives across, so that old articles can be located without having to visit a physically peparate site.
MaxManX
Feb 27, 2008
9:32am
I thought...
... this thread would be about MACTOPIA - not Office 2008
I personally agree with the post regarding Messenger. I too would like to see info and updates on progress on Live Messenger 7 for Mac.
A timeline would be great!
Hanne Magnussen
Feb 27, 2008
9:32am
Entourage 2008
I have implemented Entourage 2008 a couple of week ago, and I am unhappy with som of the changes made since Entourage 2004. They are certainly not improvements. I have a 15" MacBookPro.
1. Every hour takes up too much space on the screen, and there is no way to reduce the space. In 2004 I could see from 7 am to 10 pm on the screen, now I can only see 10-11 hours even when filling out the screen.
2. There is no way that the Subject in a calendar event can be extended. In 2004 it was possible to write everything in Subject and read it on the screen without opening the event. Not an omprovement
Regards Hanne hm@mazanti.dk
Frustrated @ Microsoft
Feb 27, 2008
5:06pm
Microsoft needs to get of it's ass and deliver!
Like the rest of us who ordered the Special Media edition through the upgrade promotion, we haven't received it yet and Microsoft offers no valid reason for the delay. So, why not post something we could actually use such as a valid shipdate?
Re: What's New on Mactopia: Tell Us What You Think
heres another vote for info/progress updates on live messenger for mac
ebow
Feb 28, 2008
11:41am
Blog thoughts
I have to agree with others that the default font size is too small. I know small text is rather vogue these days, but nuts to that. I shouldn't have to use Command+ to bump up the text size. And the reduced contrast of dark gray text on light gray background just makes reading more difficult. (I'm not yet 30--I hate to think how older readers are faring.)
The comments section leaves a LOT to be desired. Viewing 5 at a time is an odd choice to lock us into. Either give us the ability to specify this, or at least make it 10 (or all). And when I've read one chunk of comments and click the navigation link to go to the next chunk, why in the world do you think I want to start at the BOTTOM of the comments?? Jump me back to the top of the comments section.
Stuck behind an ISA Firewall
Feb 28, 2008
11:41am
Why is there no ISA Firewall Client for Mac?
Microsoft sells an ISA Firewall product. I assume they use it on their own network. But there is no ISA Firewall Client for the Mac. So how does the Mac group at Microsoft get past the ISA Firewall? Why can't we get an ISA Firewall client for the Mac?
nb
Feb 28, 2008
11:41am
Any Answers?
There is a simple thing you forget.
This blog is TOTALLY useless if all the questions of the people writing here are UNANSWERED.
This secrecy stuff Apple is already doing is just idiot, but you guys you should communicate and tell us what is going on.
You ask money for a product that is useless at least since 10.5.2. than I could expect some reactive updates... more than one month is too much in a business world, don't you think so?
Should we report meetings because of a crap powerpoint program? It is not possible to present anything with that thing!
Fix it NOW not in 2 weeks.
There should be a law to regulate that software producers are held responsible for damage caused by it... that's equally true for viruses than for commercial software !
It's a pity.
ebow
Feb 29, 2008
11:55am
Another blog thought
I think the comments feature on this site is broken in the following way: when I load (from the RSS feed) two entries in separate tabs, and then navigate through the chunks of comments on the first, I start to see the comments from the second entry! This is in Firefox 2 for Windows, but I could swear I experienced something similar in FF3 for Mac (thought I was going crazy).
Doug
Feb 29, 2008
11:55am
Are you kidding?
"Many of you have technical questions, or are asking for help. And others have some remarkably strong opinions about what we should do in future versions of Office for Mac."
Look, this is meant to be constructive criticism: when you refer obliquely to the deluge of negative comments about Office 2008's missing capabilities, show stopping bugs, delayed converters, and usability issues as "opinions about what we should do in future versions", you simply make people more upset with Microsoft.
We don't _have_ to use Microsoft Office anymore, didn't you hear? Many like me (down 101 from your offices at a very large mixed platform environment) are really frustrated with the stalling and squalling from the MBU. Get serious with us and let us know what's going on with this software.
Marco Polo
Feb 29, 2008
4:01pm
I agree with davidwb!
I totally agree with comment 34 by davidwb. Microsoft--listen to us!
ghbjhknl
Mar 03, 2008
11:31am
webcam?
any bloody time now please!
tired of slow crappy 3rd party apps that crash.
msn mac and WEBCAM!
Strgzr
Mar 03, 2008
11:31am
MESSENGER and VIDEO
I wonder when they will add VIDEO for MESSENGER for us Mac users? AIM has it and PC users of Messenger have it, but not 6.0.3 newest vs of Messenger Live for us Mac users!
Isaac
Mar 03, 2008
4:02pm
MSN for mac....
theres something u guys have gotta do abt the MSN version...its too old ......most of neones contacts r on MSN.......so its makes it hard fr video n voice chats......
sébastien
Mar 03, 2008
4:02pm
very good software, but too slow
okay i think office 2008 is the best suite ever made on mac but my problem is : when could we have the windows eqauivalence ? i want word and excel to start as fast as on windows, the difference is enormous and msn messenger can not do video chat with my friends ... is it a joke ?
kevinfor
Mar 03, 2008
4:02pm
Why is Office2008 by design NOT compadible with Office 2007?
I work as a PC sales person with very little Mac experience. a customer came into our store to purchase his first MAC he had used office2007 on his Old PC and wanted to know if Office2008 on a MAC would be compadible with his files... mostly word documents, excel, personal contacts and emails typical office stuff.
