Microsoft Office 2008 Has Steep Learning Curve, But Is Worth The Effort

Author's Rating:

Pros: Great price, three licenses, better user interface, SmartArt for designing graphics. 

Cons: Everything has been moved, making it difficult to use right out of the box. 

The Bottom Line: 
Microsoft Office 2008 has a steep learning curve, but overall it's a great product with an excellent price. 

Author's Review
I bought Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home & Student a couple of months ago when I purchased my first Mac. I didn't want to get a new version of Office because I had recently started using Office 2007 at work and hated it. But MacMall was offering Office 2008 for $109 - a price I couldn't pass up. 

I have the same gripes with Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac that I have with Office 2007. Everything has been moved, which meant that I had to learn a lot of basic functions all over again. The drastic change to the user interface also means that it is difficult to move back and forth between one version of Office and another. I use multiple computers on a regular basis and each have a different version of Office installed. As a result, I sometimes find myself trying to use a function in one version that only works in another. 

I do have to say that once I got used to the user interface I fell in love with it. I like having tabs for the Document Elements, SmartArt Graphics, etc. I use these elements a lot more now because it's so much easier to integrate them into a document. I use the formatting palette a lot too, something I never did in previous versions of Office. 

Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home & Student has been described as the barebones version of Office for Macs, but I disagree. I have all the applications I need - at the right price.