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Microsoft updates Office for Mac 2008 and 2004

by Sang Tang Mar 9th 2010 at 5:00PM

Microsoft has just released updates to the 2004 and 2008 versions of Microsoft Office. According to the company, the updates, which weigh in at 9.7 MB and 221.5 MB respectively, provide "fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code" as well as improvements to stability and performance.

The update for Microsoft Office 2004 can be downloaded here, while those with the 2008 version can find it at this link.

As with most Mac OS X-related updates, whether from a third party app or a system update, you should consider backing up your data before proceeding.

Keep in mind, as you install this update, that right around the corner is Microsoft Office for Mac 2011. Notable updates for the next version of the suite for the Mac include the replacement of Entourage with Outlook, the return of VBA and, gasp (or hurrah!), a more ribbon-oriented user interface, à la the Windows version of Office.



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Microsoft has just released updates to the 2004 and 2008 versions of Microsoft Office. According to the company, the updates, which weigh...
 

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Roger

I'll second that-- just installed Office 2008 for Mac a couple of days ago (& it works fine).
After waiting a long time in the installer for SP1 (12.1.0), doing the "Examining additional disks" thing,
it tells me "Installing this software requires 8KB of space". Apparently 170GB free space is less than 8KB somehow.

Wow, installing/updating native Mac apps is always so smooth and quick. Until now.

March 20 2010 at 10:06 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Roger's comment
Roger

... then, if you click on the HD anyway, the message is replaced by,
"ffice 2008 SP1... can't be installed on this disk. A version of the software required to install this update was not found on this volume".

The microsoft site recognizes this problem, but claims that you can still click the Continue button. You can't.

March 20 2010 at 10:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
D

I'm getting the same problem with the installer as well. Stuck at 'Examining additional disks..."
What the...

March 18 2010 at 1:45 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Andy

Am I the only one who has got troubles updating? The installer stops to work when checking the available disks. Anyone?

March 10 2010 at 12:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Daniel K

Well this is interesting, I've updated Office 2008 and now my arrow keys take me in completely the wrong directions, just on Office programmes mind! Immensely frustrating!!

March 10 2010 at 10:48 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Patrick

sod the ribbon interface, can we just have Visual Basic scripting back PLEASE?!

March 10 2010 at 4:43 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Martin

I tried iWork and would love to use it, but it simply IS NOT completely compatible with Word. As I have to exchange documents in a professional business environment I am bound to MS.

March 10 2010 at 2:45 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dragngt

Vulnerabilities in Microsoft software? ORLY?

March 09 2010 at 7:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
digitalsedition

While I have iWork and use Pages and Keynote primarily, there are PLENTY of things that iWork doesn't do well that I still pop into Excel, Powerpoint (gasp) or even Word (double gasp) to do. While iWork is a good entry level substitute, there is enough that you'll have to cover for in more complex environments that avoiding Office can led to a lot of pain and suffering... especially in Graduate and some Professional environments.

March 09 2010 at 6:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to digitalsedition's comment
Connie

I have Parallels where I'm running Office 2007, and I have iWorks on the Mac side. After seeing Mac Office 2008 from one of my classmates (working on my Masters) and how it seamlessly interacted with Office 2007, I immediately bought it. Except for Entourage (which I can't use because it crashes every few minutes), I find the Word / Excel / Powerpoint experience to be quite satisfactory, and especially like the Inspector. I've been able to do many sophisticated activities in Mac Office (like SmartArt), and I find that I'm also able to access my work files without loss of fidelity (which pleases my boss no end, after having screwed up some of his files using iWorks).

As to the interface, it seems to me that there's some "pre-Ribbon" functionality in there, as for example, the Styles have a dropdown type of feel to them like on the Ribbon, yet they can hide when not in use like on the Ribbon. It took me a bit to get used to the Ribbon, and I fairly quickly set up my Quick Access Toolbar to my liking and then hiding the Ribbon except for an occasional click on it to get at something not on my Quick Access Toolbar.

March 15 2010 at 4:07 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dan

"and, gasp (or hurrah!), a more ribbon-oriented user interface, à la the Windows version of Office."

This is a bad thing. I have yet to come across an office user that can stand the ribbon interface. Even the altered interface in Office 2008 is bad compared to 2004, but not nearly as unusable as Office for Windows.

Microsoft even acknowledges that the ribbon interface is bad by hosting an Office 2003 to Office 2007 menu translator. However, not every command is in the new version.

I have had to open some documents in Office 2003 or Office 2004 in order to do something not implemented in Office 2007.

March 09 2010 at 6:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
4 replies to Dan's comment
Johnny Thrash

Some of us actually live in the real world where Microsoft Office is actually used. All software has vulnerabilities, just not usually to the extent Microsoft's software has.

Just patch and go... until the next go round.

March 09 2010 at 6:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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