BLUESTAR  Updated without a hitch.  
(Version 12.2.3)

ALBABE  With this patch, MS Word seems to start up a bit faster... open under File>Open Recent much faster... and Save considerably faster...

So far so good.  
(Version 12.2.3)

DOUGSTER  Annoyingly, after this update, many of Entourage's Toolbar settings returned to default. Also, Entourage refused to accept email passwords until they were deleted from Keychain. Oh, and the Address Book /'Synch' settings needed resetting. Apart from that all is okey dokey. I think !  
(Version 12.2.3)

ESPIRIDION  The update went smoothly, and this time Microsoft Auto Update detected and downloaded the newer version.

Given AWADO's comments, I immediately tested drag and drop. I don't recall Word crashing in the past when dragging and dropping text, and I'm happy to say that the latest version did not crash at all. I even dragged text across different documents with positive results.

I have not checked how my documents look on a PC, but Office offers various options easily accessible via the Toolbox, and one option is the Compatibility Report. Users can select to check for compatibility with various versions of Mac and Windows versions of Word. This feature can also be accessed when saving a document.

I was also curious about ERIC WOEHLER's negative comments and multiple 1-star ratings within a month. According to Eric himself, "the fault was a font with two copies in two different libraries." (From his review of Font Doctor). For some reason he did not update his comments here.

It's easy to criticize Microsoft and call them M$ and Windoze, yet one of the advantages of today's Macs resides in their ability to run Windows. Maybe in the future there won't even be a Mac version of their software.

Microsoft was among the first software developers for the Apple computer, and Bill Gates invested millions in Apple. Other than the absence of VBA in Office 2008 I'm quite happy with the software.

As a side note, the only iWork application I prefer over Office is Keynote. Apple did a great job on that one.  
(Version 12.2.3)

COCOANUT  I've been using Office for a decade and I love it. It's full featured, elegant and beautifully designed software that blows away iWork in usability and features. Entourage is especially a pleasure to use.

People's needs are different so I suppose iWork could suffice for many but when you move up you'll move up to Office.  
(Version 12.2.3)

AWADO  Still M$ is not M$ compatible! Word documents look different on the Mac version. And as soon as I try to move text via drag 'n drop (or do it accidentally) Word crashes. Once upon a time Word and Excel were really good software. But it seems these days are gone.

With iWork you get less bugs for less money.  
(Version 12.2.1)

ERIC WOEHLER  Word continues to become more and more unstable. I open a 12 page doc and it thinks it is only 3 pages long. I scroll to the bottom of the file and the spinning beachball appears then Word hangs. Time to force-quit. Re-open.. Same garbage behaviour. I have purged font caches, and tested for font problems - all ok (but Font Doctor doesnt run under SL) so relying on Apple's Font Book to tell me all is ok with fonts. Have deleted all Word Pref files and Font Cache List file. What else?

I absolutely refuse to delete Office 08 and reinstall - I am using a Mac and not Windoze.

I have more problems with Word than all my other apps on my Mac (13" unibody, late 2008, 4gB RAM, twin 2.3GHz). I have NO other crashes or app hangs EXCEPT Word and I use a LOT of apps - not quite a Power user playing with Terminal, but have been using Macs for 25+ years and am highly experienced. This is absolute cr*p and totally beyond belief.

Have given up sending reports to MS as MS doesn't care.

Can't say a good thing about M$ - I want my money back!  
(Version 12.2.1)

ERIC WOEHLER  Unable to install 12.2.1 updater - back the same old garbage.. "no version of software present to be updated" or similar. I have 12.2.0 and have stripped all the excess language files (Swahili, Mongolian, Zulu). M$ have also changed the install scripts, so previous workarounds to edit the scripts also no longer work.

