Microsoft Office 2004 Standard (Mac) review:4 stars (Same Functionality) - I have not tried Entourage because I am fine with Mac's Mail program. Word, Powerpoint and Excel work just like on a Window's computer. I have not had any problems switching files between my Mac and a Window's computer (people ask me if that is a problem).

The only drawback to me is that the toolbars are a little more confusing in the Mac versions. They are all individual windows and I am so used to Microsoft Works toolbars being all up top. 5 stars (If you connect to Exchange, this is a must have upgrade!) - As a Unix system administrator, Microsoft Office is the best reason why I use the Mac as my primary workstation OS. Aside from the usual hassles of getting Linux up and running on any machine (especially on a laptop!), there really isn't any good Office alternatives that can effectively allow you to collaborate easily with the rest of the MS-centrict world - especially with Exchange. Microsoft Office 2004 allows you do to so easily without sacrificing your need to use an Unix OS (except, of course, for a lot of cash).

Case in point: With Entourage, Exchange support has improved to the point that the setup is even easier than Microsoft Office for Windows - when you run it for the first time and you configured it for Exchange, it ask for three things:

1) Your username
2) Your password
3) The domain you log into.

That's it. It setups everything up. You don't need to configure the outgoing user, try to figure out which message store to use - it just works! Even Outlook 2003 for Windows does not do that. That and with much improved junk-mail filtering makes this an worthwhile upgrade (at least for me)

As for the rest of the package, I used Office v.X before the upgrade and from what I can tell, there is no big changes, aside from project center and some possible incremental updates (although now there is an autoupdate program that updates your current office install - but I think Office v.X has that as well). Overall, If you do need to exchange Office docs with your MS Windows work mates (and the Free alternatives doesn't cut it - which usually doesn't these days) and you need to connect to Exchange, get this upgrade.4 stars (Wow.) - Wow. I said this one word when I started working with Microsoft's latest revision to their suite of software, Office 2004.Wow. I also remember saying this when I say the gigantic headed Bill Gates up on the video screen behind Steve Jobs a few years ago when Apple and Microsoft agreed to play nice. (OK, there was more to it than just "play nice," but as usual, I digress.)I do really like Office 2004. I like what I can do better with it. And, there is now also an envy factor. Not only do I have a better operating system at home than at work (my employer is still stuck in XP-land), but I now have a better Office software suite. Allow me to tell you that I have been an Microsoft Office user for a few years, on both Windows and Mac OS 9. I was very happy with having Office X work so well on cross-platform work (when I travel without my Powerbook, I carry my USB thumb-drive and Office documents are quickly interchanged across operating systems.)So, I have been very pleased with this latest version of Office. The 2004 suite installs very smoothly (I recommend following the install program, but you can drag-n-drop the entire suite also.) I won't go into great detail about many of the different features (many Mac websites and magazines are filled with the current buzz about Office) but I will mention some high points and a few quirks.I loved Project Center. This made Entourage a win for me. Prior to this, I had Office X, but I used Apple's Mail exclusively. Now, I use both (I'll mention this in one of my reviewed quirks below.) The ability to organize, track, and group all my electronic work together (emails, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, contacts, calendars ...) has been very useful. Plus I like the reorganized Entourage viewing panel for reading emails (the email opens and can be viewed to the right of the screen, rather than the traditional top and bottom view.)Plus I really liked Word's updates in two key areas: Notebook layout and the formatting palette's transparency. The notebook layout helps me to take notes smoothly during presentations. Plus, it has a sound recording option. This was really neat. At a recent User Group meeting on databases, I sat and took notes during the presentation, and recorded the presenter's voice. During playback (90 minutes for about 8 megabytes), my notes are marked to the side by where in the presentation the recorded voice is currently. I'm almost willing to go back to college with this tool! But I can see where it will be useful in my current day to day work also. (I have a colander for a memory retention device, and I'm always taking notes in some form or another.)Plus, I like the new feature of the formatting palette. When idle (maybe 10 seconds, if I counted), the palette allows the window below to show through, so that I can read my stuff a whole lot easier. Formatting for output is easier with this palette. I use Excel, and I like it as a simple database. But I didn't see any really killer upgrades (but then I'm not a power user in the Excel world.) I do like how the charts and diagrams seem a whole lot easier now.I've been a PowerPoint fan for quite a while now. But Apple's Keynote took away most of PowerPoint's thunder with its release. In 2004, PowerPoint fires back and wins back some issues on "Gee-whiz" tricks of animation and preview. The little addition of a timer makes the preview ability (the presentation on a separate screen/projector and the preview screen on your laptop) a key issue for the combination of making smooth and organized presentations. There are a whole new bunch of animation transitions and tricks. But, Keynote still wins in slide transition (the cube transform in PowerPoint falls flat.)With this segue, I'll mention some of the downsides to Office 2004 which I experienced. In setting up Entourage, I brought over both an IMAP account (my .mac address) and a POP account (another email address). The IMAP works well enough, but I am used to "seeing" the email the Apple Mail way, and it took me a while to get used to seeing my .mac emails not move around as easily in filing (I'd have to copy the email somewhere, then delete it from the IMAP inbox. And my POP account (which worked so easily in Mail), never did get set up. I'm not smart enough to figure it out yet, so I still use Mail. And if Apple gives Mail a revision with at least an option to view emails from the side, rather then from above, I might switch back. All I know is that I like Entourage, but I don't really like it.And, I encountered a series of application failures in PowerPoint when building a presentation for this review. Every one seemed somehow related to slide animations, but I couldn't see any one issue. For every one, I allowed the program to send its report to Microsoft with some hopes that this might get resolved.And now, I'll finish by letting you know that Mom always said if I had nothing nice to say, that I ought not say anything at all. I have gotten in trouble with not listening to my Mom before. So with that, I offer my review of MSN Messenger: iChat Rules! But if you want full functionality of Entourage, load Messenger, but don't run it. With it installed, Entourage will let you preview emails when you are running other applications in the foreground (definitely useful feature.) Lastly, as mentioned at the beginning, I use different Office versions, and I move documents around routinely to others. This Office version has one other neat trick -- a compatibility report. I can check my 2004 documents for compatibility with other versions to see what items might not work well. This is a nice simple feature, and I see this helping me out some also.
Microsoft Office 2004 Standard (Mac) Features:
Computer software (programs)
Office Suite (Suites)
Bundle (Bundles)
Mac Macintosh Machintosh Apple
CD
Convenient Excel page-layout view and PowerPoint presenter tools
Improved junk e-mail protection
A productivity suite with a host of ground-breaking new features
Access e-mail, documents, contacts, and more from one central location
Take notes, flag information, and record audio directly into documents

Microsoft Office 2004 Standard (Mac) is the CD-ROM version. The full version can be purchased by clicking on the "CLICK HERE TO ORDER" button below for around 339.99USD.