[bpeacock22]

Maybe they are saving the in-depth one for the magazine? But yeah, I was looking for a little more info as well.

[mrbach]

Word 2008 launches a little slower than 2004 on my iMac Intel 2 duo 2.16. After it does launch, it isn't any faster or slower. After all, who cares if it does run native? Its a typewriter. I find the spell check about the same.
It is far more cluttered, and I worked with it for a few hours before going back to Word 2004. Word 08 crashes when you resize the windows, which is a drag after doing a change document and getting half way through. The backup copy didn't work like the 04 version.
Maybe its a bug, but when I am writing, I don't need all these formatting bars at the top. Maybe they can be turned off, but I cant see how. No real difference to me, so I went back to 04.

I dont use actions or applescript and dont know anyone who does, so thats no big deal. I switched from Entourage to Mail this year just to reduce the clutter and complexity a bit.

On my PC, I use open office. I think there is way too much analysis on this product. Word is Word to me. Once the spell check, table of contents, and other tools came out years ago, it became a decent tool. I use numbers for Excel spreadsheets now, and I find Keynote is almost there when it comes to cross compatibility with PowerPoint.

[shavingcream]

I feel the same way. Starting Word 2008 is no faster on my Aluminum iMac than 2004...feels slower.
Also, the new docx format is a bit too suspicious for me to use. I have it saving to Word 2004 doc as default for now.
I do like the new Entourage.

[folklore]

josquin021 said:

Quote

I've been searching for a while for a viable Word alternative. Nisus Writer and Mellel are very nice, but don't work for me because of their spotty Endnote support. Other folks, however, may really like them.

Endnote users beware: Endnote is NOT compatible with Word 2008.

And it's going to be a long time before it is, due to "changes in the way third party addins are supported."

As someone with about 1,000 references in an Endnote library - complete with my own keywords and notes - I won't be upgrading to Word 2008 until there's Endnote compatibility. Or maybe I'll switch from Endnote/Word to Sente / Mellel or even Pages.

I'd love to see a comparison of tools for scholarly writing. Word's built-in citation manager v. EndNote v. Sente v. Refworks v. Zotero. Honestly, I'd do it myself if I had the time. But I don't, so I continue to use EndNote and Word 2004.

[bpeacock22]

Question: Are the new toolbars more compatible with Spaces? In Office 2004, I can open Word while in space 1 and I'll see all the little toolbars. But I have Word assigned to space 2 and it doesn't automatically flip over to that. Have to manually switch to space 2, where I can now see the page window (along with the toolbars).

[MCJ]

robco said:

I'm upgrading for the same reason many folks with Intel Macs will upgrade - because it's native. Word 2004 is nice, but running under Rosetta sucks. It's slow and takes up more RAM.

Personally I find that Office: Mac 2004 runs just as well if not better on my MBP as it did on my G5 iMac.

robco said:

OpenOffice is nice, but isn't completely OS X native and requires users to install X11, which some may not feel comfortable doing.

There's always NeoOffice, which runs natively in OS X.

[kcwookie]

I was one of those who panned Pages. At first Pages didn't "feel" like it had the horsepower to replace Word, but after a short period of time the switch was complete and I now use Pages for most everything. The only drawback I have with Pages is it's lack of support for .dot files (Word templates). Some people don't understand the concept of a template and so I get docs in that format. I do wish apps like Bookends or Sente would support Pages.

NeoOffice has improved greatly in the last year and is now my direct replacement for Office.

[folklore]

kcwookie said:

I do wish apps like Bookends or Sente would support Pages.

Sente 5.2 does support Pages. At least their website advertises that it does - I haven't used it with Pages personally.

[davebarnes]

I hate the new Word 2008.

Yes, I am an old fart. Nineteen years of using Word and this has a totally different UI.

Just making a bulleted list appears to be more work.

Not happy. Must upgrade (those Windows people), but not happy.

[afwings]

gruth said:

Can anyone comment on how Word '08 handles MathType Equations. MathType hasn't been updated in a long time, though it still seems to work fine even in Rosetta -- but my guess is that Word '08 will break all MathType suppot with the loss of VB. Does Word '08 import MathType files?

MathType is currently not compatible with Mac Office 2008 and we are working on a new version to fix this. However, there is more to the story, please read our position and recommendation.
Bob Mathews
Director of Training
Design Science Inc.

[BillZ]

Like probably most folks, I use Word to write letters, prepare reports and create newsletters/flyers. I have never used VBA or automator, and probably never will. What concerns me is why we continue to have two completely different versions of Word, one for the Mac and one for Windows. There is virtually no similarity between the latest Widows version on my PC and this new version on my Mac. Please don't try to tell me it is because the Mac version is more advanced because anyone with even an ounce of common sense knows that Microsoft will never let that happen. I do not want to have to learn two versions of the same program in order to switch between my Mac and a PC. Back when Adobe was still fully supporting the Mac, they were able to make Photoshop Elements virtually identical on both platforms, it is a shame that Microsoft can't or won't do that with Word/Office.

[charvey1]

What an absolute downgrade. The only thing its got going for it is the fact it's universal.

The lack of a decent equation editor, like the one that comes with Office 2007 is very, very disappointing. For me it's such a big issue that it isn't worth the upgrade. You are stuck with what is basically Microsoft Equation Editor 3.0 from olden times (only with Office 2008 stamped on it), and compatibility with MathType has gone completely with VBA support being taken away. If you try to open Word 2003, 2004 or 2007 documents that contain equations it just turns them into rubbish.

NO VBA!!! Almost none of my 2003, 2004 files work now.

I hoped the interface would be similar to Office 2007, which I was very impressed with and got to grips with immediately, despite being initially a little dubious. Instead everything remains the same as 2004, except for the elements gallery which has nothing particularly useful in there and as far as I can see can't be turned off. It just sits in the way, taking up space on your screen (I have a laptop and just don't have that amount of screen space) and you'll probably not use it at all unless you're going to apply a pre-built background to your document, or something like that.

The toolbox stills exists. It is jam-packed with tiny icons, and arrows, that you have to hunt through, click to expand and then scroll through to find the right style. Not user-friendly at all in my opinion.

All in all, it seems Microsoft is steering Office:Mac away from anything vaguely technical and instead is aiming at "desktop-publishing-home-users" who do little more than use a bit of word art and select a pre-built background from that annoying elements gallery. Let's face it, there's plenty of better software available for that kind of thing. For technical users of any calibre, it's just not viable.

I hope someone from Microsoft reads these comments and acts on them (unlikely as that may be). In the mean time, I've no choice but to uninstall (and replace with Office 2004) and put it back on the shelf until (or if) MathType 6 for Mac comes out and even then, I'll have to keep Office 2004 for documents with macros.

[Mollycutpurse]

I have heard a rumour that the live word count is now missing. If that is true then Word 2008 will not be for me. As an author who produces documents over 100,000 words (did anybody know that even in Word 2004, after one reaches that magic number, the live count fails to work? (an issue that I have never been able to resolve)) it is imperative that I have this function. I'll be honest, I use the $4 Schreiben for my day to day work. Fast and simple.

[mrskin]

The reviewer says,

"it’s a pain that you can’t hide the Elements Gallery ... "

What, then, does the「Display or hide the Elements Gallery」 button in the toolbar do? Personally, I find that it does just what it says it will do. Admittedly, the Element GalIery headers do remain, but it is not fair to say that the Gallery itself cannot be hidden when, clearly, it can be.