Office 2008 Speed/Issues: Post SP1

[Doug]

We've had SP1 for a bit now, and I was wondering how it's treating
everyone.

For me, all the apps seem much more stable once they are up and
running, but getting them there (i.e., launching them) still seems to
take longer than it should: Excel is the fastest, Word is the slowest,
with PowerPoint in the middle (don't use Entourage). Relaunching seems
to take less time than initial launch, but the speed at which relaunch
happens seems to vary greatly for no reason (but faster than pre-SP1).
Word (my mainstay) seems to appear on the screen faster than it did,
but there is still a lag before I can actually type in a document. On
the technical side, I'm still getting the CGBitmapContextGetData error
in the console when running Word (a problem which seems to be specific
to MBP's running Nvidia GPUs -- or at least, that's my impression),
and I was wondering if this is a problem waiting for Apple to release
10.5.3, or a problem that won't be fixed until SP2. Overall, Office
2008 is much more usable than it was pre-SP1, but my eye still keeps
wandering to other office productivity solutions (despite my need for
real Office compatibility). Here's hoping for some quick fixes with
10.5.3; if the launch speeds were improved, I'd be a happy Office user
once again.

Doug

 

[Diane Ross]

I was wondering if this is a problem waiting for Apple to release
10.5.3, or a problem that won't be fixed until SP2.

Until Apple or Microsoft announces none of us know. We could only speculate.
A guess would be that this is a priority, but fixing bugs would trump speed.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Doug -

You might want to check the Apple Downloads. There are a number of firmware
updates & others that may apply to your system configuration. I can't say
for sure because: my MBP hadn't exhibited the problem, I have applied he
ones appropriate for my config, and I refuse to move from 10.5.0 until Apple
shows me a stable update... Maybe 10.5.3... Or 4... Or 5

I believe that MS is dependent on Apple for this as well, so when it will be
resolved is anyone's guess. I'm not sure what you mean by "a bit now" re SP1
- it was released the 14th of May, and 2 weeks in 'techno-time' amounts to a
fraction of a second in real time I wouldn't even start looking for an
SP2 for another 3 months or expect to see it for another 3 beyond that.
There may be some interims along the way, but anything major is unlikely.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac