Office 2008 for Mac press release

[Diane Ross]

"Microsoft® Office 2008 for Mac" and it's coming in the second half of
2007. Read the Press Release:

<http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/jan07/01-09MacworldPR.mspx>

 

[Sol Apache]

Hello: do you know if visual basic will be included in Office 2008 for the
Mac (heard a rumour that it won¹t be)
Thx
Sol

 

[Barry Wainwright [MVP]]

It's no rumour, MS have officially announced this already.

<http://www.schwieb.com/blog/2006/08/08/saying-goodbye-to-visual-basic/>

<http://www.schwieb.com/blog/2006/08/10/so-tell-us-what-you-want-what-you-re
ally-really-want/>

 

[Sol Apache]

Thanks Barry - just caught up with this news, and glad I did before
innocently buying the upgrade. As a lot of my work is creating macro-driven
templates on a Mac for use on corporate PCs, this decision is a disaster.

Hope I can continue using Office 2004 to do the templates for PCs. Do you
know if VBA for Office 2004 will work on Vista Word?

 

[Barry Wainwright [MVP]]

The change to vista shouldn't affect things, the problem lies in the
differences between VBA in Office 2004 (stuck at v5) and VBA in Office 2003.
Your current macros will continue to work with windows office exactly as
well (or as badly) as they do now.

In all likelihood, VBA will be disappearing from the next windows version of
office as well - it was planned to replace it with dot net in v2007, but the
industry wasn't ready and howled too loud.

Whether or not we get dot net in the next mac version or not we will have to
wait and see.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

In all likelihood, VBA will be disappearing from the next windows version of
office as well - it was planned to replace it with dot net in v2007, but the
industry wasn't ready and howled too loud.

MS announced last year that VBA would be supported for at least 10 years
in WinOffice.

The installed base of VBA is incredibly huge, so it became an issue that
would kill upgrades.

The base using VBA in MacOffice is far smaller, so it's not worth the
$$, and especially the extra time it would take, to continue to develop
VBA in MacOffice. So we're left with three unpalatable options, IMO: 1)
Stay with Office 2004 and become more and more out of date, 2) Use
Office 2003/7 in Parallels, or 3) switch to AppleScript or other
external applications.

 

[Sol Apache]

Well, I guess I¹ll stay with Office 2004 for the time being. The macros I do
are quite simple and so far I have had no need to upgrade from the version
Microsoft has left Mac people.

With Word 2008 we are going back to pre-Word 6 days when we did not have
macros and this makes Word much less appealing. Nowadays there are a lot of
Mac alternatives for Word without VBA - Nisus Express for instance.

I am not using Word much any more for my own stuff (and as much as possible
for clients), I use InDesign and some big companies are considering that as
a future Word replacement - but have to see whether the new version of
Office for Windows will bring much improvement to the Word interface. Can¹t
think of any replacement for Excel though.

The proposed ending of VBA partly explains why it is so user unfriendly for
PowerPoint (compared to VBA for Word) - even on a PC.

Regarding PowerPoint 2008, does anyone know if this Mac version will include
multiple masters?

Does anyone know where I can get more information on dot net?

 

[Dave Minerath]

Enhanced compatibility between Windows and Mac users is all well and good,
but will it support the OpenDocument format? After one too many corrupted
research note .doc files, I've started using NeoOffice and saving in the
OpenDocument format, which I understand is now an industry standard file
format. It's interesting that my files are now 1/3 to 1/2 the size of a
..doc file.

I read that it will support the Office XML format, but I don't think this is
the same as the ODF (but I could be wrong---I'm good at it.)

 

[Barry Wainwright [MVP]]

MS announced last year that VBA would be supported for at least 10 years
in WinOffice.

Ok, I missed that - I knew they had put off the change but didn't realse is
was for that long.

The installed base of VBA is incredibly huge, so it became an issue that
would kill upgrades.

The base using VBA in MacOffice is far smaller, so it's not worth the
$$, and especially the extra time it would take, to continue to develop
VBA in MacOffice. So we're left with three unpalatable options, IMO: 1)
Stay with Office 2004 and become more and more out of date, 2) Use
Office 2003/7 in Parallels, or 3) switch to AppleScript or other
external applications.

Agreed.

 

[Michel Bintener]

Enhanced compatibility between Windows and Mac users is all well and good,
but will it support the OpenDocument format? After one too many corrupted
research note .doc files, I've started using NeoOffice and saving in the
OpenDocument format, which I understand is now an industry standard file
format. It's interesting that my files are now 1/3 to 1/2 the size of a
.doc file.

