Okaaaayyyy..... so, due to my need to be in perfect sync with a colleague with whom I collaborate on manuscripts that need to be (as much as possible with Microsoft) identical when submitted to the publisher, I upgraded today to Office 2011.
Sigh. I thought the Mac Business Unit was the shining light at Redmond....
My gripes:
1/ Clutter. I mean, gawd! the Office 2011 folder is like a junkyard! ridiculous amounts of support files, frameworks, helper applications.... it's insane! Maybe other programs have the same amount of stuff (doubt it) but at least they hide it all in the relevant /Library/ sub-folder. Sure it's no big deal - once the application icon is on the dock, who needs to go into the folder anyway? And it's probably easier to delete the whole suite at once when I finally hit my frustration wall, right? (or does Office also pollute /Library/ just as badly as it's own folder?)
2/ Preferences. Okay - is it just me, or does the MBA have absolutely zero idea of what the previous / next buttons in this dialogue should do? It seems to me that logically, they should cycle you through the various sub-options. But no - they simply take you to forward and backward through the sub-options that you have chosen by going (repeatedly) back to the main preferences window. Homer moment. D'oh!
3/ Ribbon. I know a lot has been written on the topic, so I'll just join the crowd: what a waste of space, at least for those of us on 13" laptop screens. Fortunately, it can be turned off (miracle of miracles) and View-->Toolbars-->Formatting & Standard is still a configuration option.
That's all after the first 10 minutes of looking it over. Stay tuned for more in the future. Fortunately, this sucker will only be opened when I need to collaborate... otherwise, I'm quite happy in my Pages (though I'll be really happy when the 2011 iWork update is finally released).
1/ Clutter. I mean, gawd! the Office 2011 folder is like a junkyard! ridiculous amounts of support files, frameworks, helper applications.... it's insane! Maybe other programs have the same amount of stuff (doubt it) but at least they hide it all in the relevant /Library/ sub-folder. Sure it's no big deal - once the application icon is on the dock, who needs to go into the folder anyway? And it's probably easier to delete the whole suite at once when I finally hit my frustration wall, right? (or does Office also pollute /Library/ just as badly as it's own folder?)
Why does this matter?
__________________ ACMT Mac mini (Mid 2011) 2.7 GHz i7, 8GB RAM, Crucial M4 256GB SSD + 500GB + 1TB FW800 OWC Mercury Elite Pro mini iPhone 4S • iPod nano 8GB • Sound System Audio Engine A2 • Display UltraSharp U2412M 24"
Heh - it may not matter in any technical respect, but aesthetically, yeah. As for my reaction - can't explain it, just how I feel, man...
I mean, here's the difference (below), not quite what you get with an Office Install, because I've already tossed Outlook and whatever else I could find. And of course, it also dumps Microsoft Messenger and Remote Desktop Connection into /Applications/.
I probably could have done a customized install (?? maybe - don't remember seeing the option in the installer, but I wasn't really paying attention at the time) but in my long experience of dealing with Microsoft products, I'm wary of not installing absolutely everything for fear of breaking something.
Office 2011: Really? Really?
Linear Mode