I was like sure no problem.. in fact with the new MacOffice 2008 we were told in sales training & marketing from MSFT, Everything was easier, customers could use both MAC & PC's it didnt matter where you created the files etc.. after all both products were created by Microsoft. makes sense.
well turns out.. I was WRONG .. as most of your probably know.. Entourage doesn't support importing Outlook 2007 email (pst) files. which contain customers contacts & emails Why the product doesn't support this - just blows me away. We finally resolved the issue with 3rd party conversion tools
ask yourself a question... does it make sense for a customer with Word2007 files created on a PC to be required to run a 3rd party conversion told to view these files in word2008 on a Mac? of course not.. that's why word2008 can read PC word files..in the same respect Entourage should be able to natively read PST files .. or a least a free conversion tool directly from MSFT.
I dont want to go into the conspiracy theory of why this is (buying a new Computer MAC -vs- Vista) but it just makes sense for this to be painless process for customers.
L.E. Park
Mar 03, 2008
4:02pm
Formating paragraphs
I have been frustrated that I have to go to paragraph format and check the box "Don't add space between paragraphs of the same style" time after because it doesn't stay checked. I write a sentence, and it adds a space between that one the next one I write, so I have to go back and recheck the box.
Dave Barrett
Mar 04, 2008
11:17pm
Excel Graphics
Office Excel graphics are very very slow. I plot a large numbers of points on a chart (20,000-30,000) and the watching the spinning disk takes the best part of a minute before I can even select the next thing I want to do. My old office Excel ( ? 94) on the PC was instantaneous. Am I doing something wrong ??? This occurs both on files converted from the PC and New Mac created charts.
DaveBarrett
REchsner
Mar 04, 2008
11:17pm
Re: What's New on Mactopia: Tell Us What You Think
If I have iworks do I need to buy Mactopia and if so, do I need to buy the upgrade too?. And if I use boot camp and install windows on my mac will my iworks open doc files or do I need Mactopia. I am a new Mac user and I am just learning what I need for me to be able to open documents.
Gregory
Mar 04, 2008
11:17pm
Release a version that WORKS!
Guys, this version should not have been released. It is slow and ULTRA like it's 1997 BUGGY! "Unknown error" messages, having to rebuild databases, inability to sync with sync services without creating 7-10 of EACH record? How was this released? it's criminal. Please, please, please, release a version that WORKS!
Ve
Mar 04, 2008
11:17pm
Transfer Archive Folder
My biggest concern now is with my existing OUTLOOK 2007 data files. I cannot transfer any data from outlook to enterouage. If you have anything please let me know. It really sucks to own a mac at times, especially when microsoft and apple partner up.
Richard Schulman
Mar 05, 2008
1:31pm
entourage
I hope the March 11 update corrects the sound issues on Entourage. If it doesn't, I will go back to the 2004 version and ask for a refund.
David Stone
Mar 06, 2008
3:16pm
Re: What's New on Mactopia: Tell Us What You Think
When you submit an email support question, you get a message talking about the few free support questions and then warning that paid support costs 50 bucks a shot. But most support questions deal with bugs/defects in the new software, such as the tendency of Word, such as corrupt Normal templates in Word and the broken sound feature in Entourage. Neither of these issues is covered in your online "Help and How to" feature. Maybe MS should waive its support charges until it actually gets Office 2008 to work the way it is supposed to, rather than charging users to tell MS about what's broken.
Sonny
Mar 06, 2008
3:16pm
Messegner
Why can't you guys make the messenger just like the one on Windows system... This is totally not cool..
Adrian C
Mar 07, 2008
2:18pm
♪ Why can´t we be friends...♪
First It´s fair to say " WOW This is a truly step foward!!!" Quite Evo from Office 2004. You Just Did a increible work!.
But, and there´s always a "but"... How can be possible find absolutely no info or reference about the "Brand New Office Live plataform" and the inclusion or the integration of the Office suite for Mac... I been doing a exhaustive search with no result..
so, it will be great if someone make a statement about this particular...
I just hope that somehow finally Pc and Mac stretch hands for the goods of all!
MacManX
Mar 07, 2008
2:18pm
Re: What's New on Mactopia: Tell Us What You Think
Sonny - do your homework before you post! The Mac Messenger app is waiting for the transition into the new video conferencing technology which is going into both the Windows and the Mac version. Hopefully Mac:Messenger 7.0 will be up to par with WLM 9 - we'll have to wait and see.
I do hope someone from MS will post a road map for this here soon.
SamUEL STIMSON
Mar 07, 2008
2:18pm
Not Impressed
I have been using Office 2007 on my PC for some time now. I have a new MAC in the office and just installed Office 2008. I am not impressed. What happened to the cool roll over effect where the document changes when you roll over a new character or document layout?
me
Mar 10, 2008
12:38pm
Return full RSS Feeds
I very occassionally read the Mac Mojo blog feed in Netnewswire (maybe 1 x per month) and very often that is while I'm on a plane and have read everything else in NNW.
If you want me to read your stuff return full RSS feeds. If you're trying to force me to come to your website it AIN'T going to work. I will just delete your RSS feed and won't bother.
I do not read blogs that think I want headlines in my newsreader. Why doesn't Microsoft get it that we don't want to do things YOUR way we want to do things OUR way that's why we don't use PeeCees.
and p.s. if you want your anti-blind person "captcha" to only accept CAPITALS then why don't you type that it's CASE-sEnSiTiVe?
JJ
Mar 10, 2008
12:38pm
Hey how about Microsoft Flight Simulator X for Mac Please
It would be a big seller.
Daniel Leavey
Mar 10, 2008
12:38pm
Ripping Off Canadian Customers
Even though the U.S. dollar is below par with the Canadian currency, Customers are being asked to shell out $397.95 for an upgrade to Office Mac Media Edition 2008, while our American cousins pay only $261.00 for the same upgrade. So, I was wondering if it costs Microsoft $136.00 to ship each box of software to their Canadian operations. The product is not subject to customs duty, so the increase in price has to be coming from somewhere. Right? Maybe we'll be paying $400.00 for the upgrade if the Canadian dollar reaches $1.10 against the U.S. dollar!!!
Cameron
Mar 10, 2008
12:38pm
Messenger Video Reasoning Flaw
That line of reasoning would make more sense if that were the only feature missing. Offline messages have become incredibly important now, and Mac Messenger doesn't support it.
