Microsoft has released Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.7 Update which, according to Microsoft, “fixes a critical vulnerability that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code.”
The update applies to Office 2004 Standard Edition, Office 2004 Student and Teacher Edition, Office 2004 Professional Edition, Word 2004, Excel 2004, PowerPoint 2004, and Entourage 2004.
More info and download link here.
MacDailyNews Note: Do you really enjoy Microsoft-induced security problems and bloated, old, overpriced code on your Mac? Many Mac users think they need Evil Incarnate, er… Microsoft Office, but they really don’t. Give Apple’s free 30-day iWork ’08 trial a try and see for yourself.
iWork™ …”They” don’t.
Stevo
Yes they do… 99.999% of the time
MS–for those that love to work on their machine rather than work with their machine!
I installed the new iWork ’08.
I just deleted Micros#it Office 2004 from my computer forever.
MDN: “Refreshing” as in, it’s refreshing to not have any microsoft products on my computer.
Great, it’s just a patch. I was hoping it would turn Office into iWork 08….
Shame on you MDN for spreading this kind of anti-Apple FUD. We all know that due to the inherent security of OS X, not even Microsoft can pose a risk to a Mac. Mac is secure from day one, which is literally five years ahead, i presume.
I am not doing this one and am never doing another Microsoft update ever again.
PPT files open in Keynote, XLS in Numbers and DOC in Pages.
Bliss. Sheer bliss.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah – no Mac user needs MS office.
Unless they do. I tried Pages08, as you suggested. It chokes on Table of Contents of more than one level. That’s unacceptable to me.
Even NeoOffice is better than that.
Nice try Apple. Maybe next time around Pages will be be better.
Keynote – it looks good. Numbers – I’m not a spreadsheet user.
Micro$oft fixed this too late. I already emtied the trash can.
iWork is here and I love to work with it. It´s so fast.
I installed a “fix” for Microslofts shitass Office for Mac just yesterday, it came on a disk labeled iWork 08. Bye Bye now Mr Gates have a nice life!
Ahh… it feels good to not have to download this one. I promptly trashed Office 2004 on my Mac this weekend after buying and using iWork ’08 over the weekend to make sure I wouldn’t miss it. As of Sunday, Office 2004 is just a memory (I haven’t thrown the disc away, but I won’t ever install it again.)
Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac has a critical vulnerability? Who uses Office on a Mac anyway? I thought you guys just looked at pictures on MACs.
First of all it’s a technical impossibility for vulnerabilities to be introduced through Microsoft Office. Apple’s dumpy 30-year old MAC OS is to blame. Microsoft Office apps simply run on top of a leaky, unstable and insecure Unix dinosaur that Apple still can’t get right. I suggest Apple license and move to the Windows kernel or just give up altogether. Shouldn’t be too hard to do now that MACs use Intel chips.
Your potential. Our passion.™
Like it or not, Microsoft Office is the de facto standard for businesses in the US. Without Office, the Mac wouldn’t be a viable platform for many people.
I personally don’t use MS Office – NeoOffice works just fine for my needs. However, if you want to bash Microsoft – don’t bash the MacBU. These guys are Mac users, and probably one of the few groups in Microsoft that don’t want to destroy Apple and all it stands for.
Office for the Mac painfully sucks. It’s like iTunes/Quicktime/Safari for Windoze. Some things should not be mixed.
“Like it or not, Microsoft Office is the de facto standard for businesses in the US”
but should we accept that?
“like it or not windows is the de facto standard for businesses in the US.”
“like it or not, ethical violations are the de facto standard for government work in the US.”
“like it or not war is the de facto solution to international relations issues in the world.”
that these are facts, does not make them acceptable.
so no, i don’t like it. nor will i accept it.
i use linux and os x, because i have upped my standards. to everyone else, up yours.
The great shen has spoken! Thank you for taking the time to grace us with your wise prognostications oh mighty one!
“i use linux and os x, because i have upped my standards.”
Aren’t you special. So you use the trailer trash OS and the toy OS. Well if that makes you feel high and mighty, great. I continue to bask in the warm glow of a REAL OS: Windows Vista. Ultimate. Dork.
And would it kill you to use the ‘shift’ key once in a while?
Your potential. Our passion.™
MDN,
You’re beginning to sound like a broken record. And for the users who HAVE to use Office it’s beginning to grate.
I’ll start off by saying I’m a Mac user from OS 8.1 days and have stuck with the Mac even through working in a VERY Windows based company.
Truth is though this iWork program is a light weight when compared to Office (insert joke on bloated code here). Seriously though it isn’t as capable when using tables (i.e. can’t split page through a table), fonts require two interfaces (one in the menu above and the other for full font size selection in the font window), Bullets took me forever to find as I have to use the Inspector then Lists then Bullets (but Bullets are the only thing within Lists) I could go on but I’ve just started to use it (all of one hour ago). Plus it failed to properly open up 3 out of 5 WORD documents so far (mostly table errors).
So can we stop slamming the competition when quite frankly unless I’m providing a hard copy (or a PDF) where I don’t expect others to edit the document. You really can’t replace WORD with Pages. It’s a great home based Publishing program but as a simple document creator it’s in a world by itself (since no one else in a work environment can use the soft copy files it produces).
Just my 2¢
Can anyone explain in English what this vulnerability is?
All of you need to start taking Valium.
@shen
so big words, but what do you mean by not accepting?
say silently to yourself “i don’t accept” and aloud “thank you, sir, please give me more”?
if you have action plans on how to
1) end windows domination in US business
2) stop US gov ethical violations
3) end all war
please share them, i am sure many will join you
until then:
i don’t accept cancer
i don’t accept HIV
i don’t accept sun being the center of our planetary system
but i do accept credit cards,
american express will do nicely thank you
Chris – agree with you that the MacBU is a good organization. Those poor folks do have a tough job and have done good work. M$ Office was my security blanket for even considering a Mac when I switched at the end of 2004. As I have to use Office at work, having Office on my Mac at home is a good thing.
I am concerned about Office 2007 and Office 2008 compability (or lack of). Seems to me the two best choices are sticking with 2004 and or upgrading to iWork. I haven’t taken the 30 day test drive as of yet but plan to do so soon. If that goes well, I’ll purchase iWork when I get Leopard.
Peace.
I love Mac Office 2004. Love it. Love it.
Another excellent choice for a word processor alternative to MS Word is Nisus Writer Pro. It reads and writes .doc files. In fact you can save all your Nisus documents in .doc format, but you do have the .rtf format available as well.
I have not had to open any large complicated Word documents, so I cannot say how good it works at that. But there is a demo available at http://www.nisus.com, so you can see for yourself.
@Shen
Did you, like, read the rest of my post?
The fact that MS Office exists on the Mac platform is one of the most important reasons for many people to make the switch. Without it, people see OS X as an also-ran. Sure, you don’t have to like it or use it (I don’t – as I mentioned), but its existence is crucial to the viability of the platform – particularly for business customers.
MS Office for Mac is a good thing. You don’t need to support it for it to be an asset to the Mac. But you certainly shouldn’t bash the hell out of it just because it’s a standard.
If you want to bash Microsoft, bash the Zune, bash Vista. Hell, bash Office for Windows. But don’t give Microsoft a reason to kill off the MacBU, who are an absolute asset to the Mac.
@ Walter Chillum. I totally agree Walter. MS Office allows me to keep my Mac in a Windoze workplace. Like it or not MDN, some of us have no choice in this matter.