MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

Jan 03, 08 - 05:23 pm Comment from: tenderisthemind

I think it's fair to assume Microsoft will get a bit of "stage time" at Macworld. They make one of the most important pieces of software for the platform! I mean, besides iLife, what else comes closer than Office in terms of Mac market saturation? And iLife is BUNDLED.

Jan 03, 08 - 05:26 pm Comment from: the other steve jobs

its 2008, and there is still no working full version of Outlook for anthing other than Windows.

F Microsoft and all the IT folks that demand users use windows by choosing Exchange

"It's been four years since Office for Mac, the one piece of software that every professional Mac owner must have, has felt its creator's touch."

I don't agree, ever since I installed iWork, I have yet to open MS Office on my Mac. In fact, I am thinking about trashing it.

Jan 03, 08 - 05:30 pm Comment from: Tommy Boy

3G iPhone? As much as I'd like it, it's about 3-6 months too early for that. We won't see that til the Asian roll-out begins in the Spring. We may see new iPhone software and a 16GB version, which will be a essentially a footnote unless Steve decides to talk SDK.

MDN don't be surprised if Steve brings an Microsoft exec out on stage.

Sure we'll see a new Mac or two or three. But the full line-up revamp that Yager hopes for is just overboard.

MS Office isn't anywhere on my things to buy list - I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I speak for more than just myself.

I use office about once a month. I can't justify spending the HUGE amount of money for that software that MS charges. I'll make do without the update.

It might happen. Remember Motorola's headlining a previous Macworld. A lot of hype about the ROKR being compatible with iTunes. While Motorola displayed its product, Jobs just stood in the background. When Motorola was done, Jobs pulled out the Nano and Motorola was done.

The same thing could happen with Microsoft. Gates could come and show off the wonders of Office for the first hour. Afterwards, Jobs reveals the Apple Teleportation device or more likely, the Apple Music Label. Either one would have the same effect.

"must have"? I use Word at work and it makes me want to blow my brains out it sucks so bad.

Jan 03, 08 - 05:36 pm Comment from: The Rev.

If the best thing about the new Office suit is the features it stole from iWork, I don't see why it would be the "Headliner" at the event, it just don't make no sense.

Jan 03, 08 - 05:50 pm Comment from: Mel Gross

Yager's been around a long time, and has covered the Mac when most others were shunning it. I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss what he says in an offhand way, even if he proves to not be totally correct.

Unless Office has a complete rewrite, not just an upgrade, it will soon follow the Microsoft course and be swept away

No one needs the dinosaur MS Office.

Only the smallest parts of Office 2008 are Objective-C, 99% of that monstrosity is Carbon.

*flush*

I think one thing these pundits that are talking about the "inevitability" of Office 2008 adoption on the Mac are forgetting is that it's an entirely new product.

The theory goes that Office is "familiar" and once made available, looking at a 100% adoption rate. The reality is that Office 2008 users will have to take classes to use the thing it's so different from the last version.

The factor no one seems to be considering is that if you have to learn a whole new way of doing things, then one can as easily learn the "iWork way" as the "MS Office" way.

Where I work, we will have to have training classes etc. for the Office rollout so we are intending to include iWork tutorials as well. In May we will be reading articles about how the Mac Office adoption was "a lot slower than expected."

Jan 03, 08 - 05:59 pm Comment from: HueyLong

Mel Gross: Seems like you covered all the bases there bro'. Nice going.

ChrissyOne: I don't know about you... is that Seattle rain getting you waterlogged, or are we on different wavelengths, babe?

"...Office for Mac, the one piece of software that every professional Mac owner must have..."

Oh yeah, I am a professional user and I don't use office at all. My business has been running for years with iWork, Billings and Adobe.

Jan 03, 08 - 06:01 pm Comment from: ericdano

Headline at MacWorld will be the early release of the SDK for the iPhone, the dropping of the VGA port in new macs in favor of a Display Port. New monitors that have the display port and that are touch screens.

Oh, and a new ultra light laptop that will blow everyone away.

Did anyone mention that Microsoft is the last developer on planet Earth to release a universal binary version?

Was M$ on stage last year? I think it has been a couple of expos since Ho was on stage to bore us with M$ products.

Time for Steve to suck up a little and let them on stage again.

I usually agree with Yager, but not this time. Word has never been my daily WP. While I like Pages, I'm still using my trusty AppleWorks because...
...it still has features that Pages doesn't have, like mail merge.
...formatting and adding pictures in Word is a pain in the a@#
...what other WP has a spreadsheet, database, draw, & paint modules all linked together?
I use Word about once a month to open a document from some dumb fool who still uses that clunky bloatware.