Jeff G.
Mar 10, 2008
12:38pm
Word Crashes When Switching Apps
This doesn't happen all the time, but I think that switching apps, using Exposé, and using Spaces causes Word to sometimes crash. Also, unlike most other apps, I can't scroll a Word document when Word is a background application. I wonder if these problems can be fixed...
Shawn
Mar 11, 2008
3:31pm
Messenger?
Could someone provide an update, or separate blog thread, on Messenger?
Oren Yonan
Mar 11, 2008
3:31pm
Nice new layout, now how about some new software?
Okay, seriously. How long do we have to wait for a messenger that's on par with the windows version?? We've been waiting forever, and there's no peep yet. I like the site's new look, but I'm not interested in how the site looks. I'm interested in interacting with my family and friends.
PLEASE, is there any timetable for a modern Messenger? What's going on?
entropysounds
Mar 11, 2008
3:31pm
MISSING FEATURES
Somehow I find several KEY features of previous Microsoft office to be missing. This is a scary and thoroughly retrograde step.
1. Custom Macros for Word
2. Custom Error Bars for Excel graphs
The reason for the custom error bar option in MS Excel is because the other error bar options create bars with little to zero statistical basis. The reason for Custom Macros in Word is because MS software engineers cannot supply users with every one of an infinitely long list of shortcuts. The leitmotif here: eliminating features in return for a flashy new GUI. I'm hoping the guys at MS listen like the guys at apple do. When people complained that the iPhone didn't allow multi-texting, it was available in the very first update.
Bill
Mar 11, 2008
4:03pm
Back to Office 2004
I've been playing with Office 2008 for about a week now, but I'm pretty much fed up now. I was frustrated with the lack of notification sounds in Entourage (apparently an OS X 10.5 incompatibility). The 12.0.1 update was supposed to fix that but it did not. The lack of add-ins, the solver and advanced statistical functions, in Excel was the final straw. I'm going to uninstall Office 2008 and go back to Office 2004.
Fredrik
Mar 12, 2008
12:24pm
Re: What's New on Mactopia: Tell Us What You Think
Have just changed to a Mac for a number of reasons but am a heavy user of excel. Understand that the VBA functionality has been removed from this version. Please tell me that you will be adding it soon!
Davsot
Mar 12, 2008
9:43pm
No update in AutoUpdate
I LOVE the new office 2008 for mac. It's so preettyy. seriosuly. However, AutoUpdate isn't autoupdating. Fail.
HVGTU
Mar 12, 2008
9:43pm
MS-Project and MS-Access for Mac?
I want to use Project and Access on the Mac. Will they ever be included in the Mac Office Suite?
Gilles Lardy
Mar 16, 2008
10:19pm
How to get messenger:mac to work ?
Bad enough you can't check Hotmail through Mail or Firefox, Messenger:mac just won't login, any fix for that ???
twinchris
Mar 18, 2008
8:32pm
Where are my macros?
I was soooo excited when the new version hit shelves. I installed it the day it was available. Now I've removed it from my laptop because I can't use Macros in excel anymore. I need these for almost every spreadsheet that my company uses. What was the logic behind removing macros from office 2008? Is there a workaround?
Tam
Mar 19, 2008
8:42pm
Sync
Entourage took out the sync option for an easy sync to Palm phones. That in itself was enough for me to ditch the new version and go back to 2004.
JG
Mar 20, 2008
9:56pm
Entourage 2008 Underwhelming
I suppose the update to 2008 is under the hood, but for my users (I'm an Exchange Admin and Mac user) it is pretty underwhelming. Nice splash screen though on start up.
Daniel
Mar 20, 2008
9:56pm
MSN client reeeeeeaaaaaaaaally sucks
When messenger for mac will support video chats?! When will microsoft stopt treating mac users as 2nd class citizens?
bb418
Mar 24, 2008
2:14pm
MS's worst product so far!
My office is a heavy user of MS Office. We purchased '08 for our iMACs 2 months ago. It is extremely frustrating how this "new" version is so useless. Numerous crashes, numerous times when "saved" workbooks show that they are NOT saved in fact when reopened after crashes, glaringly missing tools and functionality that were "standard" on previous versions, etc., etc., etc. Every day we find something else that's a problem! I swear, if Apple ever gets around to launching its own version of "Office", we will buy it in a New York minute!
Julia Smith
Mar 24, 2008
2:14pm
MSN
I have been waiting a really long time for the new MSN Messanger for mac, Can you please update it!My msn is starting to get boering and thats not good.
Please and Thankyou
GRomero
Mar 25, 2008
9:02pm
Messenger Compatibilities.
I just want to knoow why after one year of being using messsenger 6 i still get these "you need to upgrade to live messenger" signs.
are we going to be able to use it same way as the pc users do?
Giulio Rosati
Mar 28, 2008
8:43pm
MSN MESSENGER
When could we have a new msn messenger for mac like the pc version???
CJB
Mar 28, 2008
8:55pm
Update
I downloaded the update for Office, ran it, but got stopped at the hard drive selection. It tells me I don't have the right software installed. I reinstalled the software, still no luck.
Any thoughts?
snowy
Mar 28, 2008
8:55pm
Where is Motion Path?!
Hello everone, I really like the new power point, but I don't understand why the haven't added Motion Path in the custom animation.... : :
John
Mar 31, 2008
10:18am
entourage 2008 and PST file from outlook 2002 or 2007 (windows)
Please do something in order to be able to use directly PST files from Outlook 2002 or 2007 into entourage 2008 without doing import of the data.
Please please please...do it
Rob
Mar 31, 2008
10:18am
Mac Mojo comments difficult to follow
Courtney,
I visit Mac Mojo every couple of weeks to catch up on the news. This was actually easier on the old blogs.msdn.com site.
