Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Standard (Upgrade) Review

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(More customer reviews)My friend worked with the MS team on this product. So reading some of the reviews, I've noticed quite a few inaccuracies. I personally have no direct connection with Microsoft and not interested in defending its interests much, but I'm against spreading bogus information.
First of all, there is no "3 strikes you are out" rule with the new Office 2004.
Some people seem to claim that Office 2004 can only be installed 3 times, after which user would have to do a clean re-install of the system. This is completely not true. Student and Teacher, Standard and Professional versions of Office 2004 do not have any special write protection and do not count how many times you install the program on your computer. However, license agreement for Standard and Pro versions states that you can only use one copy of software on one (1) desktop and one (1) laptop computer connected to the same network. Program does indeed check computers connected to the same network for opened Office 2004. If any Office 2004 program is opened on a desktop computer that is connected to the local network, it will refuse to launch until program on other computer is closed.
This is a security measure that doesn't affect regular consumers at all most of the time. The only reason for this is to make sure that small and even big businesses do not use one copy of a program on many computers. There is nothing new here either. Many companies have been utilizing similar security features for quite some time.
Student and Teacher edition which retails for a low price has ALL the features of Standard edition and can even be installed on three (3) computers at the same time.
The down side to it is that Student & Teacher edition cannot be upgraded in the future. But again, is not a big deal since upgrade for Standard version still costs more than full S&T edition. And of course, one must be a student or a teacher to purchase it.
I would recommend upgrading to the Office 2004 for many reasons. Not only you get a more stable programs now but also many new features like advanced Power Point timers, advanced printing themes and previews, audio note taking, a better option grouping and support for long file names, and many more. Most operations now also work faster and smoother.
Just like any new program, of course, Office 2004 will have a fair share of bugs, but they will be taken care of in a timely manner.
My Recommendation: Professional edition is a great buy for those who want to get Virtual PC 7.0 (included), as a VPC7 will retail for over half the price of the Office 2004.
If you are not sure about Office 2004 and would like to take it for a test drive, go to microsoft.com and download a "test drive" version. Try it out for yourself.
Hope this helps.

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Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Student and Teacher Review

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(More customer reviews)Let's face it, no matter how much you love your Mac there are times when you might find yourself wishing it was a PC so you could send a Word file to your PC using friend (who doesn't understand the joys of PDF). Well Microsoft, never being one to miss an opportunity, has delivered the full Office Suite for Mac and designed it to take complete advantage of OS X. What that translates into is simply the best Office Suite experience anyone can have.
All the apps (Word; Excel; PowerPoint; Entourage) are included unencumbered and many have features and enhancements that can ONLY be found on the Mac. Excel features customized keyboard shortcuts and the ability to create transparent charts. Word now features easy one button access to all your contacts in Entourage as well as the handy Data Merge Manager. PowerPoint now allows movies and features full compatibility with QuickTime. The layout and feel of Entourage is much improved over it's PC counterpoint Outlook.
At first Microsoft had said that this Student & Teacher version was non-upgradeable(The only difference between this and the more pricey Standard Edition), but they have since changed their minds to allow upgrades as long as you buy before the new version is released. You even get a three computer license! Finally, here's the proof that Microsoft can be generous when it wants to.
I've had this suite for many months now and have never loved using these apps more. Sending and receiving Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents is a breeze and I've never once had an issue opening a document sent from a PC user. Beyond the functionality, I love the way all these Microsoft apps look like part of OS X in full Aqua glory. If you need to communicate with PC users or simply want the best of both worlds, you can't do any better than running Microsoft Office v.X Student & Teacher edition on a Mac.

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- Marketing Information: Graduate to Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Student and Teacher Edition and let your intellect shine. We took what we learned from thousands of Mac users to design groundbreaking new features that can help you manage, create and share ideas with ease and confidence. Product Information - Software Sub Type: Office Suite - Software Name: Office 2004 Student and Teacher Edition for Mac - Features and Benefits: Project Center: - Manage your projects more efficiently by accessing all of your project-related e-mail messages, files, notes, contacts and schedules in one convenient place. Toolbox: - Quickly access Compatibility Reports, your Scrapbook and the Project Palette from Word, Excel or PowerPoint 2004. Project Gallery: - Quickly find the documents youandquot;ve worked on recently in the gallery, and use the new Learn tab to find instructive sample documents. Compatibility Reports: - Seamlessly share files and project information with almost anyone on a Mac or PC. Now you can quickly identify and resolve version- and platform-related compatibility issues. - Suite Contents: - Word Mac 2004 - Excel Mac 2004 - Power Point Mac 2004 - Entourage Mac 2004 - MSN Messanger for Mac V.4.0

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Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Standard Review

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(More customer reviews)Wow. I said this one word when I started working with Microsoft's latest revision to their suite of software, Office 2004.
Wow. I also remember saying this when I say the gigantic headed Bill Gates up on the video screen behind Steve Jobs a few years ago when Apple and Microsoft agreed to play nice. (OK, there was more to it than just "play nice," but as usual, I digress.)
I do really like Office 2004. I like what I can do better with it. And, there is now also an envy factor. Not only do I have a better operating system at home than at work (my employer is still stuck in XP-land), but I now have a better Office software suite.
Allow me to tell you that I have been an Microsoft Office user for a few years, on both Windows and Mac OS 9. I was very happy with having Office X work so well on cross-platform work (when I travel without my Powerbook, I carry my USB thumb-drive and Office documents are quickly interchanged across operating systems.)
So, I have been very pleased with this latest version of Office. The 2004 suite installs very smoothly (I recommend following the install program, but you can drag-n-drop the entire suite also.)
I won't go into great detail about many of the different features (many Mac websites and magazines are filled with the current buzz about Office) but I will mention some high points and a few quirks.
I loved Project Center. This made Entourage a win for me. Prior to this, I had Office X, but I used Apple's Mail exclusively. Now, I use both (I'll mention this in one of my reviewed quirks below.) The ability to organize, track, and group all my electronic work together (emails, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, contacts, calendars ...) has been very useful. Plus I like the reorganized Entourage viewing panel for reading emails (the email opens and can be viewed to the right of the screen, rather than the traditional top and bottom view.)
Plus I really liked Word's updates in two key areas: Notebook layout and the formatting palette's transparency. The notebook layout helps me to take notes smoothly during presentations. Plus, it has a sound recording option. This was really neat. At a recent User Group meeting on databases, I sat and took notes during the presentation, and recorded the presenter's voice. During playback (90 minutes for about 8 megabytes), my notes are marked to the side by where in the presentation the recorded voice is currently. I'm almost willing to go back to college with this tool! But I can see where it will be useful in my current day to day work also. (I have a colander for a memory retention device, and I'm always taking notes in some form or another.)
Plus, I like the new feature of the formatting palette. When idle (maybe 10 seconds, if I counted), the palette allows the window below to show through, so that I can read my stuff a whole lot easier. Formatting for output is easier with this palette.
I use Excel, and I like it as a simple database. But I didn't see any really killer upgrades (but then I'm not a power user in the Excel world.) I do like how the charts and diagrams seem a whole lot easier now.
I've been a PowerPoint fan for quite a while now. But Apple's Keynote took away most of PowerPoint's thunder with its release. In 2004, PowerPoint fires back and wins back some issues on "Gee-whiz" tricks of animation and preview. The little addition of a timer makes the preview ability (the presentation on a separate screen/projector and the preview screen on your laptop) a key issue for the combination of making smooth and organized presentations. There are a whole new bunch of animation transitions and tricks. But, Keynote still wins in slide transition (the cube transform in PowerPoint falls flat.)
With this segue, I'll mention some of the downsides to Office 2004 which I experienced. In setting up Entourage, I brought over both an IMAP account (my .mac address) and a POP account (another email address). The IMAP works well enough, but I am used to "seeing" the email the Apple Mail way, and it took me a while to get used to seeing my .mac emails not move around as easily in filing (I'd have to copy the email somewhere, then delete it from the IMAP inbox. And my POP account (which worked so easily in Mail), never did get set up. I'm not smart enough to figure it out yet, so I still use Mail. And if Apple gives Mail a revision with at least an option to view emails from the side, rather then from above, I might switch back. All I know is that I like Entourage, but I don't really like it.
And, I encountered a series of application failures in PowerPoint when building a presentation for this review. Every one seemed somehow related to slide animations, but I couldn't see any one issue. For every one, I allowed the program to send its report to Microsoft with some hopes that this might get resolved.
And now, I'll finish by letting you know that Mom always said if I had nothing nice to say, that I ought not say anything at all. I have gotten in trouble with not listening to my Mom before. So with that, I offer my review of MSN Messenger: iChat Rules! But if you want full functionality of Entourage, load Messenger, but don't run it. With it installed, Entourage will let you preview emails when you are running other applications in the foreground (definitely useful feature.)
Lastly, as mentioned at the beginning, I use different Office versions, and I move documents around routinely to others. This Office version has one other neat trick -- a compatibility report. I can check my 2004 documents for compatibility with other versions to see what items might not work well. This is a nice simple feature, and I see this helping me out some also.

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Office 2004 Standard is designed to be a total office package, for Mac users who need compatibility with Windows. Start working with the latest versions of Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint, and Word - with all-new Mac-only features, for a more productive office environment!Add sophistication to your Word documents Soft Drop ShadowsWord Smart Buttons allows users to decline the automatic corrections, bulleting and numberingNew Presenter Tools for Powerpoint - tools like the on-screen clock, notes pane and thumbnail viewer make changes and adjustments simpleEntourage 2004 offers improved junk e-mail protection, better Exchange support, advanced Three Columns and more -- get through your inbox faster than beforeCompatibility Reports determine compatibility between projects in Windows and Mac formatsStay in touch with MSN Messenger for Mac

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