Yet more reasons to forget about MS crapware - is any one from M$ reading this - I paid for a legal install of MS Office 2008. Why the hell can't I keep my software up to date?  
(Version 12.2.1)

ERIC WOEHLER  Major problems after upgrading to 10.6 Snow Leopard. Under 10.6, Word was unstable, crashing occasionally. Under 10.6.1, essentially unusable - hangs/crashes constantly. Have cleared font caches etc. no go. Tried to reinstall latest updater for Office (12.2) but was unable. What now?  
(Version 12.2.1)

EASER  My wife is taking a course that requires her to access her professor's PowerPoint lectures. Those lectures require the use of special international fonts. I installed those fonts on her MacBook Pro and opened the lectures using MS PowerPoint for Mac. Nothing came out correctly, no matter what I tried. Restarts. Permission repairs. You name it. In desperation, I opened the lectures in Neo Office. Everything worked perfectly. This tells me all I need to know about whether I intend to keep investing in Microsoft. I don't think so. If you've never encountered the FREE Neo Office, give it a look.   
(Version 12.2.1)

CHARLESBKK  When will Microsoft make a fair for Mac users. Comparing Office Mac version and Windows version. On the Mac, it has never ever support THAI. I don't ask for any special functions or abilities, BUT only support THAI. just like Windows Users have.

PS. I've given up for MSN. Thx Microsoft!  
(Version 12.2.1)

MAXEMOM  An interesting thing has happened to me: I have practically "lived" in MS Excel and MS Word during most of my work days for 12+ years now, finding MS Office somewhat "bloated" and not the most nimble software, but useable and getting the job done nonetheless for the most part, then I sort of "stumbled" upon NeoOffice (more or less by accident) a couple of months ago (as a favor to one of my family member who had asked me to evaluate it for her).

Not only was I able to transition seamlessly on a wide variety of large Excel sheets, as well as MS Word brochures, booklets and contracts, but I've had (and felt) no need to "return" to MS Office... for 2 months now.

NeoOffice (and the docs you feed it) are quite nimble and stable, plenty powerful for my (probably above average) needs, and has not left me wanting for features to get my work done. At this time, I can't find a reason why I would need to "go back"...

Just my 2 cents...  
(Version 12.2.1)

WHITEROCK  Today's update fixes the long launch times experienced with the previous upgrade.  
(Version 12.2.1)

MAC5  I certainly will not be downloading and installing any future MS Office updates until such time I hear from other users who have not encountered any problems running it. The latest update prior to this one was a total fiasco which took me a couple of days to sort out before I was able to use any part of my MS Office suite of apps.

I would appear to my mind that MS have lost the plot some what, and are making some major blunders.  
(Version 12.2.1)

DANA SUTTON  I'm sorry to disagree with all you folks, but for my admittedly limited purposes I find this service pack an excellent step forward, if only because it eliminates the most disagreeable feature of Office, the long launch times. Now if only MS would put out a version of Word that wrote clean html code I'd give it five stars across the board. (I've had no problems with this version remembering the s. n. or launching any of its components).  
(Version 12.2)

PATRICK MATHESON  From my small part of the tech pond...

Stay away from this update!

1. Entourage now longer opened after the update

2. Tried to re-install as advised from MS 'help'

3. A note was provide that the application could not be found after the new re-install

4. All MS Office application then failed to open

5. Reviewed MS for other helpful hints

6. I was advised from MS that the update could not be un-installed

7. Yippee!

8. Uninstalled Entourage

9. Reinstalled and helped! Entourage find the previous files and emails

10. Learned to NEVER do that again.... (listen to MS about installs)

11. I will wait from the sidelines when it comes to future 'upgrades'

12. what a joke  
(Version 12.2)

F451  This service pack does exhibit a marked improvement, but it comes late in the game (as always with Microsoft in it regard to Mac).

I harbor no ill will toward Microsoft as Apple did have the upper hand in the eighties, but sat on its duff while Microsoft moved ahead. (Anyone here ever use MacWrite?) I am forced to use Office, but the compatibility of documents to and fro between the Mac to the PC platforms inevitably shifts something about to the point where proofing the documents wastes a substantial amount of time, but is necessary when others are demanding precision for legal or presentation purposes.

