Office for Mac
I knew it, I knew it, I knew it – microsoft does not belong on apple mac computers!
I made the switch from windows to mac for a reason.
And when I switched, I never looked back. I adopted the iWork suite as soon as it came out and resisted purchasing Microsoft Office as well.
I found Apple Pages to be more than adequate for my needs and the while the spreadsheet program was not as robust as I would like, it also accomplished the work I needed to get done.
However, recently, I have been receiving documents from colleagues that are created in Microsoft Office 2007 in Windows and also on other applications. And some of these were not opening correctly for me – particularly some html documents in .doc format. I don’t truly understand how these were created except that they were done in a third party program.
Bottom line – they did not open in Pages but TextEdit did work. Forwarding these on via email, though became complicated.
So, I bit the bullet and bought Microsoft Office for Mac 2008.
I haven’t had the program for more than a day and I am already disappointed.
One thing about Pages that I griped with was the lack of templates. I didn’t want to create fancy templates, like the apple free printable certificates templates that I talked about before. I just wanted to be able to download some that were already made.
The Microsoft Office website has a ton of templates and clipart available to owners of the Office suite. Great – or so I thought.
Upon closer inspection today, those vast templates are available to users of the Windows version of Office only. Boo!
There is some kind of workaround on the website for older templates but it didn’t work for me.
And the clip art. I figured at least I could add some of these images to my documents. So I selected a few images and clicked download. The default option that came up on my apple mac laptop was open with the default app which was listed as Microsoft ClipArt Gallery. OK – sounded reasonable. But didn’t work. So I tried again and saved the clipart to my desktop instead. Then I went into the ClipArt Gallery through Word and tried to import. Again no luck.
And do you know what DID work? I had to rename the clip art file on my desktop to include the .cil extension. Then I was able to do the import through the Clip Art Gallery. (And just an FYI – the image lands in the “favorites” category). All in all, this is easy enough to do. But WHY don’t they put this process in the INSTRUCTIONS???? Come on – make it easy for us. After all we did BUY the program and we are customers.
OK – venting over. I now have Word and Excel so I can open documents made on the windows version easily. Which is what I wanted. Yes I am annoyed that everything winds up in my dock upon install – including Power Point (which I may use), Entourage (which I will never use), Project Gallery, and Microsoft Messenger (again, programs I won’t use).The nerve of Microsoft to assume that I want these programs up front and center – without even asking.
What do you die hard Apple fans use – iWork or Office for Mac? Let me know!
Genius, iPod Touch, and Apple Mac Laptops
Wow – Apple Mac laptops and the iPod Touch just keep getting better and better. My iPod Touch has become our family’s favorite device.
And now with Steve Jobs unveiling the new iPods and the new iPod Touch the combination is truly sweet.
The best news, of course is that you don’t need to buy a new iPod Touch to use the enhanced features. The upgrade to version 2.1 of the iPod Touch software is free to first generation Touch users who previously purchased the upgrade to 2.0. And if you didn’t previously purchase this upgrade you can purchase it now. As part of the upgrade to version 2.1 you must update your iTunes software to version 8. All of this upgrading can be done at the same time that you upgrade your device. Apple makes it easy by checking your version for you, and the installer informs you whether you will need to upgrade iTunes or not.
One new feature of the 2.1 software is the ability to create what Apple is referring to as a Genius playlist. This is a playslist that iTunes creates for you using your own Music Library and also suggestions of similar songs that are available in the iTunes store that it determines you may enjoy. Sort of big-brotherish, but I figured – why not? It must be pretty cool if Apple thinks it is a big deal.
Once you have iTunes 8 up and running, you must opt in to turn on the Genius feature. This is because iTunes will need to collect the information about your own music library. Although this info is stored anonymously, Apple still needs your permission to access it.
And I must say, that I was impressed with the playlist that was generated from my music and the suggested songs that I don’t own as well. I can see this feature as being a big money maker for the iTunes store. The list of suggestions included many songs that I love but haven’t heard recently – a walk down memory lane, if you will. And, yes, I was very tempted to purchase some of them.
Everything that I have described so far is done on Apple Mac laptops, desktops, and even Windows computers in iTunes.
On the iPod Touch, the Genius feature was not immediately available to me. Whether this was a glitch because I upgraded both the device and iTunes at the same time, I’m not sure. I searched around a bit and what seemed to work was going into the iTunes store on my computer and in the top menu bar, making sure that Genius was turned on under the “Store” option tab – which it was. And then re-syncing my iPod Touch.
Now when I go to Music on my Touch, I can select a song, tap the screen with the Album Art once to bring up the control progress bar. Immediately under this is the genius symbol. If I tap this, my iPod Touch creates a Genius playlist using my existing music library. All the songs are of a similar genre.
This is especially convenient if you haven’t made a playlist of your own selections ahead of time. Say you are feeling like a bit of jazz. Pick a song and iTunes will pick the rest. If you find yourself at the gym without a premade playlist, pick a work out song and iTunes will pull together a list of upbeat songs that will conjure up a good sweat. So far, the automatic selections have been quite acceptable to me. Definitely a big timesaver.
Just another way that Apple is working technology into our everyday lives.