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Wait, wait, I'm here

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My first blog post, while written by yours truly, wasn't posted by yours truly - my marketing team created an account for me and posted the blog entry so we could make sure it happened in a timely way during the frenzy of my first day.    With the initial scramble over, I now have control over my account - so now I can post for myself, comment for myself - it's like I'm my own person.  Watch out! :-).

First of all, I have now had 4 weeks on the job, and I am happy to report that I couldn't be more delighted with my decision to come to MacBU - the energy and passion in the team is truly inspiring.   Our customers are in great hands.

I’ve had a chance to get caught up on all the various comments in this blog to date and I have seen a lot feature suggestions.  I really appreciate them – I love it when folks take the time to share their view on our products.   It’s inspiring to me to see how much people care about MacBU’s products.

I’ve also seen a lot of requests for dates and I wanted to address that.   We simply can’t answer these requests in a precise manner – all we can do is identify rough time frames.  It isn’t that we are being secretive or cruel - shipping software as complex as Mac Office is half art, half science, and calling a precise date way in advance is next to impossible.  In some cycles where we’re just choosing what features to deliver we can target a date with more precision by cutting back on our ambitions.  This release is more than just features that we could prioritize and cut – among other things, we have new file formats and are building universal binaries for our entire Office suite.  Our entire team wants to ship great products that people love to use, and that means making sure the products work great.   So while I appreciate that people want it now (believe me, we all want it now) and if not now, people want to know exactly when, I’m afraid that right now, all I can say is, we’re working hard and stay tuned.

So right now I know that folks want our software and that our users have lots of great feature ideas – I love it.    I’d also love to have a broader dialog with y’all – so over to you, what do you want to hear from me?

Comments

  • Anonymous
    July 06, 2007
    Thanks for taking the time to write back, I'm sure alot of people really appreaciate it. I was really hoping that for Microsoft Office 2008 you could incorpate a "Full Screen Mode" which would be highly beneficial to those people like myself that have to write long reports. Addiitionally I really liked to feature in Microsoft Office 2004 which let the user view the text as white and the background blue, this has been a lifesaver for me its saved about 3 years of wear and tear off my eyes. Please, please incorporate it into the new release Thanks once again, good luck and best wishes!

  • Anonymous
    July 06, 2007
    I'd like to hear what bothers you most about using the current Mac Office 2004, and what Office 2008 will do to change that. From my perspective, the current performance of Office (Word and Excel, mostly) with graphs and other large documents, when compared to Word on Windows, is a huge deal. Compatibility is the other big issue - even without considering the new XML format, Winword documents often don't quite 100% translate over (ex. inserted Excel graphs in Word) and this is a big issue when working with large documents where page layout matters. Other smaller annoyances for me fall mainly under the category of "things that aren't quite Mac-like." By that I mean little issues and quirks that show that Office 2004 is an evolution of Office X, which is itself an evolution of 98. This includes, for instance, non-standard Carbon palettes and keyboard quirks (ex. option-left/right doesn't consistently skip words as most Mac applications do, considerable interface lag when switching from other apps to Office apps, bits of Carbon font rendering, and more). But again, this is not about my grievances but yours, heh. I will still buy Office 2008 when it comes out. So what do I/we have to look forward to?

  • Anonymous
    July 06, 2007
    We want Dirt! We want hear how Todd totally broke the build before going on vacation for two weeks and how Mary threw a fit when her pet feature was cut... Actually, I think we want to hear about how your upcoming products are going to use features in Tiger & Leopard to provide a seamless Mac experience . Would also be nice to hear a plan on how you will reach feature parity with the Windows version of apps like Messenger. <sarcasm>Oh and give us the exact second everything is coming out. :-)</sarcasm>

  • Anonymous
    July 06, 2007
    How about actually letting us know what kind of Exchange support to expect in the next version of Entourage?

  • Anonymous
    July 06, 2007
    I want to hear about the secret plans to bring Access to the Mac.   Hey, a man can dream right (oh and what a sweet dream it is....)?   Seriously though, please??

  • Anonymous
    July 06, 2007
    I'd like to know what level of SharePoint 2007 integration we can expect in Office 2008.   I'd also like to know how nicely Entourage 2008 plays with Exchange 2007 - what features are support/unsupported.

  • Anonymous
    July 06, 2007
    Here's a feature I'd like to see in the next version of Office for mac.. Web Queries in excel. Not just the queries it does now where you have to code it, but on par with the PC version, where you navigate to the website, and select the tables you want to use in the query.