The different file sizes are perfectly normal; ODF, just like Microsoft's
Office Open XML format, compresses several elements inside the file. If you
try to zip a regular doc file (right-click in the Finder, then select Create
Archive), you will notice a similar difference.

I read that it will support the Office XML format, but I don't think this is
the same as the ODF (but I could be wrong---I'm good at it.)

Yes, Office Open XML will be the default file format in Office 2008, though
you will be able to save your documents as doc files, in case you need to
send them to users of older Office versions. As far as I know, the Win
Office developer team has announced that they are working on ODF converters
for Office 2007; no such announcement has been made regarding Mac Office,
though. Then again, it's still early days for Office 2008...

--
Michel Bintener
Microsoft MVP
Office:Mac (Entourage & Word)

***Always reply to the newsgroup.***

 

[Per Rønne]

"Microsoft® Office 2008 for Mac" and it's coming in the second half of
2007. Read the Press Release:

<http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/jan07/01-09MacworldPR.mspx>

Will the new Entourage be synchronizable with Palm, and will multi-day
appointments work when synchronized with a Palm?

I'm using a Palm Treo 650 smartphone, and multi-day appointments don't
work when synchronized with Entourage though they do work when
synchronized with Outlook. Perhaps I should synchronize Entourage with
Outlook through a Bluetooth connection, and then synchronize the Palm
with Outlook instead?

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Well, I guess I¹ll stay with Office 2004 for the time being. The macros I do
are quite simple and so far I have had no need to upgrade from the version
Microsoft has left Mac people.

With Word 2008 we are going back to pre-Word 6 days when we did not have
macros and this makes Word much less appealing. Nowadays there are a lot of
Mac alternatives for Word without VBA - Nisus Express for instance.

That's not really correct - the document object models will still be
accessible, so that macros can be written, just not in VBA. Applescript
can do most of the things that VBA can do (event macros being the most
notable exception).

It's a real pain for cross-platform work, but for Mac-only applications,
it's mostly a change in language. And there will be pressure for
WinOffice developers to go away from VBA as well.

I am not using Word much any more for my own stuff (and as much as possible
for clients), I use InDesign and some big companies are considering that as
a future Word replacement - but have to see whether the new version of
Office for Windows will bring much improvement to the Word interface. Can¹t
think of any replacement for Excel though.

There are a number of alternatives, including gnumeric. And one should
never count out Google and Google Spreadsheets.

The proposed ending of VBA partly explains why it is so user unfriendly for
PowerPoint (compared to VBA for Word) - even on a PC.

Perhaps, but I suspect its more because PP was a much later purchase by
MS, and the object model was probably less amenable to scripting. But
that's pure speculation on my part.

Regarding PowerPoint 2008, does anyone know if this Mac version will include
multiple masters?

There's been almost nothing released about specific applications. At
MacWorld, there's a short demo on some mostly Word features, but nothing
on PP (or XL).

Does anyone know where I can get more information on dot net?

Just Google. There are millions of pages. You can start at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_.NET

 

[Sol Apache]

Thanks, the ever-helpful JE. I¹ll check out gnumeric.

Will AppleScript be accessible via a menu. Currently my Tools>macros menu
command has a submenu displaying ³Visual Basic editor ² and ³REALBasic
editor². Is there any way now that I can add ³AppleScript² to this menu, and
are there any samples of internal use of AppleScript in Word, using the
document object models.


Sol

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Will AppleScript be accessible via a menu. Currently my Tools>macros menu
command has a submenu displaying ³Visual Basic editor ² and ³REALBasic
editor². Is there any way now that I can add ³AppleScript² to this menu, and
are there any samples of internal use of AppleScript in Word, using the
document object models.

Don't know for sure whether there will be an AppleScript menu in XL08 or
not, though I'd very much expect so.

You CAN add AppleScript, along with the appropriate user forms and code
to implement the menu item to the Tools/Macros menu using VBA (post back
if you want instructions), but I use the system AppleScript menu. If you
don't have it enabled already, run the

HD:Applications:AppleScript:AppleScript Utility

application and click "Show scripts menu in menu bar" checkbox. You'll
see a script/scroll icon appear in the menu bar.

