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| Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac | 
 enlarge | From: Microsoft Software
Category: Software
List Price: $399.95
Buy New: $125.00
You Save: $274.95 (69%)
New (50) Used (8) from $125.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  75 reviews
Sales Rank: 186
Format: Dvd-rom
Platforms: Macintosh, Mac Os X
Media: DVD-ROM
Edition: Standard
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0.1 x 0
MPN: 73101727
Model: 73101727
UPC: 605433009974
EAN: 0605433009974
Release Date: January 15, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Bloated, but does the job December 11, 2008
All I needed to do was to read and write MS Word and Excel documents on my Mac. I tried using iWork, but it wasn't as compatible as it claimed to be, with all the formatting getting messed up.
The MS Office products are generally bloated, with far more features than I need. The install took several hours to complete, counting all the updates that needed to be downloaded and installed, each of which required a password. I never did get the registration process completed - the page just hangs on the "wait" indicator and never finishes loading.
However, the MS Office products flawlessly read MS Office documents from the PC without loss of formatting. I can't speak about how well the advanced features work because I simply don't need or use them, but the basic features work just fine and the programs do exactly what I need them to do. It is pricey, but if you need Office compatibility with the PC, this is the best way to get it.
 Waiting paid off December 11, 2008
I have been a loyal user of Microsoft products made for the Mac, such as Word and Excel for several years, even before these programs were incorporated into the Office suite. Every time a new version was released, I generally postponed upgrading for a few months due to the number of negative reviews posted by the early adopters and simply waited for the bugs to be fixed.
Following the release of this 2008 version of Microsoft Office 2008 I again read a lot of complaints about various problems encountered by people who apparently can't wait to own the latest edition of any sort of product. When I finally got around to purchasing the 2008 version myself I didn't encounter any problems with either the Word or the Excel programs, which are the only ones that I use on a day to day basis. Sure there were some adjustments that I had to make due to some changes in the programs from their earlier versions, but once I had tweaked each program to my own requirements I found them both to be quite serviceable and I have yet to notice any of the problems that others had mentioned, such as not being able to utilize documents or spreadsheets generated by previous versions of the software or email recipients not being able to read some documents.
This product has an auto-update program built into it that will check online periodically to see whether there are any software updates or fixes that need to be obtained. I have downloaded a couple of those on occasions although I had not experienced any problems in using the products prior to doing so. I can only assume that the problems experienced by the early adopters have since been remedied through updates since the programs have worked fine for me.
Well Worth Buying or Upgrading to December 11, 2008
Two important features of Office for Mac 2008 that you'll probably never notice is that fact that it now runs natively on Intel Macs and that it's completely compatible with Office for Windows 2007. However I have to say that it took almost twice as long for the newer version of Word to open on my Intel iMac as did the 2004 version. Excel and Entourage opened at just about the same speed. I don't know about Outlook, because I don't use it.
The new Mac version interface is an awful lot like the ribbon interface on the Windows version and all those toolbars are now palettes which I like better. I don't know think this makes it any easier to use, but it's still very Mac like and now more closely resembles it's Windows cousin.
However, even though it's interface has been changed, Word for Mac 2008 isn't all that different from the 2004 version. At least not for most users, but if you are into creating fancy documents, then you're going to like this version, because it's got some nifty desktop publishing tools. If you want, you can be creating flyers and pages that look like they came from an expensive page layout program in no time at all.
And Excel for Mac 2008 has new tools for walking you through formulas and I just love Formula Builder. The Elements Gallery gives you lots of templates for common tasks, like figuring out your household budget for example.
All in all I'd have to say that this program is worth buying and if you already have the 2004 version I think the upgrade is worth it too.
 Improved compatibility a boon for Word users December 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
At this late stage, most everything has been said in these reviews. So I will focus on the one thing about this software that really is a practical improvement for the average, everyday user (i.e not a power user who creates complicated documents in every Office application).
As anyone who shares Word documents with Windows users knows, the newest Windows version changes the default document extension from .doc to .docx (Open XML), which Word 2004 can't open without an upgrade and converter download (and it's nearly impossible to convince these people to simply change the default back to .doc in their preferences, as PC folks are by nature deathly afraid of changing anything on their computers without calling tech support first). This causes a lengthy wait for a document to open during the conversion. Word 2008 eliminates that wait because it is able to open .docx documents, which saves me time and aggravation since I share sometimes of dozens of work documents a day with colleagues on Windows. That compatibility factor alone makes it worth it for me, as I am not a big user of Excel, PowerPoint (don't know how to create documents in them) or Entourage.
If you use Office for mainly word processing (but sometimes need the ability to open and view Excel and PowerPoint documents), a lot of the negatives in these reviews really won't apply to you. But I am of course taking into account that the more I use it, and the more features I attempt to utilize, the more these negatives may become apparent to me too--all these people can't be wrong, so I'm taking away a star because I believe these issues do in fact exist... it is Microsoft, after all. But for now, it's doing what I need it to do. One big con: it is slower than 2004, but I am on an older machine.
A Mac Writer's Best Friend December 10, 2008
I've been using Office 2008 for about three weeks now and I have to say it's a very nice improvement over Office 2004. Actually I only use Word. The other programs I don't need, but Word is a must for me and I have it on my iMac and on my trusty MacBook.
Installation is different than before. Until now you just dragged Office onto your hard drive, and it installed itself when you opened it for the first time, putting the necessary fonts into your library and doing whatever else it had to do, now, like most all Mac programs these days, there is an installer program.
The first thing I noticed was how mac like the program is. If you didn't already know, you'd never know this was a Microsoft program, so Mac like it is. It opens quickly, but I don't have a bunch of fonts installed as I'm a writer and only have two or three that I use, so I've eliminated all the ones I don't need.
There is however a small annoyance I feel I should mention. Microsoft by default saves Word documents in a new .docx format, which doesn't play nicely with other word processors or older versions of Word. Fortunately you can go into Word's preferences and change it to save your work in the old .doc format. If you do this, I think you'll be very satisfied with this worthy upgrade which really makes Office look like it was made for the Mac.
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