The main body font is uncomfortably small
If I want to read all the comments on this story, I will need to click through 18 pages
On each of these 18 pages, when I finish the bottom comment and click 'Next', the comments refresh above my current position - so I have to scroll up and start again
If I have several stories open in different tabs, the comments sometimes appear in the wrong tab
Or sometimes, they don't appear at all
The layout is nice, but there are certainly some bugs in usability.
Thanks
Rob.
Safari 3.1 (default fonts), Mac OS 10.4.11 PowerPC
Norm Shea
Mar 31, 2008
10:18am
A little list
Here it is so far but I guess from the previous comments, it looks like I've got a lot to look forward to.
1) No macros? I can't believe macros are not available in Excel 2008. Like was stated before; what type of "cross-platform" capability is that supposed to demonstrate?
2)How do you dock the "Formula Bar"? I think I'd rather use the space provided for the "Sheets," "Charts," "SmartArt Graphics," and "WordArt" buttons for something useful like the "Formula Bar."
3)Why can't you create "dockable" custom toolbars?
4)Why does the Help in the Menu bar act differently than the Help in the Tool Bar.
5) And why is neither very helpful?
IHABFAT
Mar 31, 2008
10:02pm
Re: What's New on Mactopia: Tell Us What You Think
I have used the data analysis tools on the Excel for windows...The add-ins for statistical analysis. I can't seem to find them on my new 2008 office for Mac. I could do the individual calculations, but the data analysis packs under tools, is very easy and gives you the most common stats packages.
Are there stats add-ins for stats Excel 2008 for Mac??
IHABFAT
Mar 31, 2008
10:02pm
Re: What's New on Mactopia: Tell Us What You Think
CJB
HAD SAME PROBLEM....after several attempts...un-installed office 2008, reinstalled it, then the update worked...on my macbook pro
good luck
Mike
Apr 01, 2008
3:50pm
Trial version
I'd love to try Office 2008 out before buying. If it is as great as you promote, then a trial would lead to more sales.
(anon)
Apr 02, 2008
11:51am
Captcha
It seems that the Captcha prints in uppercase, but only accepts lowercase.
Only a little thing, but when people are already cranky, little things add up
Giedrius
Apr 02, 2008
12:03pm
No Lithuanian spell check? Really?!!!
Mac is becoming more and more popular in Lithuania. I was eagerly waiting for this upgrade from 2004 version - surely expecting that at least the Lithuanian spell check would be introduced and I could tell to my boss that he can buy macs now for the whole office. Major disapointment.
The only reason why macs are not widely used by business community is the lack of Lithuanian spell check in word processing. I am sure its the same with a number of other countries.
Wise up.
Mark
Apr 02, 2008
12:03pm
Quite disappointed on Office 2008
While reading other comments, I noticed one of the MS respondents argued that certain product that did not work with Office 2008 was not a MS issue, but that of the makers of that product.
I write to strongly take issue with that statement. Many 3rd party products stopped working simply because of your decision to remove VBA support. In many cases, there simply is no workaround, at least for important parts of the functionality.
In my case, the atrociously subpar equation editor that you included with Office 2008, which is not even capable of properly rendering equations in old Word documents, is making my life miserable, and making me consider abandoning Office for good (fortunately at present there are valid alternatives). However, I do not want to do this, because I like to be able to collaborate with people on the Windows side of life.
It would be much appreciated if anyone from MS would care to comment on whether the lack of VBA support is being reconsidered.
Sam
Apr 02, 2008
12:03pm
RDC Beta
So, while a "new" version isn't coming out until late April or May, why don't you put out the same build, but with the date pushed back. Because this dialog box, which then stops my stored connections from connecting, is really annoying. Annoying to the degree where I have found alternate solutions. Beta? Yup, but you guys are incredibly slow to produce.
By the way, the whole "File>New" result, where RDC actually spawns a second copy of itself, is a really cheap way of doing things. It should have a shelf of stored connections, or simply open a second connection dialog box. Stop looking at it from a Windows-esque point of view.
Andy K
Apr 03, 2008
11:48am
Custom CSS
OK. Seeing as the designers seem unwilling or unable to even admit to any problems, let alone actually adress/fix them, is there anyone CSS-savvy who'd be able to fix it browser-side?
Between Mozilla plugins like Greasemonkey & Stylish, and Firefox & Opera's abilities to just flat-out tweak custome CSS styles, is there anybody out there who can/has wrintten on override CSS to get this site to behave?
marcn1961
Apr 03, 2008
11:48am
2008 experience
First thing I noticed from other users which received my emails:
when sending emails to outlook users the text shows up much bigger then it should be not really professional for an office application!
(Fonts increasing in size after each reply)
Speed, one of the raisons to change to O2008, could be better (if I compare to openoffice!)
The top reason for me to use office 2008, 100% troublefree communication with win users using office, so far no complaints
hope with the lac of VBA this won't change to quickly???
Marc
Charles
Apr 04, 2008
9:58am
Table Styles
I use Table Styles in Microsoft Office 2007 to help me manage tasks for projects. When I send documents in either 2003 format, or the new XML format, none of the data appears in Office 2008.
This one thing is enough to make Office 2008 useless for working at home. Who cares about stupid bibliography.
C_L.s
Apr 04, 2008
1:53pm
Re: What's New on Mactopia: Tell Us What You Think
wy haven´t messenger upgraded? i have 6.0.3 i want a newer wone
Hudoo
Apr 06, 2008
10:03pm
messenger 6.0.3
when are you gonna release it !! it's been like forever .. !! we wanna feel that we can have an advances microsoft messenger just like any other users!!
-Visual Basic back into Office 2008 (if OpenOffice can do it....)
-Video Chat in Messenger (your 5 years behind everyone else)
-Outlook for Mac (Entourage is a poor alternative)
Come on.... I can't be the first person to mention this.... or has Bill tied your hands?
Nick
Apr 18, 2008
12:34pm
Office 2008
Powerpoint is too slow in a iBook G4. Typing a presentation outline takes forever.
