Rating: 
Summary: Microsoft Office X Sets the Standard
Review: Starting with Word for Mac OS XMicrosoft's Word is considered the standard for most Windows and Mac users. Word has an automatic spelling checker as you type and an excellent grammar checker. You can set up special keyboard command keys in Word. Unique to Microsoft Office X and especially to Microsoft's Word is WordArt. I know one Macintosh teacher who purchased the academic version of Microsoft's Word just for the use of WordArt. Word now has new and improved wizards for creating newsletters and brochures. Microsoft's Excel Ad The best advertisement that Microsoft ran for Excel was: "99% of spreadsheet users use Microsoft Excel. What are we doing wrong?" Excel allows you to enter calculations, data and work with lists. Excel allows you to use multiple Excel worksheets within the same file. You can analyze data with PivotTables, Goal Seeking, What-If analysis and answer complex questions with Microsoft's Exel's Solver. Microsoft's Excel has the distinction of having more Mac databases created in Excel then any other program. You can set up special keyboard keys in Excel. In addition, you can create macros (shortcuts) to automate your computer for repetitive tasks. Excel's New Features include transparent charts and importing from FileMaker Pro. PowerPoint's Presentations PowerPoint is standard for most presentations with excellent Dale Carnegie templates and presentations slide themes. ...You can add voice and music to your PowerPoint shows. Also, you can set up graphic icons for menu commands such as transitions. PowerPoint's functions allow you to "Save for the Web" and make QuickTime movies. Also, you can save the file as PDF (Portable Document Format) within Mac OS X. PowerPoint is cross-platform for Windows and Mac computers users using Microsoft Office. PowerPoint has dozens of professionally designed templates. PowerPoint allows you to create charts and graphs, slides, handouts and overheads. PowerPoint creates slide shows that you can run on your computer screen or through a projector for audience briefings. PowerPoint's New Features You now have transparency with see-through graphics. Also, new to PowerPoint is "Save as Package" feature. This allows you to save PowerPoint presentation in a single folder containing your movies and sound files. Improved PowerPoint movies display all transitions and features in your original presentation. Entourage's Internet Connection and Event Calendar Entourage becomes your "Internet Communication Center" and allows you to send and receive files. You can read and post to discussion groups on the Internet with Entourage. Also, you can maintain your calendars, address books, to-do lists and notes. Entourage New Features You now have improved calendar and other views. Office notification with .NET Alerts in MSN Messenger. You can insert pictures, background pictures, sounds and movies directly into email messages. The Calendar supports different time zones. Pro Reaction Office X's New Features: Text has smoothed edges, new Project Gallery options. You now have made to order toolbar buttons and you can output your file as PDF in Mac OS X. AutoRecover feature allows you to avoid data loss in event of a computer freeze-up or crash. AutoCorrect now includes Office's main spelling dictionary. Microsoft continues making improvements Con Reaction No Microsoft PowerPoint viewer. Does not have standard Mac keyboard Save As command (Command, Shift + S keys). Also, missing is setting up keyboard commands in PowerPoint. Also, you need sharp cutters to open Microsoft Office X's plastic package containing the two CDs. Final Words Microsoft Office X designed for Mac OS X. Office X has been completely redesigned with a new Aqua interface. Microsoft Office X is compatible with Office 2001 for Mac and Office 98 Macintosh Edition. Also, Microsoft Office X is compatible with Office for Microsoft Windows, AppleWorks 6, and FileMaker Pro 5.5. Secret: Save your documents as RTF (Rich Text Format) for non-Word computer users.
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome!