In a way I pity Microsoft, as I now do Hewlett-Packard, as these once great companies are a shell of what they used to be; both juggernauts are not doing well presently (although they would like you to believe differently) and have a questionable future.  
(Version 12.2)

GOODWILL :)  DO NOT INSTALL THIS UPDATE!!! It breaks Word compatibility with OS X Spaces again! When you switch of Word, it will not go to the space specified. Instead it will shows only the pallette! I really can not imagine people of MBU at Microsoft release this update without checking this.  
(Version 12.2)

LEMERLOT  Funny, still in the new version 12.2 Entourage crashes from time to time on my well fostered system. I'm sending crash reports since months to Microsoft - but seems for them a collaboration software addition is more important than basic bug fixes and improvements.

Hmm, in the long run the market punishes such misconduct...   
(Version 12.2)

CLINAHAN  I obtained Office:Mac through the Microsoft Home Use Program this week.

Just getting Entourage connected to an Exchange server was a painful and complicated process and required quite a few google searches. I'm not sure how a non-technical user would go (I'm a Linux sysadmin by trade).

I find the interface just looks "wrong" and outdated. It just doesn't follow the standard look and feel for a Mac app and the Leopard UI. Ugly icons, ugly font choice and colour choices. Having integration with my Exchange calendar is nice and the reason I've installed it.

I'm looking forward to Snow Leopard and the inclusion of Exchange integration as I much prefer the look and feel of mail.app.  
(Version 12.2)

ESPIRIDION  AutoUpdater was a bit slow but the update itself went smoothly.

I did not have to re-enter any information and had no problem with fonts.

I have Font Explorer X Pro set up to allow font requests from Entourage, and did not receive any odd message.

Regarding the "bloatware" comment, my MS applications are smaller than their iWork counterparts. Apple's Mail is also larger than Entourage. Not that it matters that much these days since hard drive space is cheap, but I would not call them bloatware especially considering the amount of features they offer. The downside is that not all users need (or use) all of the features.  
(Version 12.2)

GARY30  I set the bar pretty low for MS apps on my Mac due to years of disappointment, so my agreement that Word and Entourage seem to launch quicker should be viewed as faint praise.

Upon initial launch of Word 12.2.0, I was confronted with box after box of font requests including requests for Cyrillic, Asian, and other weird fonts including one just identified with a string of seemingly random numbers. I use FontExplorer X Pro to manage my fonts. After a number of such boxes I just clicked a request to ignore all requests for fonts from this application. After that the requests went away and t It seemed to behave tolerably; it has since launched without incident. Entourage required re-entry of all mail account passwords--tedious but, well, tedious is par for the course if you use this company's software i guess. Those are the only MS apps I use--Word because I am too busy/lazy to convert all my legacy Word docs to Pages docs and Entourage because it handles attachments in a way that my Windows-based recipients can handle. All in all a decent upgrade to a deplorable piece of bloatware.  
(Version 12.2)

AQTINC  Thanks again to the MBU folks a Microsoft! Update ran flawlessly, and we continue to enjoy full MSO compatibility across our mixed platforms. Good job...as usual.

Try not to pay any attention to the autonomic responses from the MS haters. Their comments are quite irrelevant anyway, because vitriol is the emotional response from the hopelessly ignorant.  
(Version 12.2)

KAWAII  Great update, 100% reliable, no crashes, very fast launch of Office applications, slight memory reduction as well.

Office 2008 when it was first launched was very rough around the edges, SP1 improved things but SP2 has finally got Office 2008 to a reasonable standard that is comparable to their Windows product.

