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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/798
MacDirectory 149
CLOSER LOOK
citations and bibliography tool. Just select
the format you want, MLA, APA, Chicago or
Turabian, enter the information into a data
entry form, and the proper citation will
appear in the document and load itself
into your bibliography. The feature may not
replace some of the better commercial
add-ons for Word, but it's quite handy to
have as a built-in feature.
The Need to Excel
Excel for 2008 also adds some rather
brilliant new features that are unique to
the Mac. At the top of our list is the
remarkable Formula Builder. Excel 2008
added an elegant little feature that takes a
fill-in-the-blanks approach to help get past
the arcane syntax of the formula bar. For
simpler operations, the Calculator tool
offers a familiar-looking, pocket calculator
interface that lets you point and click on
cells and insert the resulting formula into
your sheet. Another great new tool for the
arithmetically challenged is Ledger Sheets.
These are pre-built and pre-formatted
spreadsheets for everything from address
lists to stock portfolios. Office 2008's great
leap in graphics power is reflected in a
charting tool that has the great look of
Apple's Numbers backed by the depth and
power of Excel.
Making a (Power) Point
PowerPoint 2008 has been substantially
improved. The interface has undergone a
major overhaul and often-used features like
transition and animation control are much
easier to manipulate. Just about every tool
you'll want is placed where you'd logically
expect to find it. In fact, the intelligence
with which PowerPoint handles graphics is
truly marvelous.
Unique to the Mac version is the ability to
port presentations directly to iPhoto and,
with a limited degree of portability, via an
iPod. With Apple's Keynote rapidly
maturing, PowerPoint is finally facing some
real competition, but in Office 2008, the
program is starting to catch up in terms of
usability and graphics while offering
substantially more depth in terms of
features and interoperability.
In Touch With Entourage
The first thing you'll notice about
Entourage is the cleaner, simpler look and
feel. There is a new interface element, My
Day, which provides a PDA-like desktop
gadget to keep you abreast of your
calendar and to-do items. Most of
Entourage's improvements are under the
hood with a far more robust database,
enhanced support for Microsoft's
Exchange Server.
Expression Media
Adding $100 to the price of the Standard
version of Office it's hard to predict how
big of a Mac audience Expression Media
will draw. It is a reasonably powerful media
asset management and sharing tool with a
number of similarities to Adobe's Bridge
(whose market domination is by no means
threatened). The program provides
support for a variety of image, video and
audio files that will be more than adequate
for a typical business environment. If you're
in a Windows shop, the application
provides a gateway to the PC's more
robust server-based Expression suite. A
major update that should be available by
the time you read this should include a
direct pipeline to the Mac's iPhoto library.
The Office 2008
Experience
Even on our Mac Pro, program launch
times (particularly for Word) were less than
impressive (and were not noticeably
improved in the March update). Reducing
the number of active fonts seems to help,
but that may not be acceptable to a lot of
users. However, once the program was
running, all the interface elements were
pleasingly responsive. Office 2008 no
longer supports macros (a tumultuously
controversial decision). But the good news
is that the suite coexists quite comfortably
with Office 2004, so if there are some
macro-based forms and templates you
depend on, you can run them under 2004
without a problem. For some, the
extensive set of Automator tools (not
available in the low-cost Home/Student
edition) and expanded AppleScript support
in the Standard edition should provide
some consolation.
Most of the applications that make up
Microsoft Office for the Mac have been
around nearly as long as the Mac itself.
With many of the releases, it pioneered
innovative design breakthroughs that left
the Windows version to play catch-up. We
think 2008 is one of those updates that
leaves the other platform in the dust. The
suite-wide changeover to a new file format
and the Mac version's lack of macros will
make life challenging for some users. But
for many, the Universal Binary code base
and a slew of great new features will make
this update more than worthwhile.
Product Microsoft Office 2008
Made by Microsoft