Hence, a bit of a comparison. Those of you who “grew up” with Excel 2000/XP (Yes, I was a PC user) probably loved it. XP/2000 had a plethora of options, coding capabilities, and easy access to what you needed.

So, how much has changed with Excel 2008 for Mac? A lot. Or, should I say, too much. This is a ridiculous and useless program as far as I’m concerned. I have absolutely no idea what Microsoft was thinking with this version. I’m left almost speechless. The programs (all, not just Excel) have been dumbed down to a bunch of pretty pictures that have left “old” users like me wondering where the heck anything is placed (I like to say that it’s “just hidden”). If you can get past the ridiculously simplified menu options and actually find (yes, you need to search for things now, I wonder what menu options were for before???) what you need you’ll note how deep inside, Excel 2008 is a useless software. While basic computational abilities are still there, macros are gone (VBA support is gone, that is). Really? So, why not just take out my TI-89, it does just as much, if not more, and it’s cheaper!

I would NOT recommend this version to anyone (or Excel 2007 for PC’ers out there). Save your money, don’t buy, force Microsoft to actually start coming out with more quality products in spirit of pre-2007 levels (Vista and Office 2007/2008 have been complete failures).

Rating: 2 / 5

But what happens when everybody already has copies of Microsoft Office on their PCs and Macs? The answer is simple-make slight modifications of the product and rename it. On the Mac version alone in addition to Microsoft Office for Mac Business Edition, there are a Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition, Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home & Student Edition, and a Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, all with prices significantly higher than the competition, but with the most expensive program costing several times the cheapest.

At the end of the day what justifies this price differential? The answer is nothing. These office suites, with minor variations, are essentially the same ones and ohs that were created for the the original unit. What is changed is one word on the box-”Business”. That is a lot to pay for that word. A businessman will get as much utility out of the cheapest of the Microsoft Office suite as from the most expensive.

But that is not the end of the story.

In office software there are three prices-expensive, moderate and free. A moderately price office suite for the Mac is iWork ‘09. It is pretty comparable to Office for Mac, only substantially cheaper than Microsoft’s least expensive version. Free however is the wave of the future and Google Documents offers free word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation software- the components of the modern office suite. Moreover Google documents can both read and export to their Microsoft equivalents (as can iWork 09). It lacks many of the bells and whistles Microsoft loads into Office. But do you really use those bells and whistles? Most users don’t know they are there and have little need for them in any event.

How many times will Microsoft go to the well with the Office name before we all wise up? Hard to say but they are betting on it lasting a few years longer.
Rating: 2 / 5

Forget the pros, I have a lot of cons:

1. Who puts “help” item as the first in a right click menu? When you go around correcting spellings, the first choice is help, instead of the correct spelling. Yes, Microsoft thinks I am dumb, and I think they are dumb!!

2. Almost all users using this software are long term mac users. The menu and shortcuts are different from all other applications. For instance, font is CMD + D and not CMD + T.

3. Launch speed is terrible.

4. The working speed keeps you waiting sometimes. [I have a 4GB ram]

5. You have to perform updates often.

6. From a usability point of view, powerpoint has a hundred different issues that any lame user can point out.

7. It costs a lot.

8. For god sake, it cannot search backwards, and it gives you an annoying alert at the end of the search. CMD + G is not find next, but GOTO.

9. It crashes!!

Nutshell : If some one is paying you for this, take it. Paying out of your own pocket does not sounds like a good idea for this product.

Open office has many problems too, for instance bad launch time, and compatibility issues.
Iwork [ http://www. amazon. com/gp/product/B0014X2UAK?ie=UTF8&tag=fall09laptops-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0014X2UAK ] is not perfect either, but it is definitely a better deal than Office, and is way cheaper.
Rating: 2 / 5