The main reasons why I avoid iWork is the lack of bibliography function built in and just basic features like auto-saving and crash recovery. Until Apple get their act together, Microsoft Office is the only option for those who do university papers.  
(Version 12.2)

SMKSENSEI  Amazingly enough, I have to say that the 12.2 update has made application launching MUCH faster on my MacBook Pro. I don't have any numbers, but it seems like it takes half the time or less. (it's about time, it was ridiculously and frustratingly slow)  
(Version 12.2)

MIKELAMBRELLIS  Aargh! Does anybody know how to uninstall this update? My eternal thanks to you if you share your wisdom.  
(Version 12.2)

ANON BUD  I quit using MS stuff a few years ago and now exclusively do all my work on Pages and Numbers. They both can convert MS files and export them as well, so I can always access MS files sent by colleagues.

I've never looked back!  
(Version 12.2)

JAMUS  I have to give the MacBU group some respect. They take an app suite like this and make it work within the limits imposed on them by the company they keep. Could this same type app be much better than it is? YES. Would Microsoft actually want it to be better? My guess is NO.

It is huge, bloated, and way too expensive, but Office 2008 does allow Mac users to camouflage themselves fairly well in a business environment and fit in with most aspects of Office. Exchange/Entourage is another story...

They get 1 full point if for no other reason than keeping all user data in one nice neat "Microsoft User Data" folder (something that their PC-cousins still can't seem to do right).  
(Version 12.2)

BAM BAM  Mico$oft hang your heads in shame!!! This is the first time in 20 years of macs that I have had a "major developer" have so many hang-ups and stalls in an update. I gave up in the end. I paid you guys good money for what!!!! Gates, sack your Mac team, they are letting the ball drop for your business. I have always enjoyed the stability (of sorts) by MS but this is a really poorly put together update.  
(Version 12.1.9)

ARCHMISSION  Wait until you try talking with Tech Support. All they do is say that the bug is a feature and that you are responsible for everything! After dealing with Microsoft's Tech support, I was reminded how great a company Apple is. They were the most helpful and it is free. FYI, when you register your software (if it does register) it is not for anything other than 2 free phone calls from them. That was explained quite clearly to me. They explained that they did not show that I owned and registered their software since Office 98 or that if you lose your previous upgrade disk, they cannot replace it. It is your responsibility. I asked why do I register the software? 2 free phone calls. Yes, that was the answer! $399.95 and all you get is 2 free calls. That does not even include the $239.95 upgrade disk cost. iWorks, $79 and you get the full program every time. What has a better value? Microsoft is a company first, customer last type of company.

Now I am reminded why I am a Mac fanboy. I love customer first companies!  
(Version 12.1.9)

LORD LIGHTNING  You almost certainly will have to download the full app and install from that. Typically, multimillion dollar Microsoft can't even use the Sparkle update system that little backroom and home garage software developers use without a hitch.

Every time Microsoft do anything they start by shooting themselves in the foot.

Guys, I am already a customer. Why do you go to so much trouble to make me take my business elsewhere?

Most of my professional colleagues are now using Open Office etc and Nisus and Pages. When Apple get Pages to the point where it can translate and parse code properly so that I can export and import to other apps then I will simply slip silently out of the Microsoft customer base.

Think on it Microsoft. Get the rod out of your back - loosen up and get with the program.

This should work before you release it.

No stars at all.  
(Version 12.1.9)

LORD LIGHTNING  You almost certainly will have to download the full app and install from that. Typically, multimillion dollar Microsoft can't even use the Sparkle update system that little backroom and home garage software developers use without a hitch.

Every time Microsoft do anything they start by shooting themselves in the foot.

Guys, I am already a customer. Why do you go to so much trouble to make me take my business elsewhere?

Most of my professional colleagues are now using Open Office etc and Nisus and Pages. When Mac get Pages to the point where it can translate and parse code properly so that I can export and import to other apps then I will simply slip silently out of the Microsoft customer base.

Think on it Microsoft. Get the rod out of your back - loosen up and get with the program.

This should work before you release it.

