Appletell

On Tuesday, Microsoft unveiled new updates to its Office 2004 and 2008 programs.

Office 2004 version 11.5.0 adds an update to the Open XML File Converter, allowing for compatibility with the randomly changed file formats of Office 2007 for Windows and Office 2008 for Mac.

Office 2008 12.1.1 offers improvements in Word and Excel, with performance and stability updates for PowerPoint and Entourage. It also fixes issues with date formatting in charts. Word has fixes pertaining to Macros, opening files from the Finder, and general graphics updates. Excel now has improved reliability when calculating and editing formulas and updating data.

You can download the updates via the Microsoft Software Update Application.

Via [MacNN]

In what general manager of the Mac business unit Craig Eisler says is the “...biggest hiring initiative since the inception of MacBU eleven years ago,” Microsoft’s Mac BU is expanding. In a blog post on the “Mac Mojo” blog, Eisler wrote that the Mac BU is “...hard at work planning for products beyond Office 2008, and we are growing our team to help turn our vision into reality.” Whether he means yet-unannounced products or making Messenger for Mac just a little less of a joke remains to be seen, but they’ve got something up their sleeves.

Let’s figure out what after the break.

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I was all set to be made happy by Jonathan Blum’s latest article, “Mac Automator a no-brainer for Small Biz.” The first paragraph indulged me. In it, Blum talks about the ridiculousness of the Mac vs. PC debate, and leads into his biggest draw to the Mac: Automator. Then, the second paragraph hit like a ship being slammed up on shore by a Tsunami, dashed to pieces on the rocks, all it’s crew members dead. Seriously.

Rather, for my small business money, the single most exciting productivity tool probably lies hidden deep inside some Macs: Automator. This piece of code, which Apple describes as a “personal automation assistant,” is part of the new Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac (starting at $400) suite of office software.

*Spits out drink* What!?

It gets better after the break.

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iWork and MS Office are both great apps depending on your needs and wants.  MS Office is great for people who need to have compatibility with Windows users and iWork is a great addition to the rest of the Mac apps.  So the question is, which one should you get?  Each has its upsides and downsides, but how do you know which one will be right for you? Well, right off the bat there is a few things you can look at to help you make your decision.

1) Price. iWork comes in at a nice $79.00 whereas MS Office is anywhere between $149.95 and $499.95.  They both offer the same apps (text editor, presentation maker, and spreadsheet creator), but iWork is a lot cheaper.  However, they both offer free trials to see which one you like, but I imagine the price is enough to turn some away from MS Office.

2) Viruses. Cult of Mac has written a post stating that of 6 viruses in the wild for Mac OS X, 5 of them are exploited through MS Office.  As far as I’m concerned, this is enough of a reason to not go with the Microsoft product.  I don’t want my machine being more susceptible to attacks from simply editing a text file.

So when the day comes for you to decide between these two apps, which one is it going to be?  Have you already made up your mind?

The mEgg Hunt, “brings seasonal fun” where Mac users will surf a Mac developer’s site and try to find an egg. Once they find an egg they’ll receive a code towards 20% off the purchase of the software. The Easter mEgg Hunt just revealed the list of participants, so once you see them, get hunting! (Then reading Apple news)

Read the full list after the jump!

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Filemaker, the company behind the new application Bento, just announced that they passed 250 000 downloads. Bento is a $49 application for Leopard only, that is an organizational tool designed to manage your life and everything inside it. The app has neat and handy features like built-in links to Address Book, intergration with iCal, and ability to manage contact, events, track your projects and anything else you need to organize in your life.

What Filemaker did not tell us is if the number is the number of downloads for trying out the software, or purchases. We also don’t know if this is unique downloads, or one user downloading it several times. But still good news for Filemaker.

Via [MacWorld]

Microsoft was due to release an update to their latest Office 2008 suite this month. I have found my overall experience with Office 2008 to be good, but it is almost as slow as 2004, and has some bugs with Leopard features like Spaces. Today, Microsoft released version 12.0.1 - an update that should have popped up in Microsoft AutoUpdate - if it hasn’t, you can download it here. The update applies to Office 2008, Office 2008 Home and Student Edition, Office 2008 Special Media Edition, Word 2008, Excel 2008, PowerPoint 2008 and Entourage 2008.

This 114MB download “fixes critical issues in Office 2008, including issues that might cause Office 2008 applications to stop responding or quit unexpectedly” according to Microsoft.

We’ve all got lots of things to do in our life and all of that clutter in our working environment doesn’t help at all. In real life you’ve got a garbage can and sticky notes, it does the job and that’s about it. On my computer I’ve got a simple, yet feature full version of that, ShoveBox. ShoveBox is the “the smart clutter-catcher for you and your Mac.” This neat little Mac app sits in your menu bar, waiting to capture and sort your information. If you’ve used a to-do list app or stickies app you’ve probably realized that text just isn’t good enough to keep track of your life. From the menu bar, you may choose to capture clutter by typing it down, or “QuickJot.” Or import from your clipboard, create a longer text note, or record using your iSight or built in camera.

Read the complete review after the jump.

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Microsoft recently released the first update to its new Office 2008 suite - although this is a very minor update and doesn’t affect any Microsoft Office programs at all. The update simply installs a new version of AutoUpdate, 2.1.1. The update is only 2MB in size, so don’t expect any major changes to the updater application - it’s most likely minor bug fixes.

Expect to see another update to Microsoft Office 2008 not long away, as there are plenty of things that need fixing, and Microsoft is aware of this. None of the applications in the suite have managed to work with Leopard’s Spaces feature properly yet and they are a lot slower than Apple’s iWork alternative.

Via [TUAW]

Mindjet has released version 7 of their MindManager application, which now supports Leopard. The ability to use QuickLook has been added, along with other Leopard-only features like Microsoft Office 2008 integration with a new redesigned Microsoft fluent UI. MindManager 7 is an application designed to help you be more productive. It works by simply creating a single focus in the centre, and adding links from it - you can even add links to files and web pages. It really allows you to capture innovative thinking and organise it structurally. MindManager 7 Mac is available for $130, with upgrades priced at $70. MindManager 7 Mac requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later.

Some other new improvements are the faster formatting on map styles and galleries, and enhanced ScreenTops that allow you to select topics with rules that users can save and apply as filters. The printing has been enhanced too, with support for large maps that span across multiple pages, headers and footers and more.

Via [MacNN]