Filed under: Software
Office 2008 for Mac versions and pricing announced
I'm becoming the Microsoft Office Maven here at TUAW it would seem (which isn't as cool as being TUAW's iPhone hacker, Erica, but I'll take what I can get). The latest news from our friends at Redmond concerns editions and price (Oh! Pricing!). There will be three different flavors of Office 2008 for the Mac, and they are as follows:
- Microsoft Office 2008 for the Mac: This is the core version of the productivity suite which includes Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Entourage. This version includes some Automator workflows, as well as Exchange support in Entourage (you'll see why I mention this in a moment). You can pick this version up for $399.95 (US) for the full retail version and $239.95 for an upgrade.
- Microsoft Office for the Mac Home and Student Edition: This is aimed at the segment of the market that needs to edit documents and such, but isn't in an Exchange environment. As such the version of Entourage included in Home and Student Edition does not support Exchange, nor do you get Automator workflows with this edition. This edition only comes in the full retail flavor for $149.95 (which isn't a bad price at all, though this one is a no go for me).
- Microsoft Office for Mac Special Media Edition: This one is interesting. It includes everything in the core suite (including Exchange support) as well as a full version of Microsoft Expression Media for Mac for $499.95 or $299.95 for the upgrade.
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Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
Xo said 10:05AM on 9-25-2007
this is the first time in awhile that i don't think i would take the upgrade ... even if it was free.
why support a software company that keeps on putting out software late, feature bloated, yet incomplete from original intention for the upgrade, and so it gives me very little reason to upgrade?
other than:
1. they are slowly ending support for previous version
2. the new one utilizes the new cpus that apple switched over to now awhile ago
3. it will be compatible with the latest window's version of office.
...
so i'm giving iWork 08 a try. it has some quirks, but it does what i ask it mostly. and at a much better price point.
i think the comment might be right that they are wanting to kill off the mac bu.
apple should buy out the mac bu and squash the bloat to make it worthwhile software to be on a mac. make mail.app better and add in exchange support. then *bam* bob's your uncle.
well, uncle once removed and that you never talk about again!
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Graham Hall said 10:25AM on 9-25-2007
Would it really hurt them to come out with one version that does everything and is reasonably priced?
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Dave said 11:06AM on 9-25-2007
I'm surprised at how few people have mentioned
NEO, OpenOffice.org, thinkfree.com, or zoho.com.
The latter two are online, less hard-disk space.
Open Office has been my favorite for years.
I hope this helps other budget-minded students.
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Will Royall said 11:24AM on 9-25-2007
Don't count on getting full Exchange support with the new Entourage. If you have been keeping up with the MacBU's blogs they have pretty much said that it will only have a few improvements - it probably won't even synch your notes and tasks either.
However, I am fascinated by Microsoft Expression Media for Mac. I have used the Windows version and I like it. It is a LOT more standards complient than Frontpage ever dreamed of being. Hopefully there will be a demo that I can download and check it out.
With OpenOffice and NeoOffice and Pages, Keynote, and Numbers in place Word, Excel, and Powerpoint can be skipped by many.
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Todd said 11:49AM on 9-25-2007
Hm the total cost of 3 versions of iWork is still less than the cost of one upgrade for Office, and iWork has been updated each year. It just proves itself to me over and over that deciding not to have Microsoft products on my machine is the right decision.
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geochick said 1:56PM on 9-25-2007
iWork 08 does more than what I need to do at home. Office 2003 on Win XP is doing the work stuff at work. I'm all set... I've been transferring documents from iWork to Office 2003 just fine for those few times that I have to work on something at home.
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Big John said 2:28PM on 9-25-2007
When the new iWork came out, I grabbed the demo. I bought it the next day. It replaced both the old PPC Office I had installed as well as Office 2k7 running in Parallels. Sometimes the import of Office files is a little flakey but all-in-all they aren't big issues. I won't even consider Office 2k8 for Mac unless it gets sub-$100 (it won't).
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tevetorbes said 11:09PM on 9-25-2007
As a grad student in the natural sciences (chemistry), there is no better friend than EndNote.
Unfortunately, EndNote and Pages (what a joke it is for scientific writing) do not get along.
Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be caught dead using Powerpoint- its Keynote all the way. And there are plenty of better options for data analysis than *barf* excel for scientists.
The reality is that tiddly-wink opensource stuff is fine for most everyday things and pages is great for making a flyer for your open-mic gig at the local coffee shop, but I can't keep up with hundreds of references over 200 some pages with either of those.
Now, were that ability available in these other alternatives, I'd be all over any of them. But until then, i just got one question: When does it come out and give it to me.
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dearscar said 6:36AM on 9-27-2007
"The US versions have been priced at $US170 for Home and Student, $US460 for standard and $US570 for Media Edition. There is currently no price list for Australian customers.
Microsoft is promising customers who purchase the current version of Office between now and February 29, an upgrade to Office 2008 for $27."
quoted from: http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/microsoft-previews-office-2008-for-mac/2007/09/26/1190486364172.html
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Sylvain Goulet said 4:32PM on 9-29-2007
I am a real "power" user of the type of software in MS Office. When I switched to the Mac, I also tried out iWork '06 and I have since updated to iWork '08. I had great expectations for the spreadsheet program Numbers to replace Excel, but unfortunately it does not come close to Excel in almost all respects. However, if you accept that Numbers is in fact NOT supposed to replace Excel, then it is a great program on its own. In summary, here is my summary of MS Office vs iWork & Mac, and I doubt that MS Office '08 will change my views (on a scale of 1 to 10):
Word = 6.0 vs Pages = 9.5 (there are still some bugs in Pages)
PowerPoint = 7.0 vs Keynote = 10.0 (unbeatable)
Excel = 9.5 vs ......... no comparison
.......... vs Numbers = 8.0 (for what it is supposed to do)
Entourage = 7.0 vs Mail = 10.0 (scary unbeatable)
So I just wish I could buy Excel by itself.
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artifex said 7:02AM on 9-30-2007
Pages, at least the '06 version, has cross compatibility issues with .docs. Which means people working in a mixed environment, where they have to share .docs, really need to spring for Office anyway.
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Jason said 1:47AM on 10-01-2007
ok,ok, i must rip the curtains from your eyes.
iwork is amazing. a wonderful piece of software that I love.
but please, do not say it is cheaper than MS Office, if anything it costs as much if not more!
Office 2004 = 339 on amazon right now
iwork 04 = 80
iwork 05 = 80
iwork 06 = 80
iwork 07 = 80
iwork 08 = 80
this = 400 dollars. so it is not cheaper. if apple offered upgrades, sure, but they do not. if you factor in the student version, you pay for it in 2 years of iwork releases.
with that said, i do not use ms office. I use iwork and I love it. for everything else, theres openoffice and textedit.
but please, hate on office all you want, but do not hate on it because it is so much more than iwork.
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Jodi Shore said 9:41AM on 10-05-2007
I would also like to know when it may be coming out to purchase? I'm getting frustrated with Office 04, it's slow and tends to crash a lot. If anyone has any idea of a release date...please let me know.
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nils said 2:28PM on 12-04-2007
I'm a recent convert to the Macbook Pro. I still need to be a heavy user of Word and Excel and need to share documents with PC users. Given the prices (and the fact that I have students in my household that will be using these apps as well), is there a reason I would not want to use the office student edition?
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