From than menu, choose "Open Scripts Folder/Open User Scripts Folder".
Create a folder named "Microsoft Excel" within the "Applications" folder
inside the Scripts folder. Doing that ensures that XL scripts in that
folder only appear when XL is the active application.

Paul Berkowitz has written a guide called "Moving from Microsoft Office
VBA to AppleScript" for MacTech magazine. A draft is being distributed
at MacWorld, but it will be posted on the MacTech site soon, and, I'm
told, published in the magazine in a couple of months. It's about 140
pages of excellent info.

You can also get Microsoft's AppleScript Reference guides for XL, Word
and PPT at

http://microsoft.com/mac/resources/resources.aspx?pid=asforoffice

 

[Sol Apache]

Thanks for this information. I already have my AppleScript menu with a
variety of scripts, but I would not mind having access to AppleScript
directly in Word, so can you post the VBA instructions

I am looking at some samples Microsoft has provided and a couple of lists.
Most of the examples use AppleScript to call up a VB action, so they will be
useless in Word 2008. I did find a Microsoft sample. It works when using the
Xcode studio version (getting a list of songs from iTunes and placing them
in a Word document mocked up as a CD cover) but when I tried the code
Microsoft provided in AppleScript editor, it has bugs, so won¹t work!

Another question: will Microsoft enable AppleScripts to be buttons in Word
toolbars? Can I get an Xcode userform to be part of an AutoNew script?

Thanks for all your help and advice.

 

[Mickey Stevens]

Regarding PowerPoint 2008, does anyone know if this Mac version will include
multiple masters?

PowerPoint for Mac has supported multiple masters since 2001, although the
interface is not particularly discoverable. You can apply different slide
designs (templates) to different slides in a presentation, which makes it
use multiple masters. As to whether PowerPoint 2008 for Mac will have a
better interface for multiple masters, I don't know. I've been hoping to
see that for a long time. You can send that feedback to Microsoft. In
PowerPoint X or 2004, go to Help > Send Feedback on PowerPoint. Otherwise,
click on this direct link to enter Mac Product Feedback:
<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/default.aspx?pid=feedback>

 

[Mickey Stevens]

Will the new Entourage be synchronizable with Palm, and will multi-day
appointments work when synchronized with a Palm?

I'm using a Palm Treo 650 smartphone, and multi-day appointments don't
work when synchronized with Entourage though they do work when
synchronized with Outlook.

This is a known issue with the Handheld Synchronization conduit for
Entourage 2004. Are you using Sync Services support (Entourage >
Preferences) to synchronize Entourage data with the Sync Services database
and thus your Palm device? That may fix the problem.

Perhaps I should synchronize Entourage with
Outlook through a Bluetooth connection, and then synchronize the Palm
with Outlook instead?

I don't know how you intend to synchronize Entourage with Outlook; it's not
a particularly easy procedure unless you use an Exchange Server.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

I'm using a Palm Treo 650 smartphone, and multi-day appointments don't
work when synchronized with Entourage though they do work when
synchronized with Outlook. Perhaps I should synchronize Entourage with
Outlook through a Bluetooth connection, and then synchronize the Palm
with Outlook instead?

What do you use to sync?? Do you use The Missing Sync or the default
Palm sync software??
I don't have a Treo myself but I know several people who do. They all
use TMS and none of them complained about their calendar events.



Corentin

 

[Per Rønne]

What do you use to sync?? Do you use The Missing Sync or the default
Palm sync software??

I use Microsofts Entourage sync conduit for Entourage.

I don't have a Treo myself but I know several people who do. They all
use TMS and none of them complained about their calendar events.

Simply put, Iøve never heard about The Missing Sync before.

But now I've found this link:

<http://www.markspace.com/missingsync_palmos.php>

 

[Per Rønne]

This is a known issue with the Handheld Synchronization conduit for
Entourage 2004. Are you using Sync Services support (Entourage >
Preferences) to synchronize Entourage data with the Sync Services database
and thus your Palm device? That may fix the problem.

I use the sync service to sync with iCal in order to get events
subscribed to.

I don't know how you intend to synchronize Entourage with Outlook; it's not
a particularly easy procedure unless you use an Exchange Server.

Which would be to dear.

I used to sync between Entourage and Outlook with my old Palm m130, but
after having moved to Treo 650 the software always warns me of
duplicates. And they /do/ come.

It had been nice to have an Exchange Server alike on my Synology NAT
running Linux to do the synchronization work.