The new Powerpoint themes are dull and all look alike. Where are the old themes?
Please fix performance issues. The latest maintenance upgrade did not fix performance.
Andy K
May 14, 2008
9:34pm
Site Fixes?
OK, is there any news at all on any of the feedback that's been sent about the current issues with the site design?
Site is still fixed-width. Site is still too narrow. Comments pages are still problematic. This poast has 103 comments (albeit many people hijacked it to ask about all the Office/MSN issues that have their own posts...), and still no improvements.
Anybody?
buzzlightyear
Jun 06, 2008
5:01pm
Office Accessibility
I thought I read that MS2008 was going to include the ability to add "alternative text" to it's graphics and pictures now - just like the Windows version has always been able to do. If ya can do this, how is it done? There no "text tab" in the FORMATE dialog box.
Comments | Who's Blogging This
Mark
Feb 22, 2008
12:53pm
How about full content in the RSS feed
Thanks
Mark
technosailor
Feb 22, 2008
4:56pm
We need a demo
Microsoft has to give us a real taste if we're going to buy a product at full price when a comparable (better?) product is available for over $150 cheaper.
Eh?
paLux
Feb 26, 2008
5:11pm
Entourage start up time
Not Good.
davidwb
Feb 27, 2008
5:06pm
Where to Start?
Fire the designer. The fixed width is great for those of us who are using the Asus EePC, oh right, it doesn't run the MacOS so why would anyone need a design that doesn't take advantage of a modern Mac display? And the font is too small for old eyes like mine.
Office 2008
My boss bought it and its on my desktop but 2004 is on my MacBook and there it will remain. Let me put this as politely as I can. The idiots who decided it was acceptable to release Office without macro support need to join the blog designers at the unemployment office. Excel is totally useless for me. I don't believe I've designed a single spreadsheet that doesn't make extensive use of macros. Write them as AppleScripts you say? Assuming I could make that work, the loss in productivity isn't worth it. For now, I'll use 2004 and in the meantime I am looking for a replacement for Excel. In short, you've just made my case to the boss for dumping Office. Nice job.
Word is two steps forward and one step backward, I'm surprised. In another two or three iterations of Mac Office (assuming you guys are around that long) you might actually wind up writing a decent Mac program. I'm not fighting toolbars as badly as I used to and more of the tools I use are easier to get to. But why no services support? Why the non-standard interface. You are writing a Mac program, not a Windows program on a Mac. Well, you should be doing the former but you seem to be doing the latter.
PowerPoint is too little too late. If you'd gone this route with Office 2004 you might have kept me from adopting Keynote. But now that I'm a Keynote guru there's no reason to come back. Sorry.
Entourage is too much. With Office X I was a huge fan of the program but when I began developing Entourage database issues (shortly before Tiger came out) I was on the lookout for a change. I was tired of fixing the database every month or more and then Tiger was released and I moved to iCal and Mail. They kick butt. I've decided that several small nimble programs beat the crap out of one monster program.
So what Office 2008 offers is an Intel Native program that is somewhat faster than 2004 without all the VBA goodness of 2004. This isn't what I wanted or needed. This isn't what Mac users needed. I hope your sales reflect this and that the bean counters learn the correct lesson - you know - that lesson you had to learn from Word 6?
I know this sounds like a Microsoft basharama but the truth is I like Office. I spent years learning how to bend Excel to my will. The macros I designed in Word let me get to the tools I needed, to slice and dice the data I used, and let me get on with the work, leaving the drudgery to the computer. But you stole that away. Now Office just blends in with all the other software that's okay but not quite up to snuff.
rscrimger
Feb 29, 2008
11:55am
Features Needed List
-Open Shared Calendar functionality (a la Outlook)
-Sync notes
-Sync Tasks
-Resource booking in calendar
-Sync pictures in Contacts (Exchange has all my photos!)
-Scalable calendar
-Right-clicking calendar doesn't grab correct :30-min increment when creating new event
-Entourage: Eliminate "Show in Groups" as default.
- better handling of the "Automatically accept meetings as tentative" feature
Bert de Weerd
Feb 29, 2008
11:55am
Small text. Why?
Quentin T
Mar 04, 2008
11:17pm
The differences between office 2004 and 2008
Great there's a new version but why do I need it. what changed?
Louis S.
Mar 10, 2008
12:38pm
Migrating from PC based Outlook to Mac Entourage
Kris Kelleher
Mar 11, 2008
4:03pm
Still waiting for Office 08
Dude
Mar 20, 2008
9:56pm
Seriously
Old site, easy to find information.
New Site, can't find any information
Could be please turn down the eye candy of this sit from garish to readable.
This remind me of This is Spinal Tap" Yes, but these go to 11... same with the site "design".
Justin
Feb 22, 2008
12:53pm
I'll tell you what is not new...
colin
Feb 22, 2008
12:53pm
full text rss feeds please!
TJ1243
Feb 22, 2008
12:53pm
Trial
Allan Crowson
Feb 22, 2008
12:53pm
Small text
Chris
Feb 22, 2008
12:53pm
Great!
When I replaced my Thinkpad with a MacBook Pro I considered using Neo Office, and I *did* find that it worked well for me. After a while though, I craved the familiarity of Word and visted Mactopia to see what was available.
Now I'm using Office 2008, I'm back browsing Mactopia to see how to get the most out of my software.
You bstrd!
Feb 22, 2008
1:28pm
Glad to see forums, but...
Joe
Feb 22, 2008
3:11pm
Wrong Time Zones
Nick
Feb 22, 2008
3:11pm
Mactopia is
Why do I have to learn about Office:Mac 2008 developments elsewhere? I just read that XML file converters won't be available until June (http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/16477/ and http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9876508-56.html).
Hello! Shouldn't such an announcement be made on THIS web site? After all, isn't this the central point for Office:Mac 2008? I just searched the Mactopia web site, and all of your items in "News and Press" are from 2007. Didn't Microsoft just announce yesterday that they would be more "open."?