  • Anonymous
    July 06, 2007
    Gosh. If I didn't know better, I would think you were just some guy with a MBA who got roped into working in the Mac Business Unit. Based on the "cool distance" of your posts, I'm guessing you will be at the MBU for some (let's call it  "brief") time. See ya.

  • Anonymous
    July 06, 2007
    Please answer this...that EVERYONE wants to know and have??? PROPER EXCHANGE SUPPORT!!

  • Anonymous
    July 06, 2007
    How about info on:d

  • Exchange compatibility
  • Sharepoint 2007 compatibility -- it's a real pain not being able to just share documents between Win/Mac colleagues ...
  • Beta?

  • Anonymous
    July 06, 2007
    How about some kind of compatiblity wtih Project Professional through it's web server at least? And REAL Exchange support. NOTHING is more important that that. Period. END OF STORY. Access can flounder forever as far as I'm concerned. And I know the MacBU will never do it. One of your predecessors explained it to my Mac MUG several years ago. Okay by me. Don't waste resources on that. But Exchange, and Project Pro Web Access at least? There was a Project Pro client for Mac until recently. How could "OFFICE" miss out on this critical point. It's a must-have. Right now we're implementing Project into our department at work and because Sharepoint is specifically Windows ONLY for Project, we have to use Citrix. Can't use MS RDC, our IT department ignores any suggstions to do so. They just stick their fingers in their ears and shout, "I'm not listening! Lalalalala!" :-D

  • Anonymous
    July 07, 2007

  1. Full Exchange support.
  2. Ability to read pst file.
  3. Archive in Entourage like in Outlook.
  4. Some sync with mobile device. Would be nice:
  5. Project and Visio 2007 on Mac??? :-)
  6. Maybe OneNote (great product)?
  7. IE on mac so I can properly view SharePoint sites.

  • Anonymous
    July 07, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 07, 2007
    ok - It looks like everyone is off-topic on these comments. The question was "what would you like to hear from me?" In other words - he didn't ask for new feature requests, etc. Although he probably appreciates the feedback. Personally, I would like this blog to be updated at least once a week, sometimes more. Even if it's just a small update. That would be great. Basically, the more informed we are the better. We are all excited and are waiting feverishly to get our hands on bits and pieces of Office 2008. Which is a good thing. What I think most of us would love to hear about are things like "ballpark" dates for releases (or when certain features are done, etc.), "secret" screenshots as the UI comes together (not too much here but just enough), an official word on Exchange support, and a great new announcement that the Office Open XML Converter now support opening Excel 2007 document. I think that would be a good start!   :) Keep up the great work!  Look forward to hearing from you more!

  • Anonymous
    July 07, 2007
    It is shame that your company is not only one that don't have UB version but don't have timeframe (date) when will be released. I don't understand why you so complicate simple things. Just take excelent MSOffice and rewrite this for Mac and don't waste time for useless things like Myday in Entourage for example. It's sad that people must beg for Exchange support company which produce both product (Exchange, Outlook - Entourage). And please change name Entourage in Outlook!!! I hope that you can bring us good Office product this year... Dugi

  • Anonymous
    July 07, 2007
    I would like to get the dirt on who is "testing" the new Office 2008.  Is it going to be open to the public like other releases (on the PC side).  Also, will this release be in 2007 (calling it 2008) ... or will it be a official 2008 release date (like Jan 01, 2008  :)   ). Thanks!

  • Anonymous
    July 07, 2007
    Is it true that Office 2008 will run on the iPhone?

  • Anonymous
    July 07, 2007
    Echoing the Exchange posts here- and saying we can limp along with word and excel, but maybe you can pre-release a beta of entourage??? soon???

  • Anonymous
    July 07, 2007
    Hi there, and thanks again... I would really want to know whether the next version will offer a better support of right-to-left languages- that is, editing and formatting.

  • Anonymous
    July 07, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 07, 2007
    Is Entourage finally going to be a real MAPI client to the exchange server or is Microsoft going to continue to distract us with features no one uses (like the Project center). Until Microsoft releases an OS X version of outlook that works in enterprises everything else is fluff.

  • Anonymous
    July 07, 2007
    Feature lists (including screenshots) of Office 2008 please! :)

  • Anonymous
    July 08, 2007
    While I have my own list of features I'd like to see, I'd have to think that by this point, you're almost feature complete.  If a fall release date is still planned, it's almost a little late to think that any new features someone mentions here would make it in the product. So I'll echo another comment...I'd like to see weekly updates on what's happening with Office Mac...what changes we can expect, etc. What I sometimes fear MS fails to understand when it comes to Mac users is that, for many of us, we need to map out our migration just like PC users do, even though we're not talking about an operating system here. Keeping information in-house until the last minute just means it takes us longer to plan out our migrations and find out if the new Office is even going to be appropriate for our needs. Some of the questions being asked in this thread are entirely appropriate at this stage of development, so the secrecy about certain features isn't helpful when you're asking us to invest in this product when it hits the shelves.  We need time to plan just like you need time to plan when you're developing the software.

