Office and Spaces

Not dismissing your complaint, but the situation isn't as cut & dried as we
might like it to be Software & its integration with an Operating System
is infinitely more complex than most end users should be expected to
comprehend - rarely can you just change a "$" to a "%" somewhere within
millions of lines of code in order to "fix" something - at least not without
the very real potential to "break" a number of other things.

It's kinda like having purchased a piece of equipment (OS X Tiger) and
buying an accessory designed for it (Office 2008) then turning around &
replacing the equipment with a new, redesigned model (OS X Leopard)... The
accessories designed for the previous model "may" or "may not" still work in
all respects as they did with the model for which they were designed - and
in some cases may not work at all. As a result, the mfr of the equipment is
going to assign responsibility to the mfr of the accessory, but the mfr of
the accessory may find it impossible - or just too costly - to retrofit the
product already in the field. The best you can hope for is that a future
version of the accessory - based on the newly designed equipment - will take
the features of the new design into consideration - but it's always a cat &
mouse / chicken & egg game.

In the final analysis, though, it really doesn't matter whose *fault* it is
- the requirements to resolve it remain the same & those requirements can't
always be met instantaneously.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac



On 7/26/08 8:19 PM, in article 59b55429.-1 DeleteThis @webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,
"sun_also_rises@officeformac.com" <sun_also_rises DeleteThis @officeformac.com> wrote:

> Version: 2008
> Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
> Processor: Intel
>
> It is obvious Office does not work with Spaces. It is all over the internet. I
> called Microsoft and was told as long as Office opened and I could type there
> was no problem. Apple told me Spaces works with Apple programs so it is a
> Microsoft problem. I understand sometimes things have glitches and that they
> need to be fixed. I'm looking for somebody to take responsibility and at least
> acknowledge the problem. Does anybody know if there is a fix in the works, if
> anyone is at least ready to admit there is a problem, or of any temporary
> solutions other than turning Spaces off?

Diane--Thanks for the tip. I did send feedback. I'm sure they are well aware of the problem which makes things a little more frustrating when dealing with them on the phone.

Taz--That is a lucid answer. Thank you. It seems to me that is the kind of statement that should be released by either Microsoft or Apple. Instead, I was more or less told by both companies that there was no problem. Not that I am assigning blame, but it seems that I have been burnt several times when purchasing Microsoft's newest product only to find it full of glitches.

Trust me, I'm not absolving MS of anything - there are significant issues
with Office 2008... We know it & they know it, but it's equally true that
MacBU is busting their collective hump to make this bird fly

Unfortunately most people have no idea what circumstances are at play behind
the scenes & seem to think that anything can be changed at the programming
level just as readily as applying bold to text or changing margins. It's all
too easy to look at what's on the surface and speculate on the why's. Some
often loose sight of the simple fact that it does no developer any good to
intentionally alienate their clientele, nor are the people at the
development & product levels insensitive to the needs of the users.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac



On 7/27/08 4:19 PM, in article 59b55429.2 RemoveThis @webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,
"sun_also_rises@officeformac.com" <sun_also_rises RemoveThis @officeformac.com> wrote:

> Diane--Thanks for the tip. I did send feedback. I'm sure they are well aware
> of the problem which makes things a little more frustrating when dealing with
> them on the phone.
>
> Taz--That is a lucid answer. Thank you. It seems to me that is the kind of
> statement that should be released by either Microsoft or Apple. Instead, I was
> more or less told by both companies that there was no problem. Not that I am
> assigning blame, but it seems that I have been burnt several times when
> purchasing Microsoft's newest product only to find it full of glitches.

Not to place blame, I'm sure if either side could make it work they would, but it seems Microsoft (yet again) created an inferior product and is making a lot of money with it. It sure would be nice to get a free version of the next product that did work. At least for those of us that plunked down a hundred and a half on a program that obviously has huge flaws. I honestly feel cheated.

