Any idea if there'll be a "public beta" of Office 2008?

[Steve Maser]

Like there was for Office 2007 (Windows version?)


Seems to me with the removal of VBA, people might want to see what this
does before it's actually released.


And to give more feedback if things like opening PowerPoint documents
created on Windows still take forever.

Stuff like that...


Anybody know?

- Steve

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Anybody know?

Hasn't been announced yet, one way or the other.

 

[Barry Wainwright [MVP]]

Like there was for Office 2007 (Windows version?)


Seems to me with the removal of VBA, people might want to see what this
does before it's actually released.


And to give more feedback if things like opening PowerPoint documents
created on Windows still take forever.

Stuff like that...


Anybody know?

- Steve

Not likely - historically, that's not the way the MacBU does things.

However, anyone who knows anything (and that does NOT include me!) wouldn't
be allowed to say...

 

[Mickey Stevens]

I don't know if they are planning a public beta. As Barry said, they
haven't with the previous Office releases, but that's not a guarantee of
anything. They have announced a public beta for the Office file format
converters for Office 2004, however.
<http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/jan07/01-09MacworldPR.mspx>

 

[juliabus]

I don't know if they are planning a public beta. As Barry said, they
haven't with the previous Office releases, but that's not a guarantee of
anything. They have announced a public beta for the Office file format
converters for Office 2004, however.
<http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/jan07/01-09MacworldPR.mspx>

Thanks for the reminder. I feel like I live in a dual world since I
beta tested the windows version as I teach office then come home to my
Mac and Office 2004. If they come up with a beta, sign me up! I was
so disappointed to read somewhere that there would be no resemblance
between the Mac and PC versions.

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Hi Julia:

You've been in computing long enough by now to NEVER, EVER believe what you
read, unless it's on the Microsoft website

Those who know are not permitted to tell us; those who tell us, don't know!

There were some screenshots of an early prototype of Mac Word 2008 posted on
one of the Microsoft blogs. What appeared there is insignificantly
different from Office 2007. On Mac, the menu bar is a required System
element, so it stays. You'd have to look twice to see any other
differences.

Before anyone leaps to comment on that statement, just remember: by the time
the product ships it may look nothing like what we have seen. Or exactly
like Office 2007. Chances are, it will be somewhere in between. WE DON'T
KNOW

Office 2007 has a range of skins you can apply if you don't like the default
appearance. I would be surprised if Office 2008 did not retain that
feature: it's trivial to implement. Which means you will be able to make
your own if you don't like any of the above

I can almost guarantee that there will be no "public" beta of Mac Office.
There's a greater chance of me winning the lottery (and I never remember to
buy a ticket...).

Cheers

Thanks for the reminder. I feel like I live in a dual world since I
beta tested the windows version as I teach office then come home to my
Mac and Office 2004. If they come up with a beta, sign me up! I was
so disappointed to read somewhere that there would be no resemblance
between the Mac and PC versions.

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[mitchoke]

If there is a private beta, would it be possible to get in on that?

 

[mitchoke]

Hi Julia:

You've been in computing long enough by now to NEVER, EVER believe what you
read, unless it's on the Microsoft website

Those who know are not permitted to tell us; those who tell us, don't know!

There were some screenshots of an early prototype of Mac Word 2008 posted on
one of the Microsoft blogs. What appeared there is insignificantly
different from Office 2007. On Mac, the menu bar is a required System
element, so it stays. You'd have to look twice to see any other
differences.

Before anyone leaps to comment on that statement, just remember: by the time
the product ships it may look nothing like what we have seen. Or exactly
like Office 2007. Chances are, it will be somewhere in between. WE DON'T
KNOW

Office 2007 has a range of skins you can apply if you don't like the default
appearance. I would be surprised if Office 2008 did not retain that
feature: it's trivial to implement. Which means you will be able to make
your own if you don't like any of the above

I can almost guarantee that there will be no "public"betaof Mac Office.
There's a greater chance of me winning the lottery (and I never remember to
buy a ticket...).

Cheers




--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

If there is a private beta, would it be possible to get in on that? I
am climbing the walls with the performance of Office 2004 on my
MacBook Pro (C2D 2.16Ghz, 2GB RAM).

Mitchell Oke
www.geardiary.com

 

[Barry Wainwright [MVP]]

If there is a private beta, would it be possible to get in on that? I
am climbing the walls with the performance of Office 2004 on my
MacBook Pro (C2D 2.16Ghz, 2GB RAM).

I'm not aware of any beta involving people outside of MacBU (really, I'm not
aware of any beta inside either, but I assume that they are using new code
themselves).

Historically, all betas have been invitation only, but past performance is
no guarantee of future activity!

 

[William Smith]

If there is a private beta, would it be possible to get in on that? I
am climbing the walls with the performance of Office 2004 on my
MacBook Pro (C2D 2.16Ghz, 2GB RAM).

Hi Mitchell!

A beta is not an opportunity to get better software over what you're
currently running. Depending on the software, betas can be prone to
frequent crashes and data corruption. And they're rarely optimized
performance-wise until later in the beta cycle.

If you know anyone who participated in the Vista betas then you will
have heard of the huge downloads every few days, which meant hours
erasing and reinstalling each time. Beta testing is not conducive to
your productivity and you can't trust anything to work correctly or
consistently.

If you're looking for better software just wait for the real thing after
the bugs are squashed. ;-)

bill

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hi Mitchell!

A beta is not an opportunity to get better software over what you're
currently running. Depending on the software, betas can be prone to
frequent crashes and data corruption. And they're rarely optimized
performance-wise until later in the beta cycle.

If you know anyone who participated in the Vista betas then you will
have heard of the huge downloads every few days, which meant hours
erasing and reinstalling each time. Beta testing is not conducive to
your productivity and you can't trust anything to work correctly or
consistently.

If you're looking for better software just wait for the real thing after
the bugs are squashed. ;-)

bill

Or run 2007 with Parallels. ;-)

But "I am climbing the walls with the performance of Office 2004 on my
MacBook Pro (C2D 2.16Ghz, 2GB RAM)" indicates you have a significant,
atypical problem. The difference in performance between Word 2003 and Word
2004 is almost imperceptible for most tasks.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
======