Hello world!  

I admit I'll check in because one of the bloggers is a friend of mine, but I'm also a brand-new Office:Mac user.  I've spent a lot of this evening putting Word through it's paces, being a longtime Windows user, it's really interesting to see how different the two flavours are.  Welcome to your new blog!

SECOND POST!

I AM TEH CAPTAIN OF TEH CARPET SHIP!

I am looking forward to some insight into the Mac Office 12!

It looks like the RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0 feeds don't include full text.  It'd be great if they did, since it'd make the posts a lot easier to read.  And I'm definitely looking forward to reading them....

Hello MacBU, is it true that Office 12 for Universal Mac's is slower compared to the Windows version running in XP on the same machine? Can you explain how such a technical difference might occour at the 1/0 level? How many lines of code is the Windows version compared to the Mac version.

Asam aka B-Punk

Oh, PS have you seen http://mydreamapp.com, it a super spiffy idea wot

The "read more" link doesn't work from RSS.

Oh btw, can't you make the style of this site more Mac like? Match it to styles in MacBU products

I'd love to read about the next version of Office--when it's coming out, what will be in it, etc. I'll check back.

Asam - Given that neither WinOffice nor MacOffice are released, and only WinOffice is currently in beta, how could anyone have heard anything about relative performance?

The Mac underground has always had it's ways of finding pre-released software and beta code Nadyne, if you know where to look Or so I've heard, and can neither confirm anything nor deny anything, apart from the existance of the FORCE.....

Eric and Markus,

You should be able to view the full text of each post (from now on) from your RSS/Atom reader. Thanks!

Greetings folks at MacBU
some inside view of next products for mac would be the spice on your blogs...

Glad to see you guys out there with a blog, it is all too easy for Microsoft bashing - have done it myself a few times in the past! Couldnt live without Office though & Excel rates in my top ten favourite ever programs - in fact somewhere I still have v 1.01 on Mac floppys!

Hope you get a positive response - dont think I can look at office quite the same knowing that a professional clown has been involved!!!

Regards

Julian

I check this blog because I am eager for the day when the PC/Mac transition is seamless.  It is almost, but not quite there.  Entourage is the real sticker - so this is my plug to get your PC peers to let you develop a killer and better Outlook like app.

I would be interested to find out why there are so few updates to the Office software. Companies much smaller than yours provide updates quite often.

Nice. Glad to have you in the Mac blog scene. And the blog looks classy, like much of the Mac BU.

Now, let's talk about that *&^$ Word normal template and just how flaky it is ...

much love,

john laudun

Great idea- it means we see a human face to the MBU. Thanks. Looking forward to reading your thoughts and getting some insight...

Thanks you for your blog!

It will be certainly interesting to have your view on Leopard and how you will use leopard's technologies to increase your next software (office ?)

Hello MacBU, nice to read you (from Paris)

Jérôme

Hi MacBU... looking forward for all info regarding Office for Mac. Looking forward for Universal version of Office, since currently it runs reaaally slow on the MacBook. ;D

From Yuza - visit us at id-mac.org! ;p~

Well, I'd like to thank the MBU team for reaching out to  Mac Office users for their feedback and comments. I am particularly interested in seeing a topic initiated on your recently announced decision to eliminate VB-based macros from the next universal version. I believe this sets the stage for more unwelcome divergences between Windows-based Office and Mac Office. Personally I have no great love for Windows-based office, but I am literally forced to deal with it on a daily basis in my work environment. The absence of a totally compatible platform on the Mac (still the current state in my opinion) is a major annoyance. I am beginning to think the only real Mac solution for this situation isn't Mac Office at all, but rather running Windows-Office on the Mac in Parallel or with the upcoming WINE-type environments (crossover or whatever; we'll see when its released). Where does that leave Mac-Office? Perhaps to set its own course (seems like that is maybe your decision too?). I think it would be interesting in discussing what is probably the most controversial strategic decision your division has ever made (perhaps short of crippling Entourage and failing to make it all that it could be in Windows-based organizations). I am new to blogs so perhaps you could set up an appropriate arena for what I am fairly certain will be some interesting discussion.