I'd like to jump off the temporary solution request. My office seems to effect my other programs when it is open. Links pop up in different spaces for example. The last straw occurred when I could not get my gmail chat to work properly until I closed out Word and restarted. Yes, it sucks that this product does not work but for now it seems we are stuck with it. Does Office actually impact other programs or is this another issue that I need to address?

Taz, you are saying it is possible that Office is impacting some of my other programs. They do work fine when Office is closed. My other question is, do you know if any of these problems exist for earlier versions of Office? I heard they did not. I agree with Mary about the waste of money but if an earlier version "solves" the problem than it sounds like that answers a lot of questions. Thanks.

Sorry. I meant to pose this as a question. Are you saying it is possible that Office being an incompatible program is "impacting" my other programs? The rest stand as it is. I should have proofread.

Recent--I have friends who claim the older versions work fine with Spaces. I am reluctant to spend more money on an MSN product, though. It may be worth a try and I may see if I can load one of their copies onto my computer before committing to anything. If it works I'll let you know. As far as the other programs question, I don't know but I have been experiencing similar occurrences.

On 8/1/08 9:36 AM, in article 59b55429.5 DeleteThis @webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, "recent
mac buyer " <> wrote:

> I'd like to jump off the temporary solution request. My office seems to effect
> my other programs when it is open. Links pop up in different spaces for
> example. The last straw occurred when I could not get my gmail chat to work
> properly until I closed out Word and restarted. Yes, it sucks that this
> product does not work but for now it seems we are stuck with it. Does Office
> actually impact other programs or is this another issue that I need to
> address?
I think it's another issue you need to address.

--
Bob Greenblatt [MVP], Macintosh
bobgreenblattATmsnDOTcom

Office does not "impact other programs". Running any software in an
environment with which known incompatibility exists very well may.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac



On 8/1/08 9:36 AM, in article 59b55429.5 DeleteThis @webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, "recent
mac buyer " <> wrote:

> I'd like to jump off the temporary solution request. My office seems to effect
> my other programs when it is open. Links pop up in different spaces for
> example. The last straw occurred when I could not get my gmail chat to work
> properly until I closed out Word and restarted. Yes, it sucks that this
> product does not work but for now it seems we are stuck with it. Does Office
> actually impact other programs or is this another issue that I need to
> address?

My reply was within the context of your previous message - and the theme of
this thread - which is the incompatibility of Office 2008 apps with the
specific, singular OS X Leopard feature called Spaces. Office 2008 is most
certainly *not* incompatible with OS X itself, nor does it conflict with any
other programs [AFAIK] unless Spaces is involved.

The behaviors reported are not consistently the same. The symptoms are quite
varied & disparate even for any one specific user on any one specific system
from instance to instance. I'm not saying that Office inherently is
affecting the other apps, I'm saying that *running Office in Spaces*
apparently can produce any number of erratic & unpredictable results.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac


On 8/1/08 11:21 AM, in article 59b55429.9 RemoveThis @webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, "recent
mac buyer " <> wrote:

> Sorry. I meant to pose this as a question. Are you saying it is possible that
> Office being an incompatible program is "impacting" my other programs? The
> rest stand as it is. I should have proofread.

Hello sun -

That's correct - Office 2004 doesn't seem to have the same - or any -
problems with Spaces. The windowing implementation (as I understand it),
however, is distinctly different in 2008 than the design of 2004.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac


On 8/1/08 11:34 AM, in article 59b55429.10 RemoveThis @webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,
"sun_also_rises@officeformac.com" <sun_also_rises RemoveThis @officeformac.com> wrote:

> Recent--I have friends who claim the older versions work fine with Spaces. I
> am reluctant to spend more money on an MSN product, though. It may be worth a
> try and I may see if I can load one of their copies onto my computer before
> committing to anything. If it works I'll let you know. As far as the other
> programs question, I don't know but I have been experiencing similar
> occurrences.

Just to get back to whomever I said I would, I loaded Office 2004 onto my MacBook and so far (after a half day of use) it is working fine with Spaces. It looks like Taz answered the question. I at least have Office 2008 should "the fix" ever present itself or should I need to open docx documents.