No stars at all.  
(Version 12.1.9)

LORD LIGHTNING  You almost certainly will have to download the full app and install from that. Typically, multimillion dollar Microsoft can't even use the Sparkle update system that little backroom and home garage software developers use without a hitch.

Every time Microsoft do anything they start by shooting themselves in the foot.

Guys, I am already a customer. Why do you go to so much trouble to make me take my business elsewhere?

Most of my professional colleagues are now using Open Office etc and Nisus and Pages. When Mac get Pages to the point where it can translate and parse code properly so that I can export and import to other apps then I will simply slip silently out of the Microsoft customer base.

Think on it Microsoft. Get the rod out of your back - loosen up and get with the program.

This should work before you release it.  
(Version 12.1.9)

ESPIRIDION  Automatic update does not install the update.

Download this update manually and then run the installer.  
(Version 12.1.9)

DOC G  I downloaded MS Office 12.1.9 using Microsoft AutoUpdate. It downloaded the update without incident, but another window telling me to update appeared. Upon closing the window I find the update was not loaded. Trying it again, made sure all apps were closed except the auto update program, downloaded again, when download completes the update window appears again telling me to download. I repeat the download again, and again. Still does not load to the MacBook Pro with Office 2008 on it. Frustrated by MS again . . . any advise would be appreciated.  
(Version 12.1.9)

SHANE C SMITH  Nice Update Microsoft, autoupdate downloads the whole thing and then asks me to download it again. F*$k! Get it right guys!  
(Version 12.1.9)

JIMW  Just downloaded and tried to install on my MacPro w/150GB free space and running a properly licensed and registered MSOffice v 12.1.7. It is telling me I can't install it as a version of the software to install this update was not found on this volume. Running MS Updater also tells me I am up to date. Go figure.

Most likely another shining example of MS Quality Assurance!

FYI: Just checked versions again. My version is now reading 12.1.9 even though no update seemed to occur and no indicating from the program that is has been updated.

Why do I feel like a mushroom?  
(Version 12.1.9)

THOSEM  Whoop de do! They have "fixed" it so that double clicking or dropping an .doc file or .xls file will not open it and you have to use File:Open!

What better reason do we need to make Pages and Numbers our default applications for old Office files?   
(Version 12.1.7)

ASHMADUX  scared to update.

im still on 12.0, im more the type if it works it works. definitely some bugs around (as always MBU, wf they pay you enough)

the general slowness of the application is pressing me to hit.the.button. but im scared to death. i dont have time for errors and bs.  
(Version 12.1.7)

ERIC WOEHLER  Just been looking for others' experiences re Office 12 and found an alarming post that reported MASSIVE receipt files - megabyte- rather than kb-sized. Just checked and sure enough - the total size of all my Office 12 receipt files - an astounding 630 megabytes!!!!!!!!!!!!

What the ...

First the software is so bloated because it includes Swahili and Zulu language files, which if removed stop you from updating the software, now the receipts are filling up the rest of the spare room on your drive!!!

Can it get any worse? MS - you REALLY need to lift your game and produce software and updaters that are much better than the present fare.

Any response from MS MBU?  
(Version 12.1.7)

ERIC WOEHLER  Same advice as I have given before, and hope that MS doesn't break this...

-- Download the updater from MS, open the DMG file and copy the Updater application onto your desktop where you can edit the application

--Right click on the update file and click "Show Package Contents"

--Navigate to Contents -> Resources

--You need to modify the script: package_updatable.

Remove these lines using Text Edit:

if not found_valid_version:

sys.exit(48)

--Save the edited Updater on your desktop, then close. Now it will update.

