Rating: 
Summary: Would give it 6 stars if I could
Review: Hey, I know it is really trendy to bust Microsoft's chops, but I really must give credit where credit is due. I have looked at all the major office suites for Mac and Windows, and this really raises the bar - sets a new standard. The new features are really impressive, and the user interface is vastly improved. I am writing this for the upgrade version because I have just installed this over my well-worn Office X. Here are a few random thoughts after a few hours of playing with it:a) Installation is well thought-out. The installer looks for prior identities and moves them to O-2004. Address books, old mail, calanders, preferences are all set up with the first boot. b) Tool windows are now translucent, which adds real appeal to the user interface. c) Repetative items, such as making labels, envelopes, and proofing tools are much more intuitive. d) MS did their homework on the notebook feature. OK, they borrowed the idea from NoteTaker, but what NT does well, MSO-2004 does one better. I wish I had this when I was in Medical School. Drag and drop links, pictures movies, outline notes, insert references. I could go on. e) I have not tried EndNote or ChemDraw with it. These are make it or break it applications for me. I suspcet they will work ok because the tools section works the same way. f) I confess that I liked the last version of MSO for Windows, which I run on the solitary Windows machine at home. MSO-2004 is so much fun, so intuitive and so clean that I now have no reason whatsoever to run Windows. Every time I break down in a moment of weakness and consider succumbing to pressure to abandon my beloved Mac, something comes along to bring me to my senses, and remain loyal to these wonderful machines, really appreciating how wonderful the Mac really is. MSO-2004 is such an application; I am sure I will win a few converts when their quizzical looks turn to avarice.
Rating: 
Summary: "Three installations and you're out" is customer abuse!
Review: I would never need more than one copy of Office if my computer had not developed major problems and crashed several times in a row, causing me to make repeated "clean installs," and reinstall "Panther" over and over! Every time I reinstalled, I had to use another of the three permitted installations of "Office." I tried calling Microsoft for advice (or even a little mercy!) and found that their phone number was not an 800 line. I waited half an hour (at the full daytime phone rate!) before I got somebody -- who then told me that nothing could be done: "three strikes and you're out!" I can't blame Microsoft for not wanting copies made of their products, but there ought to be a way to plead special cases. I certainly couldn't find any! If I have to do another "clean install," I'll have to buy a whole new "Office" package -- and I can't afford it! I am a loyal user of "Microsoft Word," and I'd like to keep on using it! I'll bet there are others out there who are looking nervously at their "Microsoft Office" package and wondering how to keep from having to waste another installation.
Rating: 
Summary: Not very impressed so far...
Review: I've been using Office 2004 for a couple of days now, and so far I've been underwhelmed. Everything feels significantly more sluggish than in Office X, especially Word. Entourage also crashes when I try to open 50% of my HTML-formatted mail. Aside from being able to save longer file names, and the new columns view of Entourage, I hven't found anything that compelling about this upgrade.
Rating: 
Summary: Entourage is flawed
Review: If you use a Palm Tungsten T or E, and other PDA's, the Entourage conduit is not compatible and will not allow you to sych your handheld with Entourage. This is a serious flaw if you use Entourage as your primary address, emal, calendar and to do list application. Microsoft is completely aware of this and offers no excuse. They simply state that the Entourage conduit will not work and they have no solution for it. In Office X the Entourage conduit worked flawlessly.
Rating:
Summary: Entourage is flawed
Review: If you use a Palm Tungsten T or E, and other PDA's, the Entourage conduit is not compatible and will not allow you to sych your handheld with Entourage. This is a serious flaw if you use Entourage as your primary address, emal, calendar and to do list application. Microsoft is completely aware of this and offers no excuse. They simply state that the Entourage conduit will not work and they have no solution for it. In Office X the Entourage conduit worked flawlessly.
Rating:
Summary: Cleaning up some confusion
Review: In Office 2004, Microsoft continues to support most Palm handheld devices. However, one common situation Microsoft has seen is that people upgrading from Office X to Office 2004 do not install the Office 2004 Handheld Sync software (which is found in the Additional Tools folder). Failure to do so results in sync failure.
