For this review, I will be using a MacBook Pro with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo and 4GB of RAM and a 12” PowerBook with a 1.5GHz G4 and 1.25GB RAM. Both computers have the latest Leopard Build on them (559).

Installation:
On both of the computers, the Installation went very smooth. The Steps for the Installation are as follows: Introduction, License, Product Key, Destination, Installation Type, Installation, Remove Office (older versions), and finally Summary. After the simple 5 minute Installation, an “Identity Creator” opened itself and asked me for my Name, Company, Phone Number, and email address. At first I closed the application, but then realized that I had to register myself in order to use the Office ’08 Applications. After the “Identity” was created, the Office Applications put themselves in my dock without asking me, and Office Gallery Launcher opened itself. I could already tell this was a Microsoft Product.

Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac:


As I am writing this review in Word, everything is different, but it all seems so similar. Maybe it is because I have used Office since Mac OS 9 and just recently switched to iWork. It could also be because Word has gained almost every single feature that Pages had.
Performance
On my aging PowerBook, I was happy to find that all the effects were happily bouncing along on their path until they got to where they were supposed to be with no jerkiness at all. One thing that is annoying is that the keys seem to be lagging behind the words that I am typing on the keyboard. It almost seems to be worse than on the 2004 version of Office. Also, saving can take up to 4 seconds, rendering the application useless until it is done.



The Gallery
The Gallery is almost the exact same as it is in Pages. Under Document Elements you can choose from Cover Pages, Table of Contents, Header, Footer, and Bibliographies. From Quick Tables you can choose from Basic and Complex, each having a range of Tables you can choose from. In Charts, you can choose from All, Area, Bar, Bubble, Column, Doughnut, Line, Pie, Radar, Stock, Surface, and X-Y Scatter. In SmartArt Graphics, you can choose from Recent, List, Process, Cycle, Hierarchy, Relationship, Matrix, and Pyramid. Finally, from WordArt, you can choose between Simple, Elegant, Bold, Enhanced, and Elegant.

Other Features
Other than the ones mentioned, there really aren’t that many new features to be told of. If you have used Microsoft Word before, you will get the feeling of refreshment, and comfort, because it feels very familiar.


Microsoft Excel 2008 for Mac:


While I am not an avid Spreadsheet user, I will try my best to cover all the new features that are in Excel. Excel is almost the exact same as where Microsoft left it in 2004, with the addition of the Gallery, which is almost the same as it is in Word. Excel needs some work, from what I can tell. The Ribbon UI uses the exact same icon for the Galleries that involve selecting a certain elements in the Gallery. Regarding performance, Excel’s Gallery was slow and choppy, while Word’s was nice an flowing. While I don’t have much more to say, I can say this: I much prefer Numbers over Excel.



Microsoft PowerPoint 2008 for Mac:


Microsoft had some competition when Apple released Keynote 4.0. They have gained some ground back with PowerPoint 2008. PowerPoint now is more user Friendly, and is taking advantage of the Gallery in all Office 2008 Applications.
The Gallery
PowerPoint has gained a lot of functionality with the Gallery. Now all the effects and themes from one area. You can choose from Slide Themes, Slide Layout, Transitions, Table Styles, Charts, SmartArt Graphics, and WordArt. I think that this is much better than the old 2004 PowerPoint Method of doing things. When choosing a transition, you can select the transition, and it does this short preview that is already over before it started and it had told me nothing about the transition. You have to do it several times before actually knowing what the transition did. Good Job Microsoft, you have implemented another new feature in a wrong way!
PowerPoint is good, and I think that Apple will need to push the limits with the next version of Keynote.

Microsoft Entourage 2008 for Mac:
Entourage is Microsoft’s answer to Mail, iCal, and Address Book. Can it finally take them down? The answer is no. It does take a long time to open, it makes strange noises at random times(like when you turned off email notification and it is idle). With this Application, I think that Microsoft tried to pack too much into one Application. The UI itself is not very space efficient and it is slow to use. On top of it all, Microsoft had to put a little window that showed all the attachments before showing the actual message. I would try to avoid this.



Stability:
I would say that the stability is surprisingly good for a beta Microsoft Product. Word only crashed once, causing me to rewrite the Entourage part of the review. As I said before, Microsoft needs to increase the speed a little, especially with typing. Also, I have had many graphical errors happen. Many times text disappears until you select the area where the text is and it promptly shows up. I would say you could use this product full time if you saved a lot and your standards weren’t very high.
4 out of 5 without the obvious Beta Glitches