Hi Mac BU, just wanted to say what a pity that you have dropped VBA for the next iteration of Office for the Mac.  I work with PCs and Macs and regularly I take work home to work on VBA code.  This for me means that I will be delaying upgrading Office as much as I can.  From a student developer point of view, I really appreciate you posting a blog, it is interesting for those of us working/studying on both sides of the Mac/Microsoft line.

PLZ RELEASE NOW OFFICE FOR MAC INTELS!

Hello,

Thank you for starting the blog. I hope it goes well.

How is Office:Mac for Intel Macs coming along? Do you have some idea of when it might be released?

Maybe you could post some information about the project and/or approaches to it.

Thank you.

I'd love to be able to post product feedback.  I personally want MSN Messenger for the Mac to be improved seriously.  Yahoo did a great job with their latest Yahoo Messenger beta.  Why can't Microsoft do the same?

Hey, I enjoy your programs, keep up the good work.

Welcome to the world.  I'm glad you're hear and hope you're ready to listen.

So over here @ Skype we love the fact that the MacBU are blogging like we are! Good to see.

Keep up the good work and looking forward to an Intel version, and I know it's never going to happen - but it'd be nice to get a proper Outlook client.

Ryan.

PS. Do you offer any sort of Beta testing program? If so please contact me privately - ryan DAWT hunt AT skype DAWT net

Thanks for taking the time to chat.. I appreciate it..  

Good idea guys. Now, if only you could just get with the plan and use OSX's address book instead of having to use your own one, I could use Entourage again!

PLEASE when are we gonna get a proper MSN Messenger ???? For when the Video ??? Yahoo is doing really good job so far. PLEASE !!!!

Congratulations to the MacBU for this new blog! It's really good to have some kind of human interaction behind all the code.

I'll have to agree with lazonacafe, who stated above about a place (Either here on Mac Mojo or in Mactopia) where users could place feedback about products. Sometimes using the web form in Mactopia seems empty, as if you are writing on a paper and then throwing it in a abyss.

I'm a Mac user for as long as I can remember (Starting with an Apple II), and I'm currently working as an IT Specialist on a company with an all Windows network. My Mac has been able to keep up fine, but there are areas that do need improvement. We have just installed Microsoft Office Communicator for instance, and my Messenger for Mac can connect, but there are many things I can't take advantage of.

In the other hand there is Remote Desktop Connection, which has not seen an update for quite a while, I use it everyday (Along with a third party plug-in) to connect to our 15 servers, and to be honest, it terrifies me the idea that you may pull the plug on it.

Last but not least, there is Office. To be honest, I love MS Office, either for Macintosh or for Windows (MS should really think about releasing a Linux version). I was able to install it since we receive CD through our Software Assurance contract, and boy it really helps me get the work done! Of course, a UB version would't hurt at all Also, an Outlook-like version for the Mac is overdue, neither Entourage nor Apple Mail.app have what it takes to tackle corporate email needs.

Best regards!

I don't have a very good taste in my mouth when it comes to blogs; they usually degenerate into mindless ego blather about "me" or have little relevance to things that concern me.  

One thing that concerns me when it comes to Microsoft is trying to convince MacBu to port Trips and Streets over to the Mac, as I have seen nothing like it on the Mac.  Even Garmin doesn't support the Mac except for their new micro SD chips that sell for $299.00 retail.

Another concern of mine is that MacBu stay true to the spirit of the Mac:  Functional simplicity and user-based software (as opposed to business-based software.

I changed from Windows to OS X because I thought Apple was and is more tuned into users, while Microsoft was almost completely weighted down by business and legacy issues that actual users could care less about. I'm not quarreling with the dollars and cents of this strategy; but it doesn't do a lot for me.

Is this the right place to articulate concerns such as this?

Usability Engineers? You have more than one now? When did that happen?

Indeed we do! I'd venture we probably have more devs, testers, pgms, marketing etc folk since you were here too. :- )

One suggestion I'd make for your blog is to put a headshot of the author with an article.  It's nice to have a more obvious visual cue as to who's doing the writing and it makes your blog seem more personable.