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Microsoft At Macworld
Rolan writes "Microsoft announced several Mac software updates at Macworld. Updates include MSN Messenger 5.0 and Improved Outlook imports (PST File import). The article also says Microsoft has also been working with Apple to ensure that Apple's Spotlight search technology works well with Office documents."
introduction of iWork? or the lack of a spreadsheet app in it?
introduction of $500 headless Mac?
"Erickson said that Microsoft has been working closely with Apple to ensure compatibility with technologies that will be released in the next version of the operating system, expected sometime in the first half of 2005. Of particular note is Spotlight, Apple's advanced search technology.
Spotlight will index and search Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, but unfortunately it will not work with Microsoft's email and information manager, Entourage."
Three Squirrels
Well this was posted here an hour ago and only a couple of comments. Looks like no one cares. Seems like Apple has stolen the spotlight from Gates and Company.
My
Cheers,
Ian
It is often stated that Apple needs Micro$oft, especially Awfice. But that is not true, and probably never was true. Micro$oft is not needed in any way for the Apple to thrive.
That said, Micro$oft could of course contribute to making the Mac experience better, just like any contributor of software. People tell me that M$N Me$$enger is actually rather good. This update therefore deserves as much attention as any of the other updates regularly found on Macupdate or Version Tracker - that is, it does not deserve attention on Slashdot.
If Micro$oft would release a decent version of WiMP (proprietary-schmoprietary - people do code video for WMV), with full support for all its codecs, Unicode, and preferably in Cocoa, or if they released a version of Awfice that used native APIs (including Unicode support, Services, ATSUI), it would be another matter. But that is just not happening, since Micro$oft is Micro$oft.
Therefore, nobody cares about this topic on Slashdot. Even an article about a shitty app like TextWrangler gets much more attention than Micro$oft's creepware.
I'd like to see an update to the mac version of their media player. The current one is too slow and clunky.
The first question a Windows user asks me when I bring my powerbook to work is "how do you read word files?"
Followed by acute disbelief when I tell them I have Office installed.
Clear, Dark Skies
With all the hype Office gets for the Mac, it has serious issues. As far as speed is concerned, it performs no where nearly as well as its Windows counterpart. Scrolling through large documents in Word is a horrific experience, and that's assuming it doesn't mysteriously crash while editing a table or equation. While unicode support was added in 2004, it still cannot properly support right-to-left languages. When it comes to Mac, Microsoft cuts corners wherever possible, just to get the product out the door. Not to say they don't do the same with their Windows products, but at least to a lesser degree.
Applications that bring MS absolutely no financial incentive are only maintained for the sake of propagating their proprietary formats. It was likely that a person would rethink publishing content in WMV if he knew Mac users have absolutely no way of playing it back; now, individuals will be a bit less reluctant to take the full plunge into WMV, oftentimes unaware that the Mac user's experience (especially with streaming, imbedded media) is horrific.
MSN Messenger has not really seen a major change in ages, and is far behind its Windows counterpart. I realize things like audio/video conferencing are difficult to implement, but something as simple as pictures could have been done in a minor revision.
I haven't used the latest version of VPC, so I won't comment on its overall quality. However I suspect that if it were still in the hands of Connectix a G5 capable version would have arrived much sooner, and it likely would not have been delayed numerous times simply because of SP2. Let's hope Darwine will save the day.
After replacing Powerpoint with Keynote I fully welcome Pages. As clicheish as it may sound, Microsoft's applications emit an aura of conformity and stagnation, while Apple's seem to feel a bit more flexible and fun, something that's important when writing anything other than a business letter.
spotlight..
Bah dum-
It will.
The next paragraph of the article:
"It won't index Entourage and that's simply due to the way that Spotlight was made versus Entourage," said Erickson. "Entourage saves everything in a database format and we are working with Apple to see how Spotlight can index the database."
This is technically simple -- Microsoft needs to write an Entourage importer for Spotlight. I'm sure it will get done, although who knows if it will be in time for the release of Tiger?
From Mactopia.com (NOT Macworld, I know): "Find out how Internet Explorer 5 for Mac can show you the Internet in new, exciting ways."
Wow, IE 5, I've been waiting to see what the Internet would look like fresh technology like that. Will it match my brand new blueberry iBook?
.\.\att Clare
Home users will get used to actually paying for their "Word".
MS will be forced to offer a cheaper introduction package, but since Apple's installer base will most likely grow slightly they could in the end see their profit grow.
iWork isn't a replacement for Office, not in a long shot. This said, it's probably enough for me, and a lot of other home users - the crowd that may run Office but sure hasn't paid for it...
Heck, even my over 70 years old father in law got his Office "free of charge" from a fellow retired mac enthousiast. There you go, if old timers go swapping without the slightest remorse - as long as we're talking about what people perceive to be "essential" programs the price of a small computer...
Not to be cynical to the wrong crowd here, but what I think this means is that no FOSS package will get a serious foot in Apple's crack - I mean door.
I think, therefore I am...I think.
Wow, IE 5, I've been waiting to see what the Internet would look like fresh technology like that. Will it match my brand new blueberry iBook?
Yes, that's one of the exciting new features - choose from 9 different colors, including blueberry and tangerine.
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
I wish Apple would just throw some developers at porting OpenOffice natively to OSX and ship it with every computer. If that happened, every MS user I know could run a Mac no questions asked. I don't understand why Apple would throw their programming weight behind GarageBand and iWork. Both are great products, but if they could package and distribute a native OSX OpenOffice with every computer, then they could market their hardware to PC users to switch. AbiWord fills this gap a little, but it is only the word processor. They need the whole office package.
In this house we obey the laws of Thermodynamics!
but actually I scored a copy of Office X for $50 bucks as part of a continuing education deal from the Evil Empire itself.
Anyways, the "student" version of Office 2004 is relatively cheap.
Clear, Dark Skies
I'm disappointed that Entourage still lacks the Exchange support needed to fully eliminate the need for Outlook 2001.
All the Macs in my workplace have to keep Classic just to run Outlook. When you have a shop full of non-OS9 G4s and G5s, it's a disgrace. And while Mail.app can work with Exchange servers, it can't touch the Global Address Book and other important things.
Maybe someday...
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, START
How long have they had to port it now?
Free Mac Mini Yeah, it's
Why not look at the more logical reason, namely that Apple is reluctant to eat into FileMaker's sales? After all, it's in a bind when it comes to swallowing FileMaker whole, since it still is pretty popular in the Windows world. They may not be able to get away with calling it Apple iFile yet.
My personal wish would be for the next generation of FileMaker to be the enterprise's iTunes: a package that looks great on Windows, integrates better with PHP and mySQL than Access, etc. and then suggest that it works seamlessly with iWork on the Mac.
What I suspect is that Apple has programmers donating to the Open Office port to Cocoa and Aqua, ensuring that it meets the Apple HIG. Or maybe a port of other KDE programs based on their Safari experience, in the hopes that KDE may start eating into Windows XP...
Within the past year, I've added a PowerBook and dual G5 PowerMac to my Windows notebook-and-desktop suite, but I'm still using Outlook 2K for Windows as my email client and PIM (therefore still running the Windows systems)....because there's been no clean way to get all of my email, contact, calendar and tasklist data into Entourage. The import tool seems to be what'll do the trick; my research indicates that the PST formats used by Outlook for Windows and Outlook for Mac 2001 are identical. And I'll still be able to sync with my Pocket PC via Missing Sync or Pocket Mac. Make sense?