  • Anonymous
    July 08, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 08, 2007
    Another ping for clarity on Exchange support. It would be great if someone from MacBU went on record on what the strategy is here.

  • Are you doing a first class exchange client or not?
  • MAPI?
  • What are the design goals for the new Entourage? It would be great to give us some guidance. I don't see any downside on setting expectations now.

  • Anonymous
    July 08, 2007
    I thought I would just add my voice to all those who have already asked for Exchange support. I provide Mac support for one of the largest publishers around and some of the Mac users are still using Outlook in Classic as it is a proper Exchange client!  Outlook. In Classic !!!   Please please please release something that truly supports Exchange.  We are keeping Classic just for and Exchange client. P.S. Welcome to the job!

  • Anonymous
    July 08, 2007
    Hi I'm a relatively new switcher to mac, but I'd like to see a full screen mode or the + button actually maximize (as it does in apple apps that demand the screen space). I also really don't like floating palletes, so I hope you can change fonts without them! We really need a great mac word processor, you can do it MacBU!

  • Anonymous
    July 08, 2007
    OK My last post was product suggestions, now some suggestions for you. Could you tell us if and how you'll be taking advantage of Leopard in MacOffice 2008. Whether you would like to develop Office for iPhone or not if it was possible in the future (you're probably not allowed to express such an opinion, I know...). Bye.

  • Anonymous
    July 08, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 08, 2007
    I'd like to see more transparency, more involvement from the mac community with development at Mac BU on products. Like windows teams, why not host open webchats or conferences to directly interface with your users to find out what they want and address ideas directly. I think personally it would be great to get a chance to chat to some of the guys there and throw ideas back and forth, I'm sure others here would love that to. Now I know that it's not usually standard practice for the Mac BU to take part in public beta testing however I feel there is one app that does qualify for this and I think it's Messenger. Like the windows version it is under-developed from an end-user standpoint, shrowded in secrecy with very few updates and as you can see from the discussion groups there are a lot of issues with messenger surrounding stability. At the moment Messenger doesn't even work on Leopard as far I as I've been made aware. There are some areas where public testing could provide you with better feedback and help shape a better product.

  • Anonymous
    July 08, 2007
    Would also say that the Mactopia site could do with a facelift. Something a bit more MacBU centric, break away from the traditional Microsoft site layout and give it a bit of character! :P

  • Anonymous
    July 08, 2007
    Yes. What I want from you is: an explanation of how exactly Entourage 2008 will interface with Exchange 2007. If it is not MAPI, then why not?

  • Anonymous
    July 08, 2007
    I use Microsoft Messenger lots and it´s truly annoying not having basic features WindowsOS users do have, AV mainly; there is no "Live" feel. The way it runs on MacOS X is sooo slow also. I can live without Access but Excel,Powerpoint and Word are not reliable on the current version of Office:mac, they launch slow, run slow, and most important the documents convert real badly, specially when it comes to PowP docs. I´m really looking for a proper version of Office on my Mac, I´m willing to spend what´s needed but I expect a quality release we Mac users can feel proud of... for the first time.

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    Thanks for the letter. nice to see someone at least address the fact that we are in dire need of the Office 2008 software. Two things I think that should be addressed:

  1. Exchange support - we need it, we want it, and will pay $$$$ for it!
  2. Office 2004 - Retail pack ships with a sticker stating it is Intel compatible. It installs fine...  you need at least 2Gb of memory for it to run "ok" on a Intel Mac. Can we please be honest with the consumer and change the system requirements? I one page Word document is fine but when a Scientist is writing a 45 page grant with figures - forget it!

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    Updated version of Microsoft Remote Desktop Client that's also a Universal Binary!

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    Would love to hear of support for syncing with mobile devices directly, and not through iCal and Address Book.  Even allowing developers access to an API for syncing purposes would greatly increase the support.  I'm waiting for Entourage support to buy a new phone. Also, can we please see some options to remove completed tasks after a certain time, or immediately?

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    There has been scant detail on what updates are coming to Entourage from an IT perspective.  that is, will it take on the old Mac Outlook features and finally be a MAPI client?  Right now the gap between Outlook 2003/2007 and Entourage is immense in terms of Exchange integration.  With more and more Macs gaining in the office workplace can you elaborate on what features we might see?  

