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Post Tagged with: "mac"

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Office 2011 for Mac Sneak Preview

Works Just Like Office, but on a Mac

Overview: Microsoft Office for Mac suite is being updated for 2011. This is an overview / preview of the notable new features. Microsoft office 2011 mac preview

Product: Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac

Price: Not announced yet

Availability: Some time in 2011

Finally, a Good Reason to Install Office on a Mac

If you have ever tried to work with Office files on a Mac, you know it can often be a frustrating experience. Microsoft has made a version of their Office suite (Microsoft Office for Mac ) for Mac users for a while now. That however, does not mean it’s the same as using Office on a PC. It’s just not! Sure, there are other options available; Open Office (free), Apple iWork ($75), or some of the web-based options like Google or Zoho. While they are all “acceptable” and have their merits, they’re just not Microsoft Office on a PC.

I have been very vocal about how much I hated Office 2008 for Mac and have used many terrible workarounds to overcome its lousy user experience. So when I heard that there was a beta preview for Office 2011 for Mac floating around I had to take a look. First off, as of today (May 10, 2010) you can’t officially get a copy from Microsoft’s website. It is supposed to be more widely available some time this summer. As for how I got a copy to test…. Don’t ask, don’t tell. Seriously, if you hunt around on your favorite torrent sites, you will find a perfectly functional demo copy to try out.

So how good is it? Let’s take a look.

Look and Feel

The most prominent thing about this version of Office for the Mac is the addition of the “Ribbon” which was introduced in Office 2007 for Windows. It was not added to Office 2008 for Mac. This is a wonderful addition to the software. Not only do you get the benefits of the Ribbon, you still get the standard Mac menu across the top of the screen. I wish that the Windows version had a better blend of the Ribbon and Menu system.

Ribbon interface on windows 2011 for mac

As you can see, it is very similar to Office 2007. Plus, if you double-click on any of the tabs, they will collapse to give you more screen real estate. Just double-click again to restore the menu.

This is a very nice overhaul.

If you take a look at the Excel interface, you can see that it looks like regular old Excel, not that unusable abomination in Office 2008.

excel interface for office 2011

Welcome to my home computer old friend.

Cool New Features

Other than the interface overhaul, the best update to the suite is that piece of crap Entourage has been thrown into the dungheap where it belongs and replaced with….. Wait for it….. Outlook!!! Thank god. As a Windows user who converted to a Mac a while back, I can’t stand any of the iCal, Address Book, or Mail applications on my Mac.

This version of Outlook works just like you would expect. Major improvement!

There are also several nice little additions to all of the apps. They expanded upon the SmartArt, Templates, and Themes available to allow you to make any documents look beautiful.

smartart for mac office 2011

Overview

Pros:

The “Ribbon” interface works great
Real Excel that really works
Microsoft Outlook instead of Entourage
Works just like Office for Windows, but with cool Mac stuff in there

Cons:

Still a quarter of a step behind the Windows version
It won’t be cheap

What I Would Change

The Windows 2010 preview had a really nice screenshot feature on the Insert tab of each application that would have been great here too. I would have liked it if the Ribbon tabs were more “identical” between the Windows and Mac version as I switch back and forth between machines daily. All-in-all, these are some minute nit picks though.

Overall Rating

I would rate the Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac suite about a 9.75 out of 10. This is about as good as it gets. Everything you need from Office with everything you love about your Mac.

Bravo!!!

Is it Upgrade Worthy?

If you need to do any work in Excel, PowerPoint, or Word; you MUST purchase this update as soon as it goes on sale. This is such a significant upgrade over any previous version of Office for Mac, or iWork, or Open Office that it is worth every penny.

See Office 2011 for Mac in Action

This video overview shows the beta of Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac and covers some of the major changes.

Don’t Take My Word for It

Here are a few other reviews of this beta preview:

Take a Look at My Review of the New Office 2010 for Windows

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Awesome Desktop Application Moves to your Phone

Dropbox iPhone application

One of my favorite desktop applications of all time is Dropbox. Dropbox allows you to sync important files between multiple computers. You just install the software on your computers and set up a dropbox (folder) and place files in it. The files will instantly appear on all of your other computers.

While this is amazingly convenient if you are at one of your computers, what happens when you are at someone else’s house or out on the town? Well, the contents of your dropbox are not only on your computers, a copy is also available on the dropbox website. (They are securely protected by your ID and password.)

Well, they just released an iPhone application that will let you view and open the entire contents of your dropbox in the palm of your hand from anywhere. Once you install and log in to the iPhone application, you can see all of the files and folders just like they appear on your computer.

Just touch one of the files and view it on your phone. (View only, no editing.) You can view any file that the iPhone can handle:

Office files like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and PDFs
Audio files like MP3s, WAVs, AACs
Video files like MP4s and M4Vs
HTML files

Cool Features

Dropbox iphone application alphabetical browser Using the iPhone has its own set of constraints and capabilities that make it a unique user experience compared to your desktop computer. There are a few really cool features that make this a great iPhone application.

Alphabetical File Browsing – You can quickly scan through your files by name using the alphabetical browser bar running down the right side of the screen that works just like like the Contacts application. If you have a lot of files, this really helps speed things up.

Favorites – You can mark important files as "Favorites" and they will be saved locally on your iPhone. Now, the file can be opened locally without having to wait for it to download over AT&T’s amazingly slow 3G network. If the file is edited on one of your computers, it will be updated to your phone.

Photos – You can add photos taken on your iPhone directly to your dropbox. This doesn’t sound like much, but previously I had to sync my phone and pour through my pictures to move the right one into my dropbox. This is so much more convenient, especially if you are out and about and see something that you want to remember.

Wish List

While Dropbox is 98% awesome, there are always a few things that could be improved. Since the iPhone does not support many common media formats (Quicktime, AVI, WMV, WMA, MPEG, etc.) it would be cool if they could build in a simple media player that would allow me to view these files. Yeah, I know that this is an iPhone problem, it’s just that I’ll take help from anywhere I can find it.