Jan 03, 08 - 06:23 pm Comment from: cuz i'm the taxman

There was a tobacco shop on the Ave when I was a student in Seattle many moons ago. Signs in the window: "We have cigarettes." "You want!" "On sale! On sale! " The thing is, I did want, and badly.

iWork is just not advanced enough. Even for high school and college students, Pages does not have enough going for it. Though I do not like Microsoft Office, I have realized there is no alternative at the moment that supplies as advanced and useful features.

Yes, it's a dinosaur and it's terrible, but unfortunately, for now there is nothing better, something I am incredibly disappointed by constantly.

(Can you even make mailing labels in pages?)

Jan 03, 08 - 06:39 pm Comment from: MCCFR

I have some spreadsheets that demand Excel, unless I re-engineer them.

Other than that, I haven't started Word or Powerpoint to produce a document in anger for well over two years and the documents that my consultancy produces specifically mention Pages and Apple's £55.00 iWork '08 on the back cover.

We will not be purchasing MS Office 2008 until our customers demand it, and we're trying to ensure they never do.

Anthony writes...Yes, it's a dinosaur and it's terrible, but unfortunately, for now there is nothing better, something I am incredibly disappointed by constantly.

Yes Anthony, there is something far better. Apple's discarded AppleWorks program is STILL superior to Word. By the way mailing labels are a snap in AppleWorks, as is any other project.

“the documents that my consultancy produces specifically mention Pages and Apple's £55.00 iWork '08 on the back cover.”

Wow, you just won fanboy of the day

Jan 03, 08 - 07:15 pm Comment from: HolyMackerel

My rumour is that the iPhone SDK will be released early at MW 08 (not Feb 08) and the keynote will be recapping the great financials and showing off some of the cool apps they have created and are ready for release.

Jan 03, 08 - 07:16 pm Comment from: Zune Tang®

I for one am delighted Microsoft will headline Macworld Expo 2008. Someone has to bring jaw dropping innovation, good taste and customer-focused technology to this thing, and we all know it ain't gonna be Apple. I predict Microsoft will be there to announce the I-MAC Zune in brown which can download ads from Zune Marketplace and sync them with Windows Mobile devices wirelessly through the I-MAC Zune Live Docking Station Ultimate Edition. I don't know why Apple even tries after being outclassed by the geniuses in Redmond. Again.

Your potential. Our passion.™

I am successfully running my business without one single Micros**t product, hardware or software.

It can be done people. Let the "Zune Tang" types endure the wretched dog's dinner that is 'Windows' for the rest of their lives.
Don't attack them, pity them.

I would encourage all you fellow Apple fans to put your money where your mouth is and dump Micros**t for good.

Jan 03, 08 - 07:28 pm Comment from: Real IT Guy

Anthony,

Go get NeoOffice. Mailing labels are a snap.

Jan 03, 08 - 07:32 pm Comment from: Me In LA

God.
Maybe some of you can have your Mac sans Office, but for those of us stuck working for a living, we must.
You see, as much as we don't like M$, most big companies use their garbage because they've got no balls.
Office is a must, sadly.
At least this is a good update - no really huge improvements over 2004 as far as Entourage goes, but at least they had the decency to put the "out of office" option there.
And, it is decently fast.

Microsoft(R)

Your rut. Our revenue.

Jan 03, 08 - 07:34 pm Comment from: Me In LA

@Zune Tang

Please, give it up.
Do us all a favor in 2008 and go to another board.
The schtick is way too old now.

Jan 03, 08 - 07:36 pm Comment from: shen

"I think that the headliner there, although Mac heads will be loath to acknowledge it, will be Microsoft"

it isn't so much "loath to acknowledge" as "noticing that office is less and less relevant.

....maybe they should try making good software and keeping it up to date. but then that would be 180 degrees from what they do today in every other part of the company, so.....

"...the one piece of software that every professional Mac owner must have..."

What rubbish!

I'm a professional Mac owner and if I have anything to say about it (and I do) it's highly unlikely (on second thought... let's just impossible) that Microsoft's bloated carcass of a software suite (or any MS product) is ever going to infest my new 17" MacBook Pro... or any other Mac I get from here on.

I learned my lesson dealing with Office 2000. iWork apps also helped.

Well, I'm a professional, and even on my ancient Thinkpad I don't use any MS products beyond a lean, buttoned down win2k. Firefox, OpenOffice works just fine. Never would know I needed MSOffice. On the Mac side, no MS software at all, and I function just fine. Firefox, Safari, Adobe, iWork, etc. What does MS make that anyone really needs, if you think about it? Visio? Project? I can live without them. Outlook? The biggest mess I ever got involved with, and I'm so glad I trashed it 4 years ago. Just overkill. Didn't need it and it's overhead. I'm completely looking at the rest of the world and finding everything I need, a lot of it free, or nearly free. I wonder how long the empire will be able to hide behind it's walls before they crumble...

