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Software Reviews at RameshMenon.Net
Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Standard Edition - Courtesy CNet Reviews
The improvements in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint make this upgrade worth the
cash, especially for Office 2001 users, but the new Project Center needs beefing up.
The debut of the new version of Microsoft's mammoth Office for Mac seems anticlimactic
after the hoopla surrounding Office X. However, when we cracked open the hood of Office
2004 for Mac, we were pleasantly surprised. The latest revisions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint,
and Entourage each have at least one new feature we can't live without. Should you upgrade?
If you're still using Office 2001, the answer is yes. The improvements in Word and Excel
alone are worth the $239 upgrade, and Office's new compatibility reports will help ensure
that you can still use your older documents. If you're an Office X user, you'll probably
appreciate the stability improvements in version 2004, while heavy Word users will crave
the new Track Changes functionality. If you don't want to buy the whole suite, Microsoft
is also selling the three productivity apps--Word, Excel, and PowerPoint--separately for
$229 ($109 upgrade) each.
Editors' rating: 8.0 Very good
The good: Includes compatibility reports; greatly improved Track Changes;
records audio notes in Word; lets you edit Excel objects in page-layout view; new PowerPoint
tool allows for on-the-fly presentation tweaks; improved spam filter in Entourage.
The bad: New Project Center doesn't add much functionality to Entourage or Office;
buggy online calendar view.
The bottom line: The improvements in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint make this upgrade
worth the cash, especially for Office 2001 users, but the new Project Center needs beefing up.
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