Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac

I really wanted to like NeoOffice/J, the Mac OS-X native port of OpenOffice.org. As long as I didn't need to exchange documents with MS Office users, it works OK. However, I haven't been using it that long and already I've run into issues with file corruption when saving a word processing file in .doc format. On top of that both versions of the open source office suite are dog slow. So, I went ahead and loaded MS Office 2004 on the iBook.

Office for Mac gives me excellent compatibility with Windows Office users and runs a lot faster on my hardware. Office for Mac is generally nicer than Office for Windows, actually, in appearance and feel.

I also configured Entourage to talk to my employer's Exchange (barf) server, so I'm not confined to webmail when on my Apple. Entourage has a nice feel to it, and my first impression of some of the features, like Projects, is favorable, but it does have a major bug. Specifically, it's almost guaranteed to corrupt your calendar. So, I disabled calendar sync. Fortunately, Microsoft is planning to release a big service pack later this Summer which should fix this issue, as well as enhance functionality of the addressbook, e.g., let you search through an Exchange server's Global Address List. ASSuming the SP works as promised I may be able to migrate completely to the iBook and keep my Dell D600 in my desk drawer.