Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
The big drawcards of Office 2008 are OOXML file compatibility (plus other improvements in compatibility with Office for Windows) and the performance boost that comes from native Intel code.
If OOXML is important to you, the upgrade decision is a no-brainer.
Entourage fans, especially those that make extensive use of the calendar and related facilities, also will be attracted to the new version, especially with the lightweight My Day to help keep an eye on events and to dos.
Otherwise, it's not so clear cut. If you buy the suite mainly for Word, Excel or PowerPoint then the other changes aren't shattering if PC compatibility is not an issue. On the other hand, the loss of VBA will harm compatibility in some situations.
The user interface changes and features such as OfficeArt and SmartArt are improvements, along with provision of Automator support.
Consequently, the upgrade price seems on the high side. It would have been easier to recommend at $A299/$US179. But if you need to read and write OOXML files or want Intel code, I guess you'll pay the price.
From the perspective of a first-time buyer, Office 2008 is a more attractive and easier to use proposition than its predecessor. Even so, how many people will want Office rather than Apple's iWork plus the standard Mac OS X programs such as Mail, Address Book and iCal?
Office 2008 fills a need, but not one that's experienced by every Mac user.
Requirements
Minimum requirements are a 500MHz G4 or any G5 or Intel-based CPU, Mac OS X 10.4.9 or later, 512M of RAM, DVD drive or network connection for installation, and a hard disk formatted as HFS+ (aka Mac OS Extended). I tested on a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Mac OS X 10.5.1 and 3G of RAM.
Price
As tested:
Office 2008 for Mac $US399.95/$A649
Also available:
Office 2008 for Mac upgrade $US239.95/$A399
Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition (includes Expression Media) $US499.95/$A849
Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition upgrade $US299.95/$A549
Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition $US149.95/$A229
David Bass
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