Great news for those Mac users that have yet to try Microsoft Office 2008. The company are offering a free fully functional 30 day trial of the suite. Although Microsoft Office 2008 first hit the shops over a year ago, it’s only now that Microsoft are offering a free 30 day trial for free.
All that you have to do is register at Microsoft’s Mactopia site and you’ll be sent the registration key. Don’t worry if you’ve already got previous versions of Office installed – Microsoft Office 2008 runs alongside them and won’t overwrite them. During the trial period, users can upgrade to the Standard Edition or Home & Student Edition.
Currently, the Standard Edition costs a hefty $400 while the Home & Student Edition go for $150. This compares with Apple’s own iLife suite which currently goes for between $79-$99.
If you’re thinking of giving it a try, bear in mind that it’s a big download at just over 500 MB and installation can take a good 10 to 15 minutes so make sure you have a bit of time on your hands before starting. Once you’ve entered the registration key, you’re taken through an introductory tour of Microsoft Office 2008 to familiarize yourself with its powerful suite of tools namely Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage.
It’s hard to know where to start when describing what it all has to offer but highlights include the professional templates in Word’s Publishing Layout View, OfficeArt tools and the impressive diagrams you can create with SmartArt. Word is still the best and most intuitive word processing application out there in my mind and Excel remains popular with business professionals due to its power and formula creation possibilities. Check it out for yourself and let us know what you think!