Review: This suite of applications represents what OS X can do; the Aqua interface is beautiful and the ease of use is greater than ever. The Formatting Palette, introduced in Office 2001, was something that I didn't use at first but now find invaluable! I wish it existed on Windows Office at work. It seems to be improved in Office version X. Excel's new Print Preview is welcome, I am a heavy Excel user and like to use it to lay out some of the hardcopy I create, and the new Print Preview replaces the eyesore Preview from 2001. The number of new features since 2001 isn't that great, but the real feature is that this suite is native OS X and has a true Mac look and feel. Microsoft began to win me over with Office 2001, and Office X has made my migration to OS X worthwhile.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay, but needs more. Specifically pertaining to Word/PP
Review: This version is much better than the PC version I was avoiding when I still used my IBM. Because of the Mac/Aqua interface, the menu and tool bars are much slimmer and don't feel claustrophobic the way the PC versions often do. Also, some of the features are better integrated than on the PC (you only have to click on headers and footers to open them, it's easier to move text around, there are more text colors to choose from, etc.). Still, Office X has its share of problems: 1. File compatibility. In an attempt to dissuade us from using rival word processors, Microsoft only allowed Word to recognize other types of Word documents in addition to the standard text file formats. This means all of my old WordPerfect and WordPro files need to be saved as Word or standard text files on my old computer in order to open them up in Word. Also, you can't save Word files as recent Windows Word files, which means you have to save them as older Mac files and lose some features in order to read them in Word 95/98/etc. PowerPoint has a similar problem--I had to try two different PowerPoint formats in order to figure out which one would be accessible on a 95/98 PC version of PowerPoint.
2. Bugs. Word doesn't crash every time I use it, but certain actions give me a system message saying "Word has unexpectedly quit." I have to save frequently because I never know when a particular action--editing a chart is one of Word's favorites, as well as just finishing saving a document--will tend to make it crash. You ususally can retrieve the lost document, but it still shouldn't happen. I've downloaded several patches, but it still conks out on me too often.
3. Font corruption. I've been able to use fonts without problems in Photoshop and Illustrator, but when I click on the same font in Word it sometimes uses the wrong font (often the next one up/down on the list, even if I type in the font's name). If you own a Mac and need to share files with other computers, especially PCs, you really have no other choice because there aren't really any practical alternatives to Office. As things stand right now, I'm sticking with MS Office, but that might change if Corel's or IBM's office suites ever get made for OS X.
Rating:
Summary: MacOffice v.X for the Office proffessional
Review: This version is much better than the PC version of Office 97 I was avoiding when I still used my IBM. Because of the Mac/Aqua interface, the menu and tool bars are much slimmer and don't feel claustrophobic the way the PC versions often do. Office X also has an all-in-one formatting palette that can be collapsed or hidden, and editing and creating toolbars is easier than in the PC versions of Office. Some of Office's other basic features are better integrated than on the PC (you only have to double-click on headers and footers to open them, it's easier to move text around, there are more text colors to choose from, etc.).
Still, Office X has its share of problems:
1. File compatibility. In an attempt to dissuade us from using rival word processors, Microsoft only allowed Word to recognize other types of Word documents in addition to the standard text file formats. This means all of my old WordPerfect and WordPro files need to be saved as Word or as Rich Text Format files (which lose some special features) on my old PC in order to be compatible with Word X. Also, you can't save Word files as recent Windows Word files, which means you have to save them as older Mac Word files and lose some features in order to read them in PC versions of Word. It is never really clear how much is lost by saving it in a particular Word format (Word 2004 supposedly has a tool for this now). PowerPoint has a similar problem--I had to try two different PowerPoint formats in order to figure out which one would be accessible on a 1997 PC version of PowerPoint.
2. Bugs. Word doesn't crash every time I use it, but certain actions give me a system message saying "Word has unexpectedly quit." I have to save frequently because I never know when a particular action--editing a chart is one of Word's favorites, as well as just finishing saving a document--will tend to make it crash. You ususally can retrieve the lost document, but it still shouldn't happen.
Edit: I've applied a number of Office X updates from Microsoft's website, and that appears to have gotten rid of most of the random crashes. If you still use Office X, DEFINITELY make sure you install the updates--they make a huge difference as far as stability is concerned.