Seems this is an approach that has worked for all the Office 12 updaters. Good luck!!  
(Version 12.1.7)

SURFSPIRIT  BAD BAD BAD BAD, I mean, when Microsoft Office 2008 came out was one of the most buggy apps I ever experienced, then after several updates it became ok, now, I had to uninstall and install all over again to make this update, but guess what, excel works power point also, but word crashes on launch. Since there´s Neo Office that there's no point to buy Microsoft Office anymore! And Apple has Keynote that's lot lot lot lot better than PowerPoint. If you want to keep using this mess, and have important works to be done, be careful and do NOT update to 12.1.7 until urgent works are done! Microsoft should pay for work hours damage it makes!!!!   
(Version 12.1.7)

JPW  After update, my status bar is 1/3 missing (left side). Words cannot describe just how crummy this piece of software is. I regularly use NeoOffice, and I think I keep Word out of a sort of sick and self-flagellatory curiosity - a curiosity to see just how bad this stuff will get; it boggles the mind!  
(Version 12.1.7)

JASON BROWN  Greetings and Salutations

Some folks have mentioned that they have not been able to install the Office 12.1.7 update. I would like to remind folks of some of the caveats that apply to installing an Office update.

NAME

-----

The Apple Installer technology that we are using requires that the application and the folder they reside in maintain their original names. If you have renamed the applications or the folder they reside in, you'll need to revert it to the original names.

LOCATION

------------

While you drag Office anywhere after an install, the Apple Installer technology will not find a copy of Office that is not on a bootable partition. So if you have Office on a spare partition with no OS on it, you'll need to move it to a partition that has an OS on it.

LANGUAGE

-----------

The updater only works on the language it was intended for; therefore, if you installed Italian Office, the German updater will not work for it. Because we use Apple's Installer the UI will match the UI of your OS so judging which updater you got by the UI of the Installer will not work.

MULTIPLE VERSIONS OF DIFFERENT LANGUAGES

------------------------------------

If you have multiple language versions of Office on your machine, then you'll want to put the one you wish to update in your Application folder; update it; then either rename it or move it out and put the next language in the Application folder.

The Installer will search for Office, and if the first one it finds is a different language than the updater it will not keep searching for copies with the matching language.

RESTARTING YOUR MACHINE

------------------------------------

In some instances, the temporary folder used to install the last update does not get deleted. In these instances, the next Office update cannot install – you can rectify this by restarting your machine.

Please also see the Knowledge Base Article we have at

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/help.mspx?MODE=ct&CTT=PageView&clr=99-1-0&target=bee52d73-be77-4544-a5cd-402d9b56b9f41033&srcid=&ep=8&rtype=2&pos=3&quid=dc327dd2-3f60-405a-9477-b711c349ac53

for more information.

I hope this covers most everyone's issues, and if not we are watching this forum, so please describe your situation and we will do our best to help you with INSTALLATION issues.

Jason Brown

Microsoft MacBU   
(Version 12.1.7)

TRAMPAS  Office 2008 is shockingly bad. Word crashes regularly and does not have all the functionalities of the Windows Version. I stick to the more stable Word 2004, NeoOffice and Word for Windows when absolutely necessary.  
(Version 12.1.7)

AMNESIAC7  Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac is great!

I'm so glad to finally rid myself of the buggy mess known as OpenOffice.org.  
(Version 12.1.7)

EASER  I would like to amend my review. Between my initial installation of Office and the updates through the current one, I now have 88 - repeat, 88 - receipts for Office in my Library/Receipts folder. Isn't that a bit excessive?  
(Version 12.1.7)

ESPIRIDION  AutoUpdate identified the new version and the upgrade went smoothly.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms09-009.mspx  
(Version 12.1.7)

MCD3  Well, isnt this special....

