Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home & Student Edition
by Microsoft Software
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Software Reviews of Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home & Student Edition
Customer Review: Finally, software that looks the same on both my Mac and PC
Summary: 5 Stars
I switched from using a PC to a Mac nearly 3 years ago now, and initially, I struggled to figure out a way to replace my favorite or most-used software if an equivalent did not exist in the Mac world. It was hard to let go of one or two things, and others just did not perform the same way when the software was designed for Mac (namely Quicken). I held out on purchasing Microsoft Office for Mac for a long time as a result, using the free NeoOffice and iWork. However, I it was always a hassle, and there were a few formatting issues, so I bit the bullet and bought Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 Home & Student Edition. For once, I am completely satisfied with how it looks and works exactly the same as the 2007 version I have on my PC at work. Bravo! I have no trouble transferring my work documents between each machine, and I never have to worry about formatting issues. Well, that isn't entirely true. Microsoft Word seems to reformat the text size and font at any opportunity, especially when I cut and paste, but I am hoping that is my own lack of understanding of the inner workings. I am always sure there is some little trick I don't know yet, so I will hold judgment. Customer Review: A year later and a generation behind...
Summary: 3 Stars
Short and sweet:
Office 2008: Mac is slightly prettier than Office 2007 for PC, mostly because it emulates the cleaner Mac GUI. That's where the happiness ends.
While being a year more recent than its PC counterpart (Office 2010 having not yet come out at the time of this review), it lacks significant product changes such as Ribbon, a vast change is formatting and presettings that every modern user is going to want standard (albeit still a little cumbersome). It also lacks AutoFill, a feature that allows you to drag over multiple cells and copy formulas without the usual copy and pasting. It sounds simple, but its a big time-saver.
Finally, all of the tools in Office 2008: Mac are contained within a poorly implemented toolbox comparable to Adobe Creative Suite Programs, minus any major feature that makes floating tool boxes useful. OSX 10.5 users (Leopard), beware that this toolbox may not switch spaces properly. This appears to have been fixed for Snow Leopard, but it still has some screen sharing priority issues, and always manages to be in my way somehow.
Customer Review: It's ok
Summary: 3 Stars
Back when I was primarily a pc user, I had a copy of office 2007 for windows xp. I have to say I like it better than the mac version. The interface was much more visually pleasing which may not really seem like a big deal, but as a heavy office user it is something nicer to look at for extended periods. Also, I liked the layout of the pc version better as well. Using the tool palette can be a little tedious because it somehow finds a way to always get in the way. I liked the tab setup that the pc version had a lot more. It also seems that the mac version can be a little sluggish at times. Seeing how my mac is only about 3 months old, I have to attribute this to the software, not the computer. That being said, if I had to do it over again, I probably would have given iWork a shot instead. Customer Review: Arrrghh! Word 2008 has some real problems!
Summary: 3 Stars
I knew there would be pain when I switched from a PC to a MAC, but the most pain has involved the 2008 Microsoft Suite for MAC, especially Word. Yesterday, when I was trying to complete the spell-checking of a 103,000 word novel, Word crashed about a dozen times. The other thing Microsoft has done is get rid of the "sentence fragment" check, which means EVERY sentence fragment pops up in Grammar check. No way to turn it off. This may be all right if you're a 10th grader writing an essay, but novelists, when we are in a character's head, frequently use sentence fragments, and this is something that grammar check should not make assumptions about. But the crashes! Fie! And then I lose the last changes. Customer Review: Serviceable
Summary: 4 Stars
Obviously, the product is what it is - Microsoft Office 2008. The specific item I received was secondhand, however, it good shape with three product keys. I am happy and satisfied that the product allows for seamless transition of documents between Windows-machines and Macs.