Tiger 10.4.4 and Office

[PhilD]

I see a new OS update is available. Has anyone here had any experience
of it yet? Specifically, does Office 2004 still work fine (it should,
but...)?

Obviously, I don't want to install it if it messes up the applications
I use most!

Thanks,

PhilD (still using 10.4.3...)

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Phil -

I don't have a real answer to your question, but thought I'd share a
philosophy that has served me well over the last 20+ years... 'Wait 'n'
See'! I never jump on _any_ update/upgrade as soon as it's released
unless it specifically fixes a current problem which I can no longer
tolerate.

Being the first on the block is usually just asking for trouble, but if
you stay tuned in here as well as to Apple Discussions you'll be better
aware of when/whether to make the move.

Reegards |:>)

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi,

Apple and Microsoft have a pretty good relationship right now. Some
minor bug fixes and stability enhancements make 10.4.4 the best version
of MacOS in which to use Office. Don't hesitate to update IMHO.

-Jim

 

[Norman R. Nager, Ph.D.]

I agree with Jim--an excellent,well-tested new version of Tiger is a
must-have and provides a great OS environment for Office 2004.

Updated a Dual G5 2.0 and an old 733-mhz G4 QuickSilver (2001) to 10.4.4 and
the new Tiger cub plays very nicely with all component applications of
Office 2004 on both Macs. Important security enhancements, increased speed
and lots of plusses.

The "primary" problem experienced--very few, indeed-- I've experienced is
the disabling of journaling on my Tiger volume following Combo Updater
updating of my G5 and following direct Software Update of the G4. Easily
fixed with a quick selection of the "enable journaling" button while in Disk
Utility. A few errors, but those were corrected by Disk Utility's Repair
Permissions.

Thus far, the only app that conflicts with Tiger on either of my Macs is
PithHelmet 2.6.3, the excellent shareware that shields Safari browsing from
all the distractions of advertisers' banners, flashers and animations that
rain down upon the internet jungle. An email to the PithHelmet developer
resulted in the new good news that he expects to have a new version out
quickly.


Respectfully, Norm

 

[Clive Huggan]

Thank you, Norm ­ useful information.

Clive Huggan
============

 

[TerribleToll]

I have no problems with anything except for the MS Office suite that
now inexplicably finds a whole lot of the fonts as 'corrupted'. The
fonts are fine and used in lots of other applications with no problem.

Any ideas?

Anatole

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

I have no problems with anything except for the MS Office suite that
now inexplicably finds a whole lot of the fonts as 'corrupted'. The
fonts are fine and used in lots of other applications with no problem.

Any ideas?

Anatole

You DO have one or more corrupted fonts. Try clearing the font cache before
running again.

 

[Klaus Blume]

Hi,

I have had no problem with MS Office v.X up until 10.4.3. Since
upgrading to 10.4.4, any Office component will 'unexpectedly quit' on
start-up. It is possible to still run MS Office, though, by opening up
a previous doc, and to proceed from there.

Also, disabling the 'Start up Gallery' on start up will remedy the
problem; but that is a bummer for me, since I like to have access to
the Project Gallery. Apparently, the 'Start up Gallery' has been a
problem with MacOS X since 10.3.x. I am curious in knowing whether it's
the same with Office 2004.

Over on the Apple Discussion group site the number of people having
problems with MS Office on start up after upgrading to 10.4.4 is
increasing daily.

I have been experimenting with the MS Office specific fonts. Office is
very finicky with fonts. If it can't find the right font in the right
place in pristine condition, or finds a duplicate somewhere and gets
confused, it will 'unexpectedly quit.'

Office v. X placed its fonts into ~/Library/Fonts
Office 2004 places its fonts into ~/user/Library/Fonts

My wife has the identical set up as my iBook G4, and she has no
problem.

Go figure...

Cheers,

Klaus

 

[nickb]

Office v. X placed its fonts into ~/Library/Fonts
Office 2004 places its fonts into ~/user/Library/Fonts

Just to be clear, I think you meant v.X used /Library/Fonts and 2004
uses ~/Library/Fonts

The v.X way was of course the norm for this situation, and would thus
be required only once at the time of the MS apps installation for all
users of that machine. The constant discovery of "corrupt" fonts by MS
programmes (with other apps seemingly fine with them), might give a
clue as to why users need permission to frequently be re-installing
them (as opposed to administrators). Or maybe it's the fact that users
have permission to corrupt them in the first place that is the
problem...


Nick

 

[Klaus Blume]

Hi Nick,

No, I mean Office specific fonts that MS Office places into font
folders over and above those which are already there. They are:

Arial
Arial Black
Tahoma
Trebuchet MS
Verdana
Webdings

I have seen situations where either Arial or Arial Black is present,
but not both, and/or duplicate versions of one or the other.

Except for the Arial family, all other fonts ARE, in fact, Microsoft
Corp fonts. The reason why MS Office for the Macintosh adds these fonts
is because they are widely used in the Windows environment, thus making
cross platform compatibility easier.

So..., if Office finds two versions of the font it needs, it will
'unexpectedly quit.'

Cheers,

Klaus

 

[Harvey Waxman]

Apple and Microsoft have a pretty good relationship right now. Some
minor bug fixes and stability enhancements make 10.4.4 the best version
of MacOS in which to use Office. Don't hesitate to update IMHO.

Trying to use the Office 2004 test drive that came with daughter's Mac Mini.
OS is latest update of Tiger (10.4.5 I think)

Crashes every time after getting stuck trying to update fonts. She is a font
freak and has 2600 fonts installed! Don't know if that is important.

Suggestions?