Office 2007 for PC has now been out since November 2006 in various forms, yet the Mac version isn't due until January 2008.

A 13 month disparity is not acceptable, and shouldn't be. Their push to foist the OOXML document standard on the world has created enough headaches as of late. To make matters worse by this time gap actually hurt them. Had Mac users been able to have a comparable version of Office (natively), then it's a pretty sure bet that they would have gotten fast track approval at ISO for their standard. Way to shoot yourselves in the foot.

This notification is a bit mis-leading. You have to have purchased Office between Nov. 1 and Jan 14, 2008 to be eligible for this promotion. It is not nice to mis-lead people.

How is it misleading? It says "who buy", not "who have bought". SInce it is November 1st, if you buy it now (ie since the notification went out), you will be eligible. It is present and future, not past tense.

The notification states that it ends on Jan 14, 2008.

Since the content of the matrix is not reproduced in the article, would it be possible to make the graphic large enough to read? Man, that type is small! I've noticed this trend on TMO of late, too small graphics without the ability to enlarge.

Since you forced me to go to the MicroSoft page, here's my favorite part of the Office requirements:

"HFS+ hard disk format (also known as Mac OS Extended or HFS Plus)"

So, will Office load on the GUID partition scheme?

Yes. These are two different things. HFS+ sits on top of the GPT.

ZFS, NTFS, FAT32, and so on. Wether you use GUID or Apple Partitioning Scheme is probably irrelevant.

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Anonymous wrote:
ZFS, NTFS, FAT32, and so on. Wether you use GUID or Apple Partitioning Scheme is probably irrelevant.

Agreed.

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Tiger wrote:
Office 2007 for PC has now been out since November 2006 in various forms, yet the Mac version isn't due until January 2008.

A 13 month disparity is not acceptable, and shouldn't be. Their push to foist the OOXML document standard on the world has created enough headaches as of late. To make matters worse by this time gap actually hurt them. Had Mac users been able to have a comparable version of Office (natively), then it's a pretty sure bet that they would have gotten fast track approval at ISO for their standard. Way to shoot yourselves in the foot.

Now, hold up. If you're designing an office suite for a new OS and then that OS is delayed... Office has its schedules not exactly dictated but dependendant upon the release cycles of other products. When the release date is slipping for a product that you have a lot of visibility into (Windows) you can better adjust your release date to be close. With Mac, well, they cannot be as certain that a release date is firm, and I highly doubt they have advanced copies as Apple is sketchy about giving those even to Adobe. Mac Office always comes out a little bit later than Windows OFfice, but then Leopard's release date got pushed way back and it is going to take Microsoft some time to test & fix bugs on the new platform.

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Intruder wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:
ZFS, NTFS, FAT32, and so on. Wether you use GUID or Apple Partitioning Scheme is probably irrelevant.

Agreed.

Thanks for the help, all.

I wonder if the promotion signals some concern within Microsoft about the uptake of iWork. Being late to the party is obviously a problem that might be exacerbated by people finding other options suitable.

Why all this funny stuff? You people should worship the ground that I walk on!

http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com

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Steve Ballmer wrote:
Why all this funny stuff? You people should worship the ground that I walk on!

http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com

Actually, I weep for the ground that you walk on. Not Steve Ballmer... you.

get new templates later... Seriously, am I the only one who thinks this upgrade is l.a.m.e.? New templates, controls moved around in the UI and auto-response Exchange-only support? WOW.

I have Office 2004...on my shelf. Since upgrading to Leopard I have not re-installed it. I may not do so at all. I am going to give it a try with iWork only. If I can't, then I can always reinstall 04. Still not seeing a compelling reason to upgrade.

for 79 bucks, iwork is great!

Office 2008 wasn't just designed for Leopard however. That's my point. It was designed for Tiger AND Leopard. The fact that Leopard was delayed six months by no means justifies putting off the release of the Mac version of Office that is compatible with MS new file formats 14 months after the release of the PC version. That is NO longer acceptable. Is it any wonder iWork is gaining ground? And OpenOffice?

If you will hold down the Control Key and scroll up with your mouse wheel, you can easily blow up the matrix to read it.

You gotta buy it BETWEEN Nov 1, 2007 & Jan 2008.

Your article is a bit misleading, making many of us think ANY purchased copy would qualify.

Maybe a quick edit to make that clear would help...

Thanks,
John Boyarsky

RSMS 7th & 8th Grade Math teacher and Yearbook Guy

Fairbanks, AK

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Tiger wrote:
Office 2008 wasn't just designed for Leopard however. That's my point. It was designed for Tiger AND Leopard. The fact that Leopard was delayed six months by no means justifies putting off the release of the Mac version of Office that is compatible with MS new file formats 14 months after the release of the PC version. That is NO longer acceptable. Is it any wonder iWork is gaining ground? And OpenOffice?

Well, then don't buy it if you don't accept it. Apparently it is pretty acceptable since no one is writing about it being unacceptable, except in the response to a blog post. Third party support is a major problem with Apple products and it is *not* the fault of the third parties, it's the fault of the way Apple treats third party developers.

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Boyarsky wrote:
You gotta buy it BETWEEN Nov 1, 2007 & Jan 2008.

Your article is a bit misleading, making many of us think ANY purchased copy would qualify.

Maybe a quick edit to make that clear would help...

Thanks,
John Boyarsky

RSMS 7th & 8th Grade Math teacher and Yearbook Guy

Fairbanks, AK

Dude, it's in the first paragraph, and bolded. What more do you want? I guess that's why you teach math? Too busy to read the second sentence? "Microsoft announced a special promotion on Promotion on Thursday." Seeing as you stopped there why would you think that a special promotion would apply to ANY purchased copy? I weep for our children's learning.

Guest said:

"Well, then don't buy it if you don't accept it. Apparently it is pretty acceptable since no one is writing about it being unacceptable, except in the response to a blog post."

Acceptable is very different form having a lack of options. I am not part of the "Microsoft is evil, Apple is good" camp. Microsoft makes one heck of an office suite. It IS the de facto standard, regardless of HOW it got there. Until recently though, there really were no viable commercial challengers to Office in the consumer market,and before anyone says it, I know that ClarisWorks, AppleWorks, and Wordperfect suite were available and "just as good." But remember, I said viable- Claris is no more, Appleworks was killed off by Apple, and the only thing keeping the corpse warm on Wordperfect is Lawyers. iWork is a viable replacement for most home users. Online apps like Google Documents are getting better. Freetard software like Open Office is FINALLY getting to be palatable enough that non-propeller-heads can use it. This wealth of new options that are viable alternatives for many users is what make Microsoft's practices unacceptable now that those of us who want to drop them, can.

Guest said:

"Third party support is a major problem with Apple products and it is *not* the fault of the third parties, it's the fault of the way Apple treats third party developers"

Examples please? I have very little trouble with any of the third party software I use. All of it is commercial and is frequently updated and well-supported. I work in a Windows world. If 3rd party support was as bad as you ssay, I would never be able to do the work that I do since I routinely bring work home, do it on my Mac, and take it back to work...or connecting to Windows networks, etc.

I agree that Apple's secrecy does create hiccups during the upgrade cycles, but those are smoothed out fairly quick. microsoft, as it was pointed out, is making a Universal Binary of an Office suite that is NOT Leopard dependant...this FUBAR rests squarely in Redmond.