Agree fully the slow loading on a ppc imac is a real pain, the rest of it could be fantastic but each time I load a document its slow enough to annoy me each time before I do anything.

Simply doesn't inspire confidence.

On the optimistic side its no where as bad as WordPerfect for Windows 5.2. That was the slowest and most bug ridden word processor money could possibly buy (it made MS Office for Mac 98 look good).

I have been using MS Office 2008 for Mac since its release. Once its launched and cached it seems to open rather rapidly on subsequent sessions. With EndNote X2 scheduled for release mid-year EndNote will finally be supported. However, the citation manager within MS Office 2008 will suit many users requirements. I have been doing rather large and complex documents in Word 2008 (500 pages with citations, embedded process diagrams, 100's tables etc) and found it rather stable and very easy to use (and very compatible with colleagues using Office 2007 for Windows)

The only gripe I have is Entourage which keeps to destroying my .Mac account synced address books (i now have six entries for everything - and when I delete one - all remaining five entries on the next sync are deleted - grrr).

The only other issue I have noticed is the cursor disappearing in Word 2008, so your not sure where you are.

This only seems to happen in some documents, and it might also be a memory issue as I only have a 1GB of ram.

Any reasonably informed opinions as to whether to run Office via Windows in Fusion, or to run Office Mac - I have to get Office and I'd rather only have to get a Mac or Win version, but not both!!

I'm very happy with iWork anyway (for personal stuff), but the requirement for Office is very much work driven.

Having an intel mini at home and using my G4 PB most days, both running Office 2004 (and iWork 06) I've noticed that Word/Excel are both faster on the G4 PB than on the intel mini. Yes, this is because Office 2004 isn't intel native, but the sheer slowness of every aspect of the experience is ridiculous on the mini. It's like Office is a Java app, it's that bad.

Where I work we have had a lot of mac users complaining about the slowness of Office 08, too.

Okay.. after 3 months with Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac I have finally switched over to Microsoft Office 2007 for Windows in VMWare. These are my observations with Microsoft Office 2008:

- If use the bibliography function it does not do APA style correctly (e.g. if you have two references, such as Smith 2005 "The Story" and Smith 2005 "The Next Story" it will represent both inline as Smith 2005 without 2005a or 2005b)

- If the bibliography gets rather complex and you use cross references for figures it can develop an endless loop when it regenerates all the figures for printing. The package will sit for 5-10 minutes and then generate a error saying "It cant open any more files" (seems to enter an endless loop). I tried divide and conquer to resolve this issue but had no luck in extracting the section which was weird (well - I did - it was somewhere within 20 pages)

- If you use an iDisk you will randomly get a message saying it cannot connect to the network disk and save the documents. Even reverting to a local disk will not avert this issue when you try and save the document originally opened from the iDisk

- It has the tendency to randomly crash and not recover the work even though it does do a auto save occassionally

At this point in time its not ready for the prime time if your work involves anything complex. If you require bibliography support use MS Office 2004 for Mac and EndNote or alternatively switch to MS Office 2007 for Windows and EndNote. However, if you work is nothing complex its still not a bad suite - just a bit slow to open up (Word and Excel - PowerPoint is rapid since 12.0.1 update).

At this point in time its not ready for the prime time if your work involves anything complex. If you require bibliography support use MS Office 2004 for Mac and EndNote or alternatively switch to MS Office 2007 for Windows and EndNote.[/quote]

MS Office 2004 for Mac and EndNote still works for me (using both right at the moment). I will not be in a hurry to upgrade.

Thanks for the observations.

ok this prob doesnt belong here but i need help. on my macbook using microsoft word 2004 when opening a document the file tabs that usually drop down menus are missing. the ones that are missing are, file, view and format where as i can see edit, insert, font, window and work and help. How can i get back the file, view and format drop down tabs back?

Love the article and all of the discussion! All very constructive.

It's iWork for me however I'm forced to use MS Office 08 for Mac for my uni reports as iWork lacks any inbuilt referencing tool...

All in all I'll deal with it.

My mbp died and i was forced to go do my assignment on my sisters pc laptop. it made me realise how good iwork is and i missed it so...

its ability to let the average user create professional looking documents shatters microsoft word. i love the ease of things like inserting images automatically and how it shows everything is lining up properly , editing tables by adding rows and columns so simply as it sits in the toolbar. its just made to be quick, easy and effective.

i feel like whenever im doing something on microsoft word i have to go exploring through the menus and just click on stuff randomly and hope thats what i wanted.

i also love the templates that come with it and allow me to create sleek looking documents quickly

ive only done assignments using harvard referencing so havent needed a referencing tool, but i never knew there wasnt one. im sure its not to hard to add little numbers then put the reference in the footer but ay

all in all i looove iwork and love how my assignments turn out

have you tried Sente with iWork? i think it works pretty well. i've never used Office, so i can't compare it with that though. Sente has a 30day trial so it's worth a try

Seeing that everybody loves Office:Mac 2008, does anybody care to buy a copy off me for $40 plus shipping? Not a pirated copy, of course. The company I work for is firmly in bed with MS, so I get to buy MS stuff for home use at a token price. One only.

I got the 2004 version for my wife, doesn't really excite, and I'd use NeoOffice any day...

Cheers
Steffen.

'Office:Mac 2008, does anybody care to buy a copy off me for $40 plus shipping? Not a pirated copy, of course. The company I work for is firmly in bed with MS, so I get to buy MS stuff for home use at a token price. One only.

Cheers
Steffen.[/quote]

Would be happy to oblige. I will send a PM.

And I know you said one only, but if dappleone falls through or you come across another copy I would also be happy to oblige!

Hi richbowen

I have had no reply from dotnet. Perhaps you will have more success.

Cheers.