New Office 11 for Mac

[shigzeo]

My wife as an educational version of Office 2008. It works and is compatible across most boundaries. But after using certain elements in iWork, it is cluttered, but not as much as the Windows version which lacks explanations for icons. Visuals visuals visuals - sounds like a battle cry from 1995!

Office 11 for Mac looks to get even more cluttered, but at least the new 'vista strip' or whatever it's called has some letters in there too so users can sink their teeth into something realistic. Icon's don't explain everything and grouping of a million items into one is pretty time-wasting.

Anyway, looks like Mac users won't have to wait 4 years in between updates again, but will Office 11 be worth it?

[NineSwords]

I HATE HATE HATE the new office UI on windows. At the office we are boycotting Office 07/10 and for that little bit of office work I have to do at home I use iWork and MacJournal. I'm not to versed in the world of mac applications yet, but this combination suites my needs perfectly so far.

[shigzeo]

When I tried the new Windows Office interface for the first time, I wondered how anyone gets any work done at all; the overuse of useless icons is atrocious and incomplete as is the floating menu system which is the number one reason I think Windows is behind in user interface: from app to app, everything changes location and adaption into app GUI's. Windows is now an overburdened system which wasn't ever designed for the user, but for features.

Rather than learning a new language (Windows), OSX is merely a new slang....

[NineSwords]

Rather than learning a new language (Windows), OSX is merely a new slang....

Very well put. I might steal the line for my next office rant at work.

[shigzeo]

Well, if you are going to do that... let me dress it up a bit more. How's, "Rather than learning a new language with Windows, you merely master slang with OSX"? Or, "Windows is the suxors, OSX is the EVAR BEST"?

[NineSwords]

My colleagues get to hear the second line often enough from me since I switched. I try to convince my boss that I absolutely need a Mac at work because I'm to old to constantly switch between different keyboard shortcuts.

[shigzeo]

And that is the best part: Mac keyboard shortcuts exist for almost any function - it's great! There are some contortive moves, but in the end, it is quicker than moving your hand to a stupidly-shaped 74 button Windows mouse only to have to scour the rows of indescribable icons for that one function which would have taken 2 seconds with the keyboard.

[Jim]

yes yes yes )) It's hard to describe what good shortcuts can do to the workflow! I cannot work in any other OS after OSX shortcuts. Because using your mouse clicking on icons is stupid and inefficient

[shigzeo]

Well, I'd not go THAT far, but it does waste time when you have to search for a function which exists at your fingertips. Some shortcuts are quite acrobatic; for instance, paste without format is: shift, option, command, V - not that simple at first, but it comes as 2nd nature now and works in any native app. What I hate is to move to a non-native app, Microsoft for instance, which for obvious reasons, doesn't support OSX shortcuts and then having to move to mouse interface - horrible.

[shigzeo]

Well, I won't be buying the new one as I just purchased 2008. One thing: 2011 had better improve on just about everything to do with interface. It is the single most frustrating software that I've ever paid money for.

One:
There are still next to no keyboard shortcuts. A lot of my work involves copy/cut/paste (wonderful job, eh?) and thanks to Microsoft and Apple warring for hegemony over User Interfaces, a job that takes 1 second in OSX via a shortcut (paste without formatting), takes about 7-8 with Office because I have to move my mouse to Edit, then to Paste Special, then to unformatted text, then to okay. It is a complete waste of time.

Then, auto-format, which I generally turn off, comes up in horrid menu items that block text.

There is no scroll-select. Instead, I have to click and drag to select rather than using multitouch gestures to do it easily.

But recently, the one thing that has me slitting my wrists is the ignorance of Expose. Going from Window to Window (for copy and paste (yes, it takes bloody forever)) means shifting between expose windows, or using OSX commands to switch. Well, I can do that, but when I got back to the window that I select, about 1/3 of the time, the window reverts to the old one, so I have to start again.

I am surprised that Microsoft have been able to milk this product for so long, charge so much for it and still sell it. It is rubbish. I suppose unless you really need intelligent footnoting, or some other (non text based entry system) research function, it is okay. For everything else, it is years behind even Apple's newcomer, Pages.

2011 I will not buy, but I hope that my OSX user brethren who buy the next one get the updates that make it worthwhile on the Mac because now, it is just a stinky pile of cross-platform poo.