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    Proper Exchange Support would be great. How about Out of Office Assistant? We are sick on being a second class citizen of the exchange eco-system.

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    OK seriously, 40 comments and counting and no response--how about using some of that new free time and new found ownership of your account and answer some of our questions...

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    Andy's comment above shows exactly why Office is not as good on the Mac and arguably never will be. He is ready to switch back to PC. Umm... that's a very, very good thing for Microsoft.

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    My request is that I would like to be able to use keyboard commands for menu items. I like that fact that I can do that in Word, but I don’t think I can do that with Entourage. Please let us customize to hour hearts content. Everyone has different needs. I like to keep my hands on the keyboard as much as I can.

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    Never ship another application that doesn't come as .app bundles. Release a new version of the RDP client (one that can access the Citrix-style stuff in the latest RDP) alongside Office 2008.

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    I echo the Exchange support request.  100% fidelity with Outlook 2007.  I want nothing more than to rid my machine of Windows (Parallels or no Parallels), and will pay handsomely for the privilege. Also 100% fidelity with Office 2007 file formats is a must have. Everything else is gravy, IMO. My question for you is: why all the secrecy?  It's not like you're the CIA.  Please emerge from the cone of silence and let us know what on Earth to expect. BTW, Mac Messenger in its current incarnation crashes on me 2-3 times a day.  In fact, NOTHING on my Mac EVER crashes except Microsoft software.  Better quality would be fantastic.

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007

  1.  Exchange Support!!!!
  2.  Sharepoint support!!!
  3.  Office OneNote

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    It would be quite cool if it were possible again to work with OpenType fonts in Office. As now it is possible to format Bold and it takes also the bold type of the font it is for me no longer possible to work with word and opentype fonts! It gets very slow and often crashes. It would be a goal if Word 2004 on Intel Macs could be a bit faster so that it would be better to write papers with the program

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    Hi, Hoping for better exchange support (although I don't expect MAPI support), slightly worried about whats happening to WebDav and exchange moving forward since as long ago as 2005 the exchange team: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2005/09/15/410941.aspx was saying WebDAV was “de-emphasized” and may not exist past Exchange 2007 (whereas at points before that it was going to be the new 'MAPI'). Functionality requests for Entourage - Kerberos support would help. Task syncing with exchange Also like to see the quick search have a full message text search option. As well as suggesting that it defaults to searching the 'from' field when you are in the inbox and automatically flicks to searching 'to' when in sent mailbox (or course allowing the user to override. Please support html better - especially links! (but please don't use the same non-compliant rendering as the awful Outlook 2007).

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    ONE NOTE or updated notebook layout in work So we have tabs across the top as well as down the side A stand alone program would be nice...but because notebook layout is very messy and people get confused with that and word just as a word proccessor And UNIVERSAL binary :) :) :) Looking forward to it... Should be a great release :D

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 09, 2007
    Hello Craig, I would love to hear how you could possibly ignore the deafening calls for FULL EXCHANGE SUPPORT in Entourage? I have been ear-bashing the Microsoft Rep at every Mac show since 2002. Surely you will listen. Gary.

  • Anonymous
    July 10, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 10, 2007
    A big problem with 2004 for writing extensive reports, including a lot of editable excel tables, is that there sometimes comes up an error message when saving. It says "There is not enough disc space to save this file". We  tried saving it to an internal server with 812.9 GB of free space, and it still came up with the message. ANother thing is that formatting from Word Windows - WOrd Mac doesn't always stick with tables between the programs. If you create a table on windows word and bring it over to the mac, it distorts the proportions to 95% wide and 105% height. Excel crashes a lot on the intel macs in building financial models. Excel needs to be able to bring formulas from a mac to a pc without any problems. One formula that we have trouble with is TRANSPOSE().

  • Anonymous
    July 10, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 10, 2007
    Hey... the same apps and features of Office 2007 for Windows.....

  • Anonymous
    July 10, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 10, 2007
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  • Anonymous
    July 10, 2007

  • Public Beta like the Windows Version had. It's annoying enoutgh that Apple does this secret stuff. Thats a big plus for MS in the Win World, why you don't do it on the Mac Plattform?
  • Viso for Mac is also a must have.
  • More OS X Look and feel in the Apps...

  • Anonymous
    July 10, 2007
    The silence from Microsoft is rather telling, isn't it?

  • Anonymous
    July 10, 2007
    This has been bugging me for ages and need to get the frustration off my chest. Can someone please answer me this: Why is Entourage completely incapable of opening Outlook .msg files? I can open the same Word/Excel/Powerpoint file in XP and OS X versons of Office. But if I save an Outlook .msg file in XP and try and open it in Office:Mac, near impossible. It seems absoluteley ludicrous that this isnt as staightforward. Rant over, thank you for listening.