3. Font corruption. I've been able to use fonts without problems in Photoshop and Illustrator, but when I click on the same font in Word it sometimes uses the wrong font (often the next one up/down on the list, even if I type in the font's name).
4. Slow! If you have OS 10.3 and mainly do simple word processing, you'd probably be better off using TextEdit most of the time (it has a page layout view, the system-wide spell-checker, etc.). Word takes longer to start up and sometimes lags a bit when you type, especially if you only have Apple's stock 256 MB RAM.
If you own a Mac and need to share complex documents with other computers, especially PCs, there aren't really any fully native, full-featured substitutes for Office on the Mac. As things stand right now, I'm sticking with MS Office, but that might change if another major office suite is ever ported to OS X.
Rating:
Summary: yes, it is bloatware, but it is good bloatware
Review: To start with, let us accept that Office is bloatware. It is big, relatively unwieldy, and is full of features. A quick scan of the menus and cryptic toolbars almost screams "DESIGNED BY A COMMITTEE". On the other hand, this is not all bad. I use Word ALL of the time and Excel on a regular basis. I keep trying to find an alternate word processor, so I've download Nisus and iWrite and a host of other toys. Most of these are perfectly respectable word processors, but I rarely get far before I need to use something I'm used to in Word. Sometimes it is image embedding, sometimes it is an obscure cross referencing facility, and sometimes I need to build a table that spans pages and, oh, and, oh yeah, and .... Word has the BEST tables facility. I used to work with a guy called Matrix Breath, so I really got to know tables. Suddenly, I'm exporting my document in RTF and a promising application has been demoted to "toy". This is actually the upside of bloatware. It's sort of like those toolkits one always drools over in hardware stores with nine hundred ratchet bolt heads, a glistening array of extender bars, and six power grip handles, one for each arm of Siva. Normal humans never need these kits. They may buy them, use one small set of components, then lose a piece and then go out and buy a screwdriver. My plumber owns four of these, all calibrated. My auto mechanic owns six, because he needs English, metric and Alfa Romeo. The downside of bloatware is the learning curve. You really have to learn in order to use even 10% of all the features. Did you know there is an equation editor? Did you know that there is a garbage grade drawing program? Did you know that there is an almost lame, but actually useful image processing component? Word v.X can probably edit movies and burn DVDs, but if you can't get to Dungeon Level XVI, stick with iMovie and iDVD. Yes, you do have to spend your first half hour with Word disabling the "Do What You Think I Mean" features. I learned how to format a business letter back in grade school and I'll insert my own superscripting, thank you very much. Still, it is no exageration to say that Word is possibly the best piece of bloatware ever written. (EMACS is a close number two). As for Excel, it too is a fine piece of bloatware. VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet was almost lapidary. It had just enough stuff in it to sell Apple IIs. Lotus 123 started the accretion process and at some point, the planetary disk coalesced into Excel which lets you solve partial differential equations using the Karmarkar algorithm and format the result in cuneiform. It takes two extra keystrokes for hieroglyphics. I don't even use those little calculator programs anymore. I just keep Excel running - no sweat under OS X - and then, when I decide I didn't mean 2+2, but I really wanted a regression analysis, I already have my data sitting right where it can do me some good. As for Powerpoint. I haven't used it in years. Yes, so I'm a mutant. Mutants are IN nowadays. Ask Hugh Jackman or Anna Paquin. My niece wanted to make a birthday card and she accidentally started up Powerpoint. Well, it has mutated. You can do collage animation, it supports sound, video, programmatic sequencing and even some lame user interaction. It's no threat to Macromedia, but these features are such time sinks that we might be spared a few bullet slides. As with everything else in the Office suite, its accumulators crackle with barely restrained power. (Any Doc Smith or IBM 1130 fans out there?) So, if you are a normal human. Try getting a normal human office suite. Appleworks is just fine. If you need more, more, more, then you should break down and go for Office. It definitely has more, more, more, just like Bill Gates. As a bonus, the Macintosh version and Windows versions eat the same file formats, so you can freak out Windows users.