Was this web site developed for Mac people such as me? Or is it merely "Windows dressing"?
Something seems to be VERY wrong in Redmond.
Courtney Nash
Feb 22, 2008
3:18pm
Re: Mactopia is
Lawrence Margulis
Feb 22, 2008
4:56pm
Registration
officewhore
Feb 22, 2008
4:56pm
few notes on 'notes'
Mac Mojo Team
Feb 22, 2008
9:22pm
re: registration
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/help.mspx?target=53807068-c5bf-4a0f-9e7a-8912389fc2e21033&clr=99-4-0&ep=11&CTT=PageView&MODE=pv&locale=en-US&usid=7fe89006-47ef-442a-95d1-755a663660db
Robert
Feb 24, 2008
10:29pm
office 2008
I feel like the new version is no longer Excel. It is like announcing a new Ford Mustang only to find out the engine drives only the windshieldwiper! Good view, not what I want!
If the Excel functionality is not cross platform interchangeable then do not call it excel; and it looses a lot of value within the communities where I am active and share information. Mactopia manager, use your influence and correct this mistake!
Kidbonz
Feb 24, 2008
10:29pm
Very DIsappointed
Shawn
Feb 24, 2008
10:29pm
Messenger ??
Have you got any news for us?
I assume you still consider Messenger part of Office...?
andreas
Feb 24, 2008
10:29pm
Fix old version of MSN!
Great! I though. Now I can finally use Messenger 5.1.1. But hey, when I started the application, it told me that I had to update to 6 to continue using the app.
Please remove that auto-update warning! I really need 5.1.1 and I DON'T want to use version 6.
Otherwise there's no point having the links on this site....
MVP William Smith
Feb 24, 2008
10:29pm
Re: Glad to see forums, but...
The Mactopia forums are just a portal to the NNTP Usenet newsgroups. You'll see the same messages in both places.
Think of Usenet as Central Park in New York City and think of websites like Mactopia and Google as companies who have built their own gateways into Central Park. The information is still the same and freely available to everyone regardless of how you get there.
Not Revealed
Feb 24, 2008
10:29pm
Re: What's New on Mactopia: Tell Us What You Think
I don't want to post this comment anonymously, but I'm paranoid because of my position that there may be negative fallout if I identify myself.
Tom
Feb 24, 2008
10:29pm
Entourage Conduit
Vinod Ravi
Feb 24, 2008
10:29pm
Support for endnote
Etresoft
Feb 25, 2008
11:33am
Endnote problem
Endnote is not a Microsoft product. I suggest you contact the makers of Endnote and ask for an update. Considering that their business is 100% dependent on Microsoft, they really should arrange an NDA and beta agreement with Microsoft so that something like this doesn't happen.
In the meantime, try looking at the new, built-in Citiations feature of Word.
Mark
Feb 26, 2008
5:11pm
Sounds
are part of the fix.
Dave
Feb 26, 2008
5:11pm
RDP doesn't work with Windows 2003 Server
Stacey
Feb 26, 2008
5:11pm
Student Discount for Office
Fastred
Feb 26, 2008
5:11pm
Generally pleased
We would still like to see:
* the ability to share / use public distribution lists.
* share tasks.
Thanks
Jeremy Baker
Jon
Feb 26, 2008
5:11pm
Stability issues
Andy K
Feb 27, 2008
9:32am
Feedback Submitted
-----
I'm disppointed with the design of the new site. For one, the entire site is fixed-width rather than variable. I use a 20" monitor at work. Running 1600x1200 resolution. I run my webbrowser to not be full screen and STILL there is wasted black space at the sides of the page.
This is worst in the Mac Mojo blog where you have then decided to make the main content column only take up about 50% of the active panel - making it a tiny thin strip on my screen. Which, when the content can be very long, just wastes potential space on the screen.
Comments are hopelessly broken. Five comments before having to click 'next' really just doesn't work. I like to be able to see many more comments in one go. OK, so maybe all on one page can get unmanageable in very long discussions, but what about a more sane number per page. Like ten, or twenty.
Plus currently if, like me, you like to read multiple articles in multiple tabs, it gets confused at to how many comments and pages there are. This in in Firefox, by the way.
Finally, will any of the old content be being brought back? Please migrate your archives across, so that old articles can be located without having to visit a physically peparate site.
MaxManX
Feb 27, 2008
9:32am
I thought...
I personally agree with the post regarding Messenger. I too would like to see info and updates on progress on Live Messenger 7 for Mac.
A timeline would be great!
Hanne Magnussen
Feb 27, 2008
9:32am
Entourage 2008
1. Every hour takes up too much space on the screen, and there is no way to reduce the space. In 2004 I could see from 7 am to 10 pm on the screen, now I can only see 10-11 hours even when filling out the screen.
2. There is no way that the Subject in a calendar event can be extended. In 2004 it was possible to write everything in Subject and read it on the screen without opening the event. Not an omprovement
Regards Hanne hm@mazanti.dk
Frustrated @ Microsoft
Feb 27, 2008
5:06pm
Microsoft needs to get of it's ass and deliver!
Thank God for OpenOffice & Iwork.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=411779
leroy
Feb 27, 2008
5:06pm
Re: What's New on Mactopia: Tell Us What You Think
ebow
Feb 28, 2008
11:41am
Blog thoughts
The comments section leaves a LOT to be desired. Viewing 5 at a time is an odd choice to lock us into. Either give us the ability to specify this, or at least make it 10 (or all). And when I've read one chunk of comments and click the navigation link to go to the next chunk, why in the world do you think I want to start at the BOTTOM of the comments?? Jump me back to the top of the comments section.
Stuck behind an ISA Firewall
Feb 28, 2008
11:41am
Why is there no ISA Firewall Client for Mac?
nb
Feb 28, 2008
11:41am
Any Answers?
This blog is TOTALLY useless if all the questions of the people writing here are UNANSWERED.