  • Anonymous
    July 10, 2007
    What I'd like to see (if it could be arranged) would be a series of chats with key product/project managers from different parts of Office 2008. Not just the main apps but also specific areas such as the OffieArt graphics guru,  the UI team, etc. Maybe one every couple of weeks, just to get some momentum up and keep it moving. I realise you can't reveal every feature, but if we had a chat session every couple of weeks then that timeframe would allow you to dribble out ~some~ news and 'newness' for the relevant app (or whatever) in each chat as we slowly progress towards RTM.

  • Anonymous
    July 11, 2007
    PLEASE include Task Syncing with Exchange. This is the single most important feature for me because I use Mac at the Office, Windows at home and have a WindowsMobile PDA.

  • Anonymous
    July 11, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 11, 2007
    You desperately need make full Exchange support happen for Mac users. I don't think that can be overstated enough, but I think at least half of these posts do a good job trying. I really don't care what the reasons are behind the loss of VB in Office for the Mac, and how much you try and justify it, because it doesn't change the fact that you have nullified a significant portion of my work in one fell swoop. Given the quality of the Applescript syntax in v2004, I'm resigned to the fate of having to deal with that from now on. So, the very least you can do to make up for these atrocities of software development, because I know that I won't get my VB support back, is to once and for all give those poor Mac users full Exchange support. Without full Exchange support, there will not be a single reason why myself or my company should buy the new version and go through the hassle of migrating and upgrading.

  • Anonymous
    July 11, 2007
    I'd like to hear why there is no planned improvement for delegate functionality in Entourge 2008 since it's using outdated Outlook 2000 code (according to one of your engineers working on a case we submitted).

  • Anonymous
    July 11, 2007
    I'll echo that there is a need for FULL, UNADULTERATED Exchange support. I'm a bit shocked, as I've read through all of these comments, that not one member of the MacBU has responded to any of the requests or comments.  What on earth is the point of having an interactive blog if the blogger has no intention to interact? I'd like to see proactive participation on the part of staff at MacBU.  Let us know that you care about what the people who actually plan to pay for your product really want. -chris

  • Anonymous
    July 12, 2007
    Full Exchange Support. This is my #1 request. Entourage is so bad I don't even classify it as a real client. Quit fooling around with the webdav sync - it's slow and unreliable. As a IT Manager at a large public university with a growing Mac population, it's embarrassing to explain to users all the things Entourage doesn't do. I'm sick of making excuses. Just fix it, with full MAPI support. If it does not match Outlook 2007 from a feature-set standpoint, it's not a real client. Please, please, please fix it. If 2008 doesn't address Entourage, delay until you fix it. It's that important. I use Macs every day, but Entourage makes me want to use my Windows machine more than anything else.

  • Anonymous
    July 12, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 13, 2007
    Thanks for welcoming suggestions for features to include in Office 2008.  Compared to most, this is pretty minor, but  would be very convenient: to enable "format painter" functionality within Entourage, especially for composing messages.  Copying text into an email often results in multiple fonts/colors/etc.  Be great to be able to rationalize all that with a format painter button.  Thanks.

  • Anonymous
    July 15, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 17, 2007
    "so over to you, what do you want to hear from me?  " Just one thing: For Office on the Mac to run as fast as office on Windows. For YEARS Mac office users have suffered through pathetically slow office performance. I've always that it was done deliberately; the excuse was that Macs were using PowerPC chips. Well, that excuse is gone. Make Mac office as fast as the Windows version. Of course, it has to be completely compatible with the Windows version at the file exchange level, but you've done a good job on that for years. The performance issue has stagnated for years. Fix this and I'll know you're serious. Don't fix it and I'll switch to an alternative, even though they all have drawbacks.

  • Anonymous
    July 17, 2007
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  • Anonymous
    July 17, 2007
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  • Anonymous
    July 17, 2007
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  • Anonymous
    July 17, 2007
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  • Anonymous
    July 26, 2007
    Mac messenger with av please or a plug in for ichat that supports av the only thing i miss about my windows laptop is the nightly video chats i have a few friends with ichat and will soon be getting about 3 more (all switching to mac with lep) but i still have over 100 who dont have a mac

  • Anonymous
    July 27, 2007
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  • Anonymous
    August 02, 2007
    Welcome aboard! I'm a big fan of the MBU and look forward to seeing more of the 2008 release as it becomes available.

  • Anonymous
    August 13, 2007
    The comment has been removed