Rating:
Summary: MacOffice v.X for the Office proffessional
Review: To start with, make sure you are buying Office for the right reason. It's not meant for the timid home user just looking for something Jr., and Sally can write their book reports with. You want to do that, then just stick to AppleWorks (which I also use, in conjunction with Office). If you're not used to Office, yes, it could definitely have a steep learning curve. But if you're an experienced Mac Office user, working in OSX, then this version is a must, if for no other reason than it runs natively in OSX which makes it substantially faster than previous versions running in Classic mode. For those who claim all MS did was make it pretty, the interface is a rsult of Apple's Aqua interface, not a primary thrust of MS's MBU. Crashing? I've used Mac Office v.X for well over a year now, and I can honestly say, I cannot recall once having the machine crash while running Office. And for the person who compared using Word for page layout vs. Adobe FrameMaker...I use Frame daily at the office to layout books (I'm a designer of books and am forced to use Frame for it's XML functionality), and that's a truly unfair comparison...it's like comparing AppleWorks paint mode with Adobe Photoshop. They are completely different applications for entirely different tasks. Also, I find its cross-platform compatibility with Office XP (et.al.) to be seemless so long as the same True Type fonts are used between both PC and Mac systems. Need more info on running Office v.X? Microsoft has also published a book called Office v.X Inside Out that I got when I purchased my software which has returned my investment on the book many times over. Even to an experienced Office user, there are many helpful procedures in here that will help lessen the upgrade learning curve. The only reason I don't give MS Office v.X five stars is because I don't believe anything is perfect...but for the life of me, I can't see where this version of Office is lacking at the moment. This is a good investment for offices small or large.
Rating:
Summary: Entirely tolerable :)
Review: While there is a lot more exciting software out there, something like the Office suite is one of those basic things that makes or breaks a user's experience. The deeper I sink into management, the more time I spend using Word, Excel, and Entourage.
Office v. X really makes that time as pleasant as possible. If you're familiar with the suite of Office products, there's nothing really earth-shatteringly different... between Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, it's more a matter of a bunch of small changes in interface and workflow that make the overall experience better (along with not needing to start up Classic).
On the other hand, Entourage is bittersweet. It's really a fantastic email, calendaring, and contact management piece... it handles time-zones, links contacts, meetings, and email messages, and even lets you automatically color-code messages and events based on who sent them. For our purposes it blows away both Outlook and Notes. At the same time there is an ugly side. You can't sync Entourage to a Palm yet (still under development at this time, but it should be available soon), which is a huge blow to its usability. There are issues with the size of the database it maintains (as well as the fact that it's a self-contained database that's useless to other applications), and it has some glaring issues accessing mail on some IMAP4 servers (Domino, for example).
All in all, it's an excellent package... Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit does a wonderful job (in my experience, MS Office v. X provides a much better overall user experience than Office XP). Bottom line is that, even while there are still some bugs that really need to be worked out, Office v. X is well worth the cost of the license. Keep up the good work, MBU.
Rating: 
Summary: Do not buy this garbage!
Review: Who I am? A professional writer that bought and Imac, 17'screen, 1 GZH, with all the ORIGINAL software.
The computer is WONDERFUL. Then, I decided to buy the Office Package. That was the GREATEST MISTAKE!
I wanted word processor for my writings. Then, I would explain what happens. I charged the program in the Apple. Then, the word processor starts to fail. how? Simple at random, when you are working in a window, or open a word document, the message appears:
WORD QUITS UNEXPECTLY, THE SYSTEM HAS NOT BEEN DAMAGED
I contacted Microsoft for help. They told me that it was a kind of crashing because of fonts interfering? What fonts? That of the Macintosh? It is supossed that the Office is suited for the Mac, isn't? They offered me upgrades, None of them work.
