[Macpartners] Office 2008 for Mac Support Announcement

[Patrick McNeal]

Good Morning,

Information Services & Technology (IS&T) is pleased to announce full  
support for Office 2008 for Mac.

Microsoft released Office 2008 for Mac on January 15. Since then,  
IS&T, in collaboration with IT colleagues across campus, has tested  
Office 2008's core components (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint). Based on  
test results, IS&T encourages the MIT community to use a cautionary  
approach when deciding to upgrade and recommends waiting to install  
Office 2008 for Mac on production machines until your Department, Lab,  
Center (DLC) or other IT provider is ready to support you locally.

IS&T will continue to provide support for Office 2004 during the  
transition.

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NEW FEATURES
---------------------------
Office 2008 for Mac provides several new features, including:

  * Native support for both PowerPC and Intel-based Macintosh computers
  * Support for the Office Open XML format

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KNOWN ISSUES
---------------------------
There are several issues which you should take into consideration:

  * If you rely on Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) - the  
programming language used in macros and/or applications (e.g. EndNote  
X and EndNote XI), add-ins (e.g. solver), and files that contain or  
require VBA - then IS&T recommends that you remain with Office 2004  
because Office 2008 for Mac does not support these at this time.  In  
particular, our testing has shown that Excel files created by SAP as  
part of the Annual Salary Review (ASR) process are not compatible with  
Excel 2008 for the Mac.
  * Office 2008 for Mac defaults to Microsoft's new XML-based formats  
(.docx, .xlsx, .pptx), which are only compatible with Office 2007.  
These new XML-based formats are not compatible with other previous  
versions of Office, including Office 2004 for Mac and Office 2003 on  
the PC.
  * Office 2008 for Mac employs a new user interface that may take  
some time to learn.

For a full list of known issues, notable features, and system  
requirements please visit the Office 2008 for Mac version page at:

   http://itinfo.mit.edu/product.php?vid=472

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HOW TO OBTAIN
---------------------------
Office 2008 for Mac is available through the Microsoft Campus  
Agreement (MCA) at MIT. Media (DVD's) was distributed to all Office  
liaisons in February. To check if your DLC is currently enrolled in  
MSCA, refer to the Office software liaison list:

   http://web.mit.edu/ist/services/software/msca-officeliaisons.html

DLCs that would like additional information but are not covered by  
this agreement may send email to: liaison-opt at mit.edu.

Office 2008 for Mac can be purchased directly from GovConnection  
through the MIT Select Agreement. Additional options for obtaining  
Office 2008 for Mac are included in the documentation.

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TRAINING
---------------------------
Watch for Quick Start demos for Office 2008 for Mac beginning in July  
2008.

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GETTING HELP
---------------------------
Documentation for using Office 2008 for Mac is available at:

   http://itinfo.mit.edu/product.php?vid=472#u

If you need assistance installing or using Office 2008 for Mac, please  
contact the Computing Help Desk at computing-help at mit.edu or  
617.253.1101.

Questions or comments can be sent to office-release at mit.edu.

--Patrick

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Patrick McNeal
Macintosh Platform Coordinator - Software Release Team Client Support
Services Information Services and Technology Massachusetts Institute of
Technology N42-250E Cambridge, MA 02139
+1 617 253-0196
mcneal at mit.edu