I did indeed try your suggestion, but it didn't seem to help in any significant way... at least none that we were able to pick up on here. We've actually just decided to go back to Office '04 which, for some reason, starts up in seconds. I've left one copy of '08 up and running on my own laptop in case an update fixes the problem in the future.
I'm tired of dealing with this and don't want to waste any more time trying to figure it out. I've got my own job to do. The good people at Microsoft should do theirs and release software that works. The fact that it actually has trouble with Suitcase is ridiculous. They should assume that a fairly large portion of their Mac based users are going to be running Suitcase Fusion or something like it. It's not our job to find a thousand different solutions to a problem that should have been dealt with in development.
Anyhow, thanks to all who offered suggestions to try and fix it. Much appreciated.
Marko Kuljis
Creative Director | Partner
The NineFive Design
> Did you read my post (about 3 or 4 back)? I suspect Suitcase is your problem.
>
> BTW, I'm also in downtown Toronto
>
> > Hi All,
> >
> > I'm experiencing the same agonizingly slow startup times with Office for Mac '08. We're running several MacBook Pro and MacBook laptops. I've done hours of research on the net to try and solve the problem, to no avail. I've already sent this letter to Microsoft via their suggestion box, which I seriously doubt they read. With any luck, maybe they'll read this.
> >
> > Microsoft Office for Mac 2008
> >
> > I own a design studio that operate out of downtown Toronto, Canada. About six years ago, after years of never-ending problems with Windows as well as being frustrated by the complete lack of respect and support from Microsoft, we switched to Mac. There were a few small issues at first as the OS was indeed somewhat different from the Windows OS, but after a few weeks of getting used to a slightly different way of working, things have been a breeze. Apple has delivered on everything it promised and we've had absolutely no problems that weren't solved within a couple of hours ever since.
> >
> > The same cannot be said for Microsoft or anything it has released in the recent past. Windows is a complete disaster and, though promises were made about Office for Mac 2008, it's also a mess.
> >
> > It takes about 10 minutes for any of the Office '08 software to load. The splash screen appears and then just sits there, spinning its wheels for what seems like an eternity. After doing some research on the net, it was apparently an issue with typefaces. It was suggested that we turn off the WYSIWYG as well as the Project Gallery and that would speed up the startup. Not quite. Startup time was reduced to 8 minutes instead of the previous 10. In addition, Office took it upon itself to deactivate fonts that were activated by our typeface management software. This is absolutely unacceptable and yet another sign of Microsoft's lack of testing and complete disregard for its clients.
> >
> > My questions are these:
> > 1. Who, exactly, is in charge over there?
> > 2. Has there been any testing of the software whatsoever?
> > 3. Did the brilliant minds at Microsoft not realize that people who would use Office might need to use typefaces other than Helvetica, Arial and Times?
> > 4. Do they even care?
> > 5. Is there any respect at all for the people who buy the product?
> >
> > I could go on but frankly, what's the point? Microsoft obviously thinks their own clients don't have the mental capacity to realize they're being insulted. I'm personally sick and tired of paying hundreds of dollars for software that doesn't work nearly as well as advertised. No
