Microsoft reveals Office for Mac 2011 will be 32-bit only

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Deleted member 651465

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Deleted member 651465

Couldn't see a thread for this, and I know a lot of people hated Office 2008..

Set for release this fall, Microsoft's Office for Mac 2011 will only be available as a 32-bit product because it hasn't completely transitioned to Cocoa for Mac OS X.

Microsoft's Mac OS X development team, MacBU, updated its official website this week to note that its members are at WWDC 2010 this week, taking part in Apple's developer sessions. The team revealed that their focus has been to increase compatibility between the Windows and Mac versions of Office, which means a 64-bit option on the Mac won't happen this year.


office100609.jpg


Can't say I'll ever need 64 bit for Word, but it would be nice for the larger Excel spreadsheets I use for work (that iWork simply falls flat on). Mainly the Macro support, and Office 2008 is so poor I cannot even use it.

On the plus side for Office 2011, they've upgraded the UI so it resembles the Windows version a lot more closely. Look at the top 2 small pictures for the current UI differences.. pretty awful. Now look at the bottom 2 pictures. A step in the right direction if you ask me :)
 
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Soldato
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As long as Excel 2010 isn't as buggy as 2008 I don't care what it looks like.

Office 2008 is the ****est piece of software on my computers, sadly due to compatibility reasons and iWork not quite being as comprehensive I have to stick with it.

(Don't even mention open office, yea great it maybe free but its awful)
 

Deleted member 651465

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Deleted member 651465

OP
Technically, no. Theoretically? Possibly with massive excel spreadsheets.

I have several in work that require big memory as they're referencing several other spreadsheets, so when a macro is run it can burn CPU and RAM usage. Only reason I don't use a Mac at work (Office 2008 for Mac cannot handle them).
 
Caporegime
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An old thread but Ive been looking to get Mac Office 2008 Home and Student - should I delay getting that since 2011 is coming out (by end of the year I hear if not sooner?!?)

Also the reviews of 2008 make me feel like Im wasting money on the bugger. Will still have access to Win Office 2003 still...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 

Deleted member 651465

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Deleted member 651465

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Avoid 2008, if you have experience with Office 2007 on a PC.

The UI is so erratic you'll be smashing the keyboard up within minutes. I'd wait for a bit, or bootcamp in to Windows if it's critical.
 
Caporegime
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Cheers mate,

Basically decided to bootcamp Win 7 with Office 2010 and keep something like OpenOffice/NeoOffice on Mac OSX

May not bother with Mac Office 2011 - will see about pricing etc...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
Soldato
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oh hell yes! Office 2011 for mac looks 10000000000000x more useable from that screenshot.

I got office 2008 and when I came to use it I frustrated with the UI, everything was totally different on Mac!

2011 looks very similar to office 2010, which is ace, as I will need to use office on win and osx.

EDIT: Riddle me this... why can't the mac version have the same headers like in the windows version?

Why cant they make the osx version exactly like the windows version, except for the actually osx theming?
 
Soldato
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For what it's worth the x86/x64 argument for Excel while true (it is x86) the memory model on Excel is far better on 2011.

I can load stuff that I just couldn't in 2008 - for example I can load a CSVDE dump of a 450,000 user Active Directory in Excel 2011, 2008 won't.

It's looking good. Best thing so far is the Outlook client - it's way better than Entourage.... which isn't that hard really :)

It's not up to Outlook 2010 standards I don't think.

Also, there's now a Mac version of Office Communicator that fully supports all the telephony functions.... this is a massive bonus for me.

All in all it's looking good.

Also, load times for both word & excel are massively better. I mean huge.
 
Soldato
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They really should clone the Windows UI, it's awesome and all the logic is done for them. I don't understand why they have to reinvent it for the Mac.

Anyway in regards to the x86/x64 thing it's the biggest non-issue going. If anything it's better as you won't have to suffer the inevitable "which version should I buy/install, 32 or 64?" questions.
 
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