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Infoworld: Office 2004 for Mac lags in XML support

updated 10:55 am EST, Thu January 22, 2004

Office 2004: no XML


Infoworld reports on : "Although Office 2004 for Macintosh will read and write Excel files saved in XML format, it won't support other XML file formats, including WordML, and won't have any equivalent to Office 2003 features such as XML data binding, 'smart' documents, schema libraries and XSL style-sheet support. Without better XML support, companies with mixed Macintosh and PC desktops could be faced with the choice of not adopting the XML features or limiting them to Windows desktops only."


by MacNN Staff

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 software, business software

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  1. MacNN.com Reader

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    01/22, 11:38am | report spam | Reply |

    Ahhhh yes…

    MS once again half-asses another Mac program just like they did with Entourage. Maybe I should only accept .rtf files from now on.

  1. MacNN.com Reader

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    01/22, 11:39am | report spam | Reply |

    Brilliant!

    I knew that MS would find a way to undermine Office:Mac

  1. MacNN.com Reader

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    01/22, 11:39am | report spam | Reply |

    Wither Apple's support?!

    Why in Lord's name does Apple support this package then?!? Calling iLife the M$ Office of your digital life and pumping Office repeatedly on their site? I choose to slog through OpenOffice instead of M$ Office whenever I can but like the movie title says "Somethin's Gotta Give". C'mon Apple either dump Keynote and AppleWorks and help put an Aqua GUI on OpenOffice or a similar opensource unit or get the rumored Appleworks 7 (with Keynote as a module) out and stop promoting this c***!!!!!!!!

  1. MacNN.com Reader

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    01/22, 11:40am | report spam | Reply |

    XML

    The funny thing is that one of XML's strongest points is that it's platform-independant. But of course, that platform needs to be able to read XML.

  1. MacNN.com Reader

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    01/22, 11:48am | report spam | Reply |

    Unicode!

    What about the Unicode support!? Sounds increasingly unlikely.

  1. MacNN.com Reader

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    01/22, 11:49am | report spam | Reply |

    Don't whine, write

    Write MS and tell them the support is crucial. They have to know what we want.

    Also, tell them to redevelop Project for the Mac and start on Visio and Access....

  1. MacNN.com Reader

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    01/22, 11:52am | report spam | Reply |

    Customer demand?!?

    If M$ listened to customer feedback, Entourage would use MAPI. While OSX isn't a real threat to Windows, Linux is. With both IBM and Oracle switching their internal desktops this year, we are giving OpenOffice and Star Officea serious look. Both of these packages support XML.

    One bonus to M$ moving to an XML based document format is that it's easier to build compatible applications... well, easier for companies other than M$ I guess.

  1. MacNN.com Reader

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    01/22, 12:27pm | report spam | Reply |

    Lame Lame Lame

    This is how Microsoft "Pays Back" Apple for pushing AAC and iTunes on the Wintel crowd.

    The same thing they did when Apple pushed Filemaker. Why do you think there is no Access for Mac?

    Internet Explorer is gone too.

    This company (MS) is shameless in regards to their monopolistic behavior.

  1. MacNN.com Reader

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    01/22, 12:32pm | report spam | Reply |

    Just wait for WinXML

    I am sure Window's version of XML is NOT going to be open or compliant with anything but Windows versions of o******. Just like MAPI, and WMA, some poor programmer is going to spend months trying to figure it out to make an open source product that opens the damn Excel 2003 files.

    DRM- Win style. Up yer a** unless you are using anything other than Windows Office 2003 for the PC.

    Don't know about you- but I can't WAIT for the lockins with LONGHORN.

  1. MacNN.com Reader

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    01/22, 12:32pm | report spam | Reply |

    Office 2004 - phooey

    As more and more snippets of information dribble out of Microsoft about Office 2004 it increasingly sounds like a complete waste of time.

    Early assumptions were that the NUMBER ONE feature of Office 2004 would have been file compatibility with Office 2003 (i.e. XML support). We now hear that this will not be the case.

    Additionally hopes had been that a real WORKING Exchange client (call it Entourage if you must) would have been provided. The silence on this topic is deafening. The current (Entourage) client is literally a joke.

    So far all I can see 'new' in Office 2004 is a file compatibility checker (what a waste of time, PCs can read ALL Mac Office files so having the checker on the Mac is useless, there is no point checking a PC file you have received on a Mac just to confirm you can't read it), linking items to Entourage (puhleeze, that is REALLY going to help users), Project planning in Entourage (this is a bit more interesting but once again is ignoring what users have actually asked for WE WANT THE REAL MS PROJECT ON THE MAC and Visio).

    There has been no mention about Microsoft fixing any of many major bugs in Office or improving its very poor reliability when dealing with larger documents and tables (in Word).

    Based on the information available so far I will not be upgrading our company from Office v.X to 2004 and furthermore it looks like I was wise in saving the money and not buying Microsoft's Software Assurance upgrade scheme.

    By the way, one feature that Microsoft have not touted for Office 2004 but is almost certain to be included is the loathed product activation scheme (ala. Windows XP).

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