I have to write a novel this summer. How can I be sure that, when I get the chapter 25, then, the message WORD QUITS UNEXPECLTY. THE SYSTEM HAS NOT BEEN DAMAGED, appears?
All what I did was:
First, buy the Imac
Second, buy The office.
Third, Install the Office
Four. garbage as a Result!
Do not believe any of the other reviews, or otherwise, loose your money. This program is pure garbage. I put one star because it has no option to put ZERO stars.
Rating:
Summary: The Common Review of Microsoft Office v.X, pt 2
Review: Word
As you might expect, Word is the heart and soul of Office. If you didnÕt need a better word processor, the rest probably wouldnÕt matter too much. Most of the improvements that will matter to me were here. Being able to strip out the format structure of a document that doesnÕt look or play right by using Clear Formatting is a big help. No matter how cross-platform a program tries to be, sometimes it just doesnÕt do what you want or expect! Being able to start from scratch is a big help. Vast improvements were made in the Data Merge (what used to known as Mail Merge) features. Ever since Word 3, IÕve always thought doing a mail merge in Word was a nightmare. Now with the advent of Entourage (first added to Office for Macintosh in version 2001) and the revamping of the Data Merge feature, Microsoft says itÕs now possible to do a mail merge in as few as 10 steps, over the 50 and up it took in Word 98. Word has added transparency capabilities (based on the same OS X Quartz 2-D engine that Excel and PowerPoint do) into itÕs drawing feature, so it is moving farther into the realms of page layout programs with graphic functions. Web functions have become more and more integrated into other programs of late, and Word is no stranger to them. Taking two seemingly distant features, namely picture importing and text bullets, Word now lets you make custom graphic bullets, and treats them like regular bullets in documents with bullet lists. How cool it that! A real world feature that means a lot to me is WordÕs continued backward and cross-platform compatibility. Multi-platform companies usually donÕt convert all at once, and there is almost no way to know what a person at another company has in terms of what version of Word. Microsoft has added a new function called Compatibility to WordÕs Preferences in the File Menu. Somewhat different to the save format feature, Compatibility will actually disable features that do not exits in earlier versions of Word. When you save down a document to a different format, you used to get a message saying that certain features in your document may not be available in that format, but doesnÕt tell you which ones. Now you donÕt need to worry about that, since you took care of that by telling Word which version you wanted to be compatible with up front. If you ainÕt got it, you ainÕt gonna loose it! COOL! KudosÕ and bugaboos
One thing that always drove me nuts about Office 98 is that dialogue boxes of similar functions didnÕt even come close to looking the same between the various programs. DidnÕt these people EVER talk to each other. So far, I havenÕt seen that problem in Office v.X. The menu bar icons are consistent throughout each program, adding to the unified feel of it, rather then making it seem like four programs packaged under one heading. No more Office Manager. Thank you É thank youÉ THANK YOU! Entourage canÕt import from the OS X Address Book. But then the Address Book canÕt export either, so I guess it all works out. Word has a Normal template that lets you pre-assign formatting like font face, size, document margins and the like. Why canÕt we have one like that in Excel. At least for font face, size and things like that. None of the Office programs have the Spelling/Grammar checker as a default icon in the toolbar. You have to go to the arrow to the right of the Help button to get it. Adding it is no big deal, but come on! Custom header/footer information doesnÕt seem to work too well in Excel when sending the spreadsheet to an Excel 98 user. It creates an out of memory error. DoesnÕt seem to matter whether the document was saved as an Excel workbook or in the more universal Excel 97-2002, X 5.0 & 95 format. The custom header/footer feature in Word appears to work OK in saved down documents. Various reports have mentioned bugs in Office v.X attributing them to fonts, or other Value Pack items. Some have mentioned issues with QuickTime plug-ins with browsers or the OS X native version (beta) of RoxioÕs Toast CD burning software. Be cautious when adding things from the Value Pack. If you do them a few at a time, it wonÕt be so hard to track them down if you run into problems. Overall
By the very nature that you have OS X means you are willing to go out onto the thin ice for a while. So belly up to the bar and get this program. End of story.
Rating:
Summary: The Common Review of Microsoft Office v.X, pt 2
Review: Word
As you might expect, Word is the heart and soul of Office. If you didnÕt need a better word processor, the rest probably wouldnÕt matter too much. Most of the improvements that will matter to me were here. Being able to strip out the format structure of a document that doesnÕt look or play right by using Clear Formatting is a big help. No matter how cross-platform a program tries to be, sometimes it just doesnÕt do what you want or expect! Being able to start from scratch is a big help. Vast improvements were made in the Data Merge (what used to known as Mail Merge) features. Ever since Word 3, IÕve always thought doing a mail merge in Word was a nightmare. Now with the advent of Entourage (first added to Office for Macintosh in version 2001) and the revamping of the Data Merge feature, Microsoft says itÕs now possible to do a mail merge in as few as 10 steps, over the 50 and up it took in Word 98. Word has added transparency capabilities (based on the same OS X Quartz 2-D engine that Excel and PowerPoint do) into itÕs drawing feature, so it is moving farther into the realms of page layout programs with graphic functions. Web functions have become more and more integrated into other programs of late, and Word is no stranger to them. Taking two seemingly distant features, namely picture importing and text bullets, Word now lets you make custom graphic bullets, and treats them like regular bullets in documents with bullet lists. How cool it that! A real world feature that means a lot to me is WordÕs continued backward and cross-platform compatibility. Multi-platform companies usually donÕt convert all at once, and there is almost no way to know what a person at another company has in terms of what version of Word. Microsoft has added a new function called Compatibility to WordÕs Preferences in the File Menu. Somewhat different to the save format feature, Compatibility will actually disable features that do not exits in earlier versions of Word. When you save down a document to a different format, you used to get a message saying that certain features in your document may not be available in that format, but doesnÕt tell you which ones. Now you donÕt need to worry about that, since you took care of that by telling Word which version you wanted to be compatible with up front. If you ainÕt got it, you ainÕt gonna loose it! COOL! KudosÕ and bugaboos
One thing that always drove me nuts about Office 98 is that dialogue boxes of similar functions didnÕt even come close to looking the same between the various programs. DidnÕt these people EVER talk to each other. So far, I havenÕt seen that problem in Office v.X. The menu bar icons are consistent throughout each program, adding to the unified feel of it, rather then making it seem like four programs packaged under one heading. No more Office Manager. Thank you É thank youÉ THANK YOU! Entourage canÕt import from the OS X Address Book. But then the Address Book canÕt export either, so I guess it all works out. Word has a Normal template that lets you pre-assign formatting like font face, size, document margins and the like. Why canÕt we have one like that in Excel. At least for font face, size and things like that. None of the Office programs have the Spelling/Grammar checker as a default icon in the toolbar. You have to go to the arrow to the right of the Help button to get it. Adding it is no big deal, but come on! Custom header/footer information doesnÕt seem to work too well in Excel when sending the spreadsheet to an Excel 98 user. It creates an out of memory error. DoesnÕt seem to matter whether the document was saved as an Excel workbook or in the more universal Excel 97-2002, X 5.0 & 95 format. The custom header/footer feature in Word appears to work OK in saved down documents. Various reports have mentioned bugs in Office v.X attributing them to fonts, or other Value Pack items. Some have mentioned issues with QuickTime plug-ins with browsers or the OS X native version (beta) of RoxioÕs Toast CD burning software. Be cautious when adding things from the Value Pack. If you do them a few at a time, it wonÕt be so hard to track them down if you run into problems. Overall
By the very nature that you have OS X means you are willing to go out onto the thin ice for a while. So belly up to the bar and get this program. End of story.
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