Office for Macintosh (2001 and X) and shared workspace from Office 2003

[Cary Harris]

I am researching a project for my employer. He is considering
implementation of a shared workspace system using Office 2003 and
SharePoint services from Windows Server 2003. Some of our departments
use Office for Macintosh instead of the Windows versions. My question:
Can the Mac versions, 2001 and X, access these shared workspaces and
edit the documents within these spaces?
I believe the answer is "No", but he needs more solid proof. Any help
or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Jim Gordon]

Hi Jim,

In a standard sharing environment using a Windows server, a Macintosh can
connect to a standard Windows shared volume using SMB in OSX. Multiple users
can share office documents regardless of Operating System.

I think Sharepoint portal server (I could be wrong on this) relies on users
to access server documents via a web browser interface. I think a mac user
can download a file, work on it, then upload the file via the web interface.

Office documents that use features just released in Office 2003 will not be
able to use these new features in Macintosh Office, nor will anyone else who
does not also have Office 2003 (new document management & security features,
for example). I don't know how much of SharePoint will be incorporated into
the new Mac version of Office that's now being built.

Turning new features on are not supposed to break the documents when opened
in older versions, but I wouldn't hold my breath hoping that this is true.
I've heard rumors that using the new features make documents that can be
opened only in Office 2003. I don't know if you can always share documents
with users outside of your own Sharepoint server even if they have Office
2003. You might want to visit a Sharepoint newsgroup and poke around.

Your boss should consider making a test server and trying it out with Macs
and other versions of Windows Office. Figure out exactly what features you
need and let the Mac team know so they can put them into the next version of
Office for the Mac. Here's the URL to use to send your product feature
requests (send one specific request per message):
http://register.microsoft.com/mswish/suggestion.asp

-Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

All responses should be made to this newsgroup within the same thread.
Thanks.

About Microsoft MVPs:
http://www.mvps.org/

Search for help with the free Google search Excel add-in:
<http://www.rondebruin.nl/Google.htm>

 

[James Harris]

Hi Jim,

In a standard sharing environment using a Windows server, a Macintosh can
connect to a standard Windows shared volume using SMB in OSX. Multiple users
can share office documents regardless of Operating System.

I think Sharepoint portal server (I could be wrong on this) relies on users
to access server documents via a web browser interface. I think a mac user
can download a file, work on it, then upload the file via the web interface.

Office documents that use features just released in Office 2003 will not be
able to use these new features in Macintosh Office, nor will anyone else who
does not also have Office 2003 (new document management & security features,
for example). I don't know how much of SharePoint will be incorporated into
the new Mac version of Office that's now being built.

Turning new features on are not supposed to break the documents when opened
in older versions, but I wouldn't hold my breath hoping that this is true.
I've heard rumors that using the new features make documents that can be
opened only in Office 2003. I don't know if you can always share documents
with users outside of your own Sharepoint server even if they have Office
2003. You might want to visit a Sharepoint newsgroup and poke around.

Your boss should consider making a test server and trying it out with Macs
and other versions of Windows Office. Figure out exactly what features you
need and let the Mac team know so they can put them into the next version of
Office for the Mac. Here's the URL to use to send your product feature
requests (send one specific request per message):
http://register.microsoft.com/mswish/suggestion.asp

-Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

All responses should be made to this newsgroup within the same thread.
Thanks.

About Microsoft MVPs:
http://www.mvps.org/

Search for help with the free Google search Excel add-in:
<http://www.rondebruin.nl/Google.htm>

Thanks for the information. We finally got some feedback from Microsoft
directly also. They stated pretty much the same thing, but without reference
to the new Macintosh version in the works. Their recommendation was to run
Virtual PC and install Office 2003 on the Macs. They still did not guarantee
that this would provide full functionality for the Macs. This gives a few
options to consider. Thanks again.