Jan 03, 08 - 07:55 pm Comment from: izod

We all know that we can open .doc files with TextEdit right?

Sometimes the formatting isn't exact, but it saves me having to open Word on a regular basis (and I know my Mac is more stable if Word is NOT running).

I predict an ultraslim 10 and 13in macbook with a touchscreen keyboard like the iphones screen only bigger, where you can switch on and off extra keys and functions. Kinda like two screens hinged together with the bottom one being multitouch.

Comment from: Me In LA
God.
Maybe some of you can have your Mac sans Office, but for those of us stuck working for a living, we must.
You see, as much as we don't like M$, most big companies use their garbage because they've got no balls.
Office is a must, sadly.

Office is NOT a must! Who do you think the rest of us are? We are not unemployed, homeless people. We are working professionals who have found MANY different ways to be MS free. In the process, we are more productive, less frustrated, have more space on our hard drives, and more money in our pockets! I am really sick and tired of all the whiny people who just accept the FUD that MS is necessary.

Does anyone recall Jobs' joke about a 10" iPod during one of the events last year? Methinks Jobs has really begun to enjoy the attention and play with it-- like his comment about TV being a hobby. That was an obvious misdirection that causes people to intensify interest, not ignore it.

If Jobs jokes about a 10" iPod to an eager crowd, you had bet he has seen a 10" iPod and loves teasing everyone.

I am starting to think ChrissyOne is Zune Tang.

Why isn't Chrissy here when Zune Tang is?

Very very interesting.

@w8 n c

Yeah... HueyLong comments as if she is where but she ain't here.

Where is MDN without the intelligent lady we all like to read.

Microsoft better pray that they are not the lead story from Macworld. If they are, it will shine that much more light on all of the things that MS deliberately left out of Office 2008 (VBA support, full Exchange support most notably).

I am with the anti-macrosloth campaigners.

iWorks just fine for me... and if jobs wants to introduce a newer version - I welcome it.

My New Years Resolution:
to COMPLETELY remove any application that MacroSloth has anything to do with. Yes, that means FireFox too.

I want all Apple and any free developers innovation.

Example, recently, I am toying with the application DrewBerry - thanks to whomever mentioned it. It does what LineForm and Intaglio do as far as using Apples CoreGraphics for Vector drawing. It's Free and I have spoken with the Author who said he will keep it free. Sure it's not perfect, but nor is MS OFFICE.

Those are the joys I find in the MAC COMMUNITY.


Apple or free - that's for me!

Jan 03, 08 - 08:33 pm Comment from: 84 Mac Guy

If Yager is correct, Apple can have a pile of goat cheese do the keynote because MacWorld will be a snoozer.

"like his comment about TV being a hobby. That was an obvious misdirection that causes people to intensify interest, not ignore it."

Now if only some of those interested people would buy it.

@eitltd

I hear you loud and clear!
Not all businesses need Office.

300 people here in mine... all use TextEdit and NeoOffice - and some of us who asked - that's about 37 are using iWorks.

We get .DOC from clients but only read them or grab text "copy" to fit ads.

iWorks is doing very well.

Only Excel was a strong hold in daily office use but NeoOffice offered the same advantages of MS Office. So bye bye...
Done the battle is over.

At home - no MacroSloth crap. That is my goal.
Windows Media Player gone last year. I even had a old IE still on my machine. THANKS AppDelete for helping me say bye bye to the useless stuff.

"I am successfully ruining my business without one single Micros**t product, hardware or software." (sic)

Just imagine what you could do with the power of MicroShaft behind you!

@ @R--

Oh ye of little memory...

iPod didn't seel hugely right off the bat either. Most people didn't know what to do with it. Early sales fluctuated, then when the great unwashed became a bit more sophisticated, iPod exploded.

TV is a different animal, but it was introduced without the same oompf. Yet, there is a great deal of promise and sales are not considered to be a failure either-- even though the product caters to only half the US population (with HDtvs).

Hobbies are hobbies because they're fun, engaging, and challenging. Otherwise, we'd give them up and call them... well... over. TV will sell more. Early sales mean little. For a reminder:

iPod sales chart: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ipod_sales.svg

It would be a stroke of genius.

Until my grad school supports Pages, the word it is for me. It also doesn't help in that Pages does not do endnotes. My MA thesis relies on endnotes beyond a work cited. For as much as iWork, I use Keynote and Numbers all the tim, yet Pages still is the underdog in the academic world.

Steve would take the stage in a chartreuse bikini top instead of his beloved black turtleneck before Microsoft would ever headline a MacWorld. Sure, they might introduce new products but headline? No way. My money's on new hardware, iPhone firmware and new partnerships.

Student

for Academic writing try Mellel

http://www.redlers.com/