This secrecy stuff Apple is already doing is just idiot, but you guys you should communicate and tell us what is going on.
You ask money for a product that is useless at least since 10.5.2. than I could expect some reactive updates... more than one month is too much in a business world, don't you think so?
Should we report meetings because of a crap powerpoint program? It is not possible to present anything with that thing!
Fix it NOW not in 2 weeks.
There should be a law to regulate that software producers are held responsible for damage caused by it... that's equally true for viruses than for commercial software !
It's a pity.
ebow
Feb 29, 2008
11:55am
Another blog thought
Doug
Feb 29, 2008
11:55am
Are you kidding?
Look, this is meant to be constructive criticism: when you refer obliquely to the deluge of negative comments about Office 2008's missing capabilities, show stopping bugs, delayed converters, and usability issues as "opinions about what we should do in future versions", you simply make people more upset with Microsoft.
We don't _have_ to use Microsoft Office anymore, didn't you hear? Many like me (down 101 from your offices at a very large mixed platform environment) are really frustrated with the stalling and squalling from the MBU. Get serious with us and let us know what's going on with this software.
Marco Polo
Feb 29, 2008
4:01pm
I agree with davidwb!
ghbjhknl
Mar 03, 2008
11:31am
webcam?
tired of slow crappy 3rd party apps that crash.
msn mac and WEBCAM!
Strgzr
Mar 03, 2008
11:31am
MESSENGER and VIDEO
Isaac
Mar 03, 2008
4:02pm
MSN for mac....
sébastien
Mar 03, 2008
4:02pm
very good software, but too slow
kevinfor
Mar 03, 2008
4:02pm
Why is Office2008 by design NOT compadible with Office 2007?
I was like sure no problem.. in fact with the new MacOffice 2008 we were told in sales training & marketing from MSFT, Everything was easier, customers could use both MAC & PC's it didnt matter where you created the files etc.. after all both products were created by Microsoft. makes sense.
well turns out.. I was WRONG .. as most of your probably know.. Entourage doesn't support importing Outlook 2007 email (pst) files. which contain customers contacts & emails Why the product doesn't support this - just blows me away. We finally resolved the issue with 3rd party conversion tools
ask yourself a question... does it make sense for a customer with Word2007 files created on a PC to be required to run a 3rd party conversion told to view these files in word2008 on a Mac? of course not.. that's why word2008 can read PC word files..in the same respect Entourage should be able to natively read PST files .. or a least a free conversion tool directly from MSFT.
I dont want to go into the conspiracy theory of why this is (buying a new Computer MAC -vs- Vista) but it just makes sense for this to be painless process for customers.
L.E. Park
Mar 03, 2008
4:02pm
Formating paragraphs
Dave Barrett
Mar 04, 2008
11:17pm
Excel Graphics
DaveBarrett
REchsner
Mar 04, 2008
11:17pm
Re: What's New on Mactopia: Tell Us What You Think
Gregory
Mar 04, 2008
11:17pm
Release a version that WORKS!
Ve
Mar 04, 2008
11:17pm
Transfer Archive Folder
Richard Schulman
Mar 05, 2008
1:31pm
entourage
David Stone
Mar 06, 2008
3:16pm
Re: What's New on Mactopia: Tell Us What You Think
Sonny
Mar 06, 2008
3:16pm
Messegner
Adrian C
Mar 07, 2008
2:18pm
♪ Why can´t we be friends...♪
But, and there´s always a "but"... How can be possible find absolutely no info or reference about the "Brand New Office Live plataform" and the inclusion or the integration of the Office suite for Mac... I been doing a exhaustive search with no result..
so, it will be great if someone make a statement about this particular...
I just hope that somehow finally Pc and Mac stretch hands for the goods of all!
MacManX
Mar 07, 2008
2:18pm
Re: What's New on Mactopia: Tell Us What You Think
I do hope someone from MS will post a road map for this here soon.
SamUEL STIMSON
Mar 07, 2008
2:18pm
Not Impressed
me
Mar 10, 2008
12:38pm
Return full RSS Feeds
If you want me to read your stuff return full RSS feeds. If you're trying to force me to come to your website it AIN'T going to work. I will just delete your RSS feed and won't bother.
I do not read blogs that think I want headlines in my newsreader. Why doesn't Microsoft get it that we don't want to do things YOUR way we want to do things OUR way that's why we don't use PeeCees.
and p.s. if you want your anti-blind person "captcha" to only accept CAPITALS then why don't you type that it's CASE-sEnSiTiVe?
JJ
Mar 10, 2008
12:38pm
Hey how about Microsoft Flight Simulator X for Mac Please
Daniel Leavey
Mar 10, 2008
12:38pm
Ripping Off Canadian Customers
Cameron
Mar 10, 2008
12:38pm
Messenger Video Reasoning Flaw
Jeff G.
Mar 10, 2008
12:38pm
Word Crashes When Switching Apps
Shawn
Mar 11, 2008
3:31pm
Messenger?
Oren Yonan
Mar 11, 2008
3:31pm
Nice new layout, now how about some new software?
PLEASE, is there any timetable for a modern Messenger? What's going on?
entropysounds
Mar 11, 2008
3:31pm
MISSING FEATURES
1. Custom Macros for Word
2. Custom Error Bars for Excel graphs
The reason for the custom error bar option in MS Excel is because the other error bar options create bars with little to zero statistical basis. The reason for Custom Macros in Word is because MS software engineers cannot supply users with every one of an infinitely long list of shortcuts. The leitmotif here: eliminating features in return for a flashy new GUI. I'm hoping the guys at MS listen like the guys at apple do. When people complained that the iPhone didn't allow multi-texting, it was available in the very first update.
Bill
Mar 11, 2008
4:03pm
Back to Office 2004
Fredrik
Mar 12, 2008
12:24pm
Re: What's New on Mactopia: Tell Us What You Think
Davsot
Mar 12, 2008
9:43pm
No update in AutoUpdate
HVGTU
Mar 12, 2008
9:43pm
MS-Project and MS-Access for Mac?
