Microsoft today released a series of updates for users of its Office for Mac productivity suites, bringing security, performance, and stability improvements to Office 2011, 2008, and 2004, as well as a pair of ancillary updates.
- Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 14.1.3 Update (112.0 MB): Improvements include security fixes and a number of improvements for PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and Outlook, including improved browser compatibility for all document types.
- Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.3.1 Update (333.0 MB): Improvements include security fixes as well as a fix for displaying Word Help in various languages and updated time zone support for Outlook.
- Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.6.5 Update (9.0 MB): According to an associated support document, the update appears to contain only security fixes.
Additional details on the security fixes, which address as many as five vulnerabilities in Excel depending on Office version, are available in a Microsoft security bulletin.
- Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.2.1 (45.0 MB) and Microsoft Entourage 2008 for Mac, Web Services Edition (64.0 MB) have also been updated to provide security fixes and compatibility with the updated versions of Office for Mac.
Top Rated Comments
And the reason Office 2004 is still supported is that until Office 2011 was released, Office 2004 was the only way Mac users could use VBA which is a non-trivial feature for those that want to use a Mac in the corporate world. Now that Office 2011 is released, Microsoft is still providing support to Office 2004 as a grace period for people to transition. That isn't a problem, it's a courtesy and a convenience.
Microsoft is a little famous for supporting their software for a long time. It's what keeps them popular in the Enterprise. Keep in mind that Windows XP, released in 2001 is still being supported for a few more years.
We have many users actually that still use Office 2004. We are only upgrading them because of compatibility with Exchange 2010. (We only have to upgrade to Office 2008 to regain compatibility, but we are going to 2010.)
This is the second security fix IIRC for MS Office 2011 since it was released in the fall of last year. Lion has already had two and it was released two months ago. Stuff happens, you should be glad MS is still updating software that is as old as Office 2004.
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I had this problem on another Mac when I ran the last update. I ended up having to download the patch file to my desktop and then install it. Also, make sure you are logged in as the admin user, even when allowing my secondary account access and entering the admin password it still would not install unless I was logged in as the admin user. Don't know why. However this patch installed no problem under Lion.
Hell. My favorite version of Office is still Mac 2001.
This is actually one of the thing Microsoft does very well... supporting its software. They have a much larger market share than Apple, so what they support affects far more people than Apple.
Windows XP SP3 is still very much supported, and it should be; millions of people use it.
Small fixes for Office aren't a big deal.. it doesn't take much time. And remember, this is their Macintosh department doing the patching and the work, not the rest of Microsoft.
Well, they can't - just as any other software company can't (that includes Apple - just in case)!
But in contrast to Apple Microsoft has improved a lot in the last few years in security fixed reaction time. And they invested a LOT into security whereas Apple just seems to have started (with Lion they just about reachted the point where other OSs, including Windows XP, where years ago! Keyword: "Address Space randomisation").
Admittedly: Apple has some nice security ideas with "sandboxing" which makes it harder to exploit holes in applications.
But ever wondered why not even Safari is "sandboxed" in Lion yet? Or QuickTime? Or "Preview"?
Think about it real hard (for about 3 seconds)...!
And the fact that Microsoft is still supporting a product - on a non-Microsoft platform, that is! - which is several years old speaks for them, IMHO!
I agree very much with you in your statement that APple is nowhere as frequently updating their software.
That is mainly because simply "they don't" (see iOS 3.x) after a very short time, and secondly because "they won't".
Now ever heard of the LDAP password disaster in Lion? That is a MAJOR *****-UP. The worst security hole (and the most stupid one) I have EVER heard of! Made by Apple! Not tested by Apple! And guess what: STILL NOT FIXED AFTER WEEKS!
Now this clearly shows Apple non-committment to enterprise users (that's not you, obviously)!
And I am not even starting to list all the QuickTime and Safari security issues Apple fixed (very late usually, see the corrupted certificate issue Apple just fixed AFTER WEEKS only - when all other browsers had it fixed since long time!
Now, fanboi, come again and tell me about "security & Apple"!
Cheers (from a Mac developer)
I had Excel open at the time and used Help | Check for Updates.