That said, Office 2004 Handheld Sync does not fully support the Palm Tungsten T3 or E [it is incorrect to say that it does not support any Tungsten T - it does!]. To enable sync with those devices, the user needs to go to the Conduit Settings and enable syncing capability with those devices. There are possible issues when this capability is enabled - and all of this is clearly documented in the read me that is installed when you install the Office 2004 Handheld Sync.
Rating:
Summary: MS: I'd like to clear something up...
Review: My friend worked with the MS team on this product. So reading some of the reviews, I've noticed quite a few inaccuracies. I personally have no direct connection with Microsoft and not interested in defending its interests much, but I'm against spreading bogus information.
First of all, there is no "3 strikes you are out" rule with the new Office 2004.
Some people seem to claim that Office 2004 can only be installed 3 times, after which user would have to do a clean re-install of the system. This is completely not true. Student and Teacher, Standard and Professional versions of Office 2004 do not have any special write protection and do not count how many times you install the program on your computer. However, license agreement for Standard and Pro versions states that you can only use one copy of software on one (1) desktop and one (1) laptop computer connected to the same network. Program does indeed check computers connected to the same network for opened Office 2004. If any Office 2004 program is opened on a desktop computer that is connected to the local network, it will refuse to launch until program on other computer is closed.
This is a security measure that doesn't affect regular consumers at all most of the time. The only reason for this is to make sure that small and even big businesses do not use one copy of a program on many computers. There is nothing new here either. Many companies have been utilizing similar security features for quite some time.
Student and Teacher edition which retails for a low price has ALL the features of Standard edition and can even be installed on three (3) computers at the same time.
The down side to it is that Student & Teacher edition cannot be upgraded in the future. But again, is not a big deal since upgrade for Standard version still costs more than full S&T edition. And of course, one must be a student or a teacher to purchase it. I would recommend upgrading to the Office 2004 for many reasons. Not only you get a more stable programs now but also many new features like advanced Power Point timers, advanced printing themes and previews, audio note taking, a better option grouping and support for long file names, and many more. Most operations now also work faster and smoother. Just like any new program, of course, Office 2004 will have a fair share of bugs, but they will be taken care of in a timely manner. My Recommendation: Professional edition is a great buy for those who want to get Virtual PC 7.0 (included), as a VPC7 will retail for over half the price of the Office 2004. If you are not sure about Office 2004 and would like to take it for a test drive, go to microsoft.com and download a "test drive" version. Try it out for yourself. Hope this helps.
Rating:
Summary: Mixed Review
Review: The Project Manager is a nice feature, but 2004 is full of bugs and problems. Some examples: when trying to save in Word, you have to use the "Column Browser" which lists your top tier folders and destinations, and recent folders, but you can't access subfolders. Very annoying. Entourage rules that worked in Office X don't work, and when I redo, they still don't work other than manually. Send and Receive schedule works occasionally, no pattern to its failure I can see. Mail view listings in outbox show sender (me!) not recepient. Really, some of the problems are just plain careless or thoughtless, and online support worthless at this stage. I would wait until problems fixed.
Rating:
Summary: Mixed Review
Review: The Project Manager is a nice feature, but 2004 is full of bugs and problems. Some examples: when trying to save in Word, you have to use the "Column Browser" which lists your top tier folders and destinations, and recent folders, but you can't access subfolders. Very annoying. Entourage rules that worked in Office X don't work, and when I redo, they still don't work other than manually. Send and Receive schedule works occasionally, no pattern to its failure I can see. Mail view listings in outbox show sender (me!) not recepient. Really, some of the problems are just plain careless or thoughtless, and online support worthless at this stage. I would wait until problems fixed.
Rating:
Summary: Mixed Review
Review: The Project Manager is a nice feature, but 2004 is full of bugs and problems. Some examples: when trying to save in Word, you have to use the "Column Browser" which lists your top tier folders and destinations, and recent folders, but you can't access subfolders. Very annoying. Entourage rules that worked in Office X don't work, and when I redo, they still don't work other than manually. Send and Receive schedule works occasionally, no pattern to its failure I can see. Mail view listings in outbox show sender (me!) not recepient. Really, some of the problems are just plain careless or thoughtless, and online support worthless at this stage. I would wait until problems fixed.
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