Gilles Lardy
Mar 16, 2008
10:19pm
How to get messenger:mac to work ?
twinchris
Mar 18, 2008
8:32pm
Where are my macros?
Tam
Mar 19, 2008
8:42pm
Sync
JG
Mar 20, 2008
9:56pm
Entourage 2008 Underwhelming
Daniel
Mar 20, 2008
9:56pm
MSN client reeeeeeaaaaaaaaally sucks
bb418
Mar 24, 2008
2:14pm
MS's worst product so far!
Julia Smith
Mar 24, 2008
2:14pm
MSN
Please and Thankyou
GRomero
Mar 25, 2008
9:02pm
Messenger Compatibilities.
are we going to be able to use it same way as the pc users do?
Giulio Rosati
Mar 28, 2008
8:43pm
MSN MESSENGER
CJB
Mar 28, 2008
8:55pm
Update
Any thoughts?
snowy
Mar 28, 2008
8:55pm
Where is Motion Path?!
John
Mar 31, 2008
10:18am
entourage 2008 and PST file from outlook 2002 or 2007 (windows)
Please please please...do it
Rob
Mar 31, 2008
10:18am
Mac Mojo comments difficult to follow
I visit Mac Mojo every couple of weeks to catch up on the news. This was actually easier on the old blogs.msdn.com site.
The layout is nice, but there are certainly some bugs in usability.
Thanks
Rob.
Safari 3.1 (default fonts), Mac OS 10.4.11 PowerPC
Norm Shea
Mar 31, 2008
10:18am
A little list
1) No macros? I can't believe macros are not available in Excel 2008. Like was stated before; what type of "cross-platform" capability is that supposed to demonstrate?
2)How do you dock the "Formula Bar"? I think I'd rather use the space provided for the "Sheets," "Charts," "SmartArt Graphics," and "WordArt" buttons for something useful like the "Formula Bar."
3)Why can't you create "dockable" custom toolbars?
4)Why does the Help in the Menu bar act differently than the Help in the Tool Bar.
5) And why is neither very helpful?
IHABFAT
Mar 31, 2008
10:02pm
Re: What's New on Mactopia: Tell Us What You Think
Are there stats add-ins for stats Excel 2008 for Mac??
IHABFAT
Mar 31, 2008
10:02pm
Re: What's New on Mactopia: Tell Us What You Think
HAD SAME PROBLEM....after several attempts...un-installed office 2008, reinstalled it, then the update worked...on my macbook pro
good luck
Mike
Apr 01, 2008
3:50pm
Trial version
(anon)
Apr 02, 2008
11:51am
Captcha
Only a little thing, but when people are already cranky, little things add up
Giedrius
Apr 02, 2008
12:03pm
No Lithuanian spell check? Really?!!!
The only reason why macs are not widely used by business community is the lack of Lithuanian spell check in word processing. I am sure its the same with a number of other countries.
Wise up.
Mark
Apr 02, 2008
12:03pm
Quite disappointed on Office 2008
I write to strongly take issue with that statement. Many 3rd party products stopped working simply because of your decision to remove VBA support. In many cases, there simply is no workaround, at least for important parts of the functionality.
In my case, the atrociously subpar equation editor that you included with Office 2008, which is not even capable of properly rendering equations in old Word documents, is making my life miserable, and making me consider abandoning Office for good (fortunately at present there are valid alternatives). However, I do not want to do this, because I like to be able to collaborate with people on the Windows side of life.
It would be much appreciated if anyone from MS would care to comment on whether the lack of VBA support is being reconsidered.
Sam
Apr 02, 2008
12:03pm
RDC Beta
By the way, the whole "File>New" result, where RDC actually spawns a second copy of itself, is a really cheap way of doing things. It should have a shelf of stored connections, or simply open a second connection dialog box. Stop looking at it from a Windows-esque point of view.
Andy K
Apr 03, 2008
11:48am
Custom CSS
Between Mozilla plugins like Greasemonkey & Stylish, and Firefox & Opera's abilities to just flat-out tweak custome CSS styles, is there anybody out there who can/has wrintten on override CSS to get this site to behave?
marcn1961
Apr 03, 2008
11:48am
2008 experience
when sending emails to outlook users the text shows up much bigger then it should be not really professional for an office application!
(Fonts increasing in size after each reply)
Speed, one of the raisons to change to O2008, could be better (if I compare to openoffice!)
The top reason for me to use office 2008, 100% troublefree communication with win users using office, so far no complaints
hope with the lac of VBA this won't change to quickly???
Marc
Charles
Apr 04, 2008
9:58am
Table Styles
This one thing is enough to make Office 2008 useless for working at home. Who cares about stupid bibliography.
C_L.s
Apr 04, 2008
1:53pm
Re: What's New on Mactopia: Tell Us What You Think
Hudoo
Apr 06, 2008
10:03pm
messenger 6.0.3
Photek
Apr 06, 2008
10:08pm
Constructive Criticism...
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE consider implementing:
-Visual Basic back into Office 2008 (if OpenOffice can do it....)
-Video Chat in Messenger (your 5 years behind everyone else)
-Outlook for Mac (Entourage is a poor alternative)
Come on.... I can't be the first person to mention this.... or has Bill tied your hands?
Nick
Apr 18, 2008
12:34pm
Office 2008
The new Powerpoint themes are dull and all look alike. Where are the old themes?
Please fix performance issues. The latest maintenance upgrade did not fix performance.
Andy K
May 14, 2008
9:34pm
Site Fixes?
Site is still fixed-width. Site is still too narrow. Comments pages are still problematic. This poast has 103 comments (albeit many people hijacked it to ask about all the Office/MSN issues that have their own posts...), and still no improvements.
Anybody?
buzzlightyear
Jun 06, 2008
5:01pm
Office Accessibility