Not only did they NOT roll 12.1.0 into this-but they forgot[?] to add 12.1.6;

So an install/reinstall can be a real party

first install:

1. MS Office 2008 12.00, then,

2 MSO 12.10 update

3. MSO 12.16 then

4 MSO 12.17 then

additionally, THIS patch is not recognized by my current install of 12.16

THIS patch is 267 mb

the MSO-SU is 155 mb  
(Version 12.1.7)

EASER  Why must this be such a freaking pain? If I run the update program, it says "nothing new!" Then I open Word and I get the update message. But then it says I can't install while Word is open. So then I have to quit Word. I'd give up on this program entirely except that I haven't found a single program that opens or saves Word files the way Word does. And, unfortunately, I live in a MS world.   
(Version 12.1.7)

MISECIA  I haven't been able to run this on my Late 2007 Macbook for the last year, every app crashes on Launch and i know at least 20 people who have the same problem. Why hasn't Microsoft fixed this?  
(Version 12.1.7)

VALENTINIAN  Why is it that every update includes "fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory"? How many buffer overflows can you have in a single office suite?

Where are the real release notes?  
(Version 12.1.7)

PLOTZENHOTS  take open office .it´s free :-)  
(Version 12.1.7)

ALBABE  12.1.7 seems to be available though my MS Word Auto Update.

Strangely (I guess nothing is really strange for MS), the link to the info page within the Auto Update goes to an "error" page... figures.  
(Version 12.1.5)

GORDON142  I have over 150 programmes installed on my Mac, and Office 2008 is the only one to completely fail at working with Spaces in Leopard. Switch spaces and parts of Office randomly follow you. You'll end up with the dialogs that go with windows spontaneously migrating to another space, or even more perplexingly, elements like the tabs in Notebook view will somehow manage to get onto a completely separate space from the Notebook they are part of. I swear, they had to work to make it function this badly.

Oh, and the apps in general are just really buggy. Reproducible crashes, and lots of assorted weirdness requiring me to frequently quit and relaunch projects to make the applications work right again.

It's kind of like the entire suite is designed to convince you how much better the Windows version of Office is and how it was foolish of you to try and use a Mac in a business environment anyway.  
(Version 12.1.5)

XIAOPANGZI  I’ve been using Office ever since Word 4 at the beginning of the ’90s, but Microsoft has not made an intuitive, stable, Mac-like application since the wonderful Word 5.1a.

The Mac Business Unit keeps churning out updates to Office 2008 but still hasn’t made Word 12 stable, yet. It either hangs (with reports automatically sent to Apple) or crashes (with reports sometimes sent to Microsoft) at least once a day with the most basic usage. I don’t do anything out of the ordinary, so I can’t imagine the same thing not happening to everyone else who uses Word for editing at least eight hours a day.

Here is a simple test to show the lack of basic functionality. Place your cursor in the middle of a document, and then try to find a word appearing anywhere above the document with the default Current Document All selected in the Find and Replace dialog box. Word will find anything below the cursor and will pretend to loop from the top of the document back down to the cursor but will not actually find or especially replace any words appearing above the cursor. That is something that should have been worked out in the beta releases before the commercial launch but still has not been addressed even after multiple updates now reaching version 12.1.5, and I remember another user pointing it out a year ago with the 12.0 release.

As for stability, try the following test. Use the Replace All button in the Find and Replace dialog box to replace any word or phrase, no matter how long or short, regardless of whether there are no incidences of that word in the document or there are thousands of incidences, and regardless of whether the document is only 6 pages or 600 pages, and in doc, rtf, or docx format, with or without images and/or text boxes. The search and replace should have worked correctly (except of course for any instances above the cursor and any instances in text boxes). Then, perform another Replace All with a different word or phrase, without saving the document after the first Find and Replace operation. I guarantee any Word 2008 user that the application will crash, or sometimes just hang, as I’ve verified a consistent occurrence on multiple machines.

As for the stability of every version of Word from 6 to 12, if you save the document between each thought while writing or between each editing change while reading someone else’s document, as I do automatically for safety reasons, Word creates dozens or even hundreds of tmp files per session and then eventually crashes as a result (probably memory related). Similarly, if you have Save AutoRecover enabled in the Preferences and happen to do a manual save at the same time that Word is attempting its automatic backup save (or vice versa), Word will hang indefinitely or will simply crash. My only workaround is to ensure that Save AutoRecover is not enabled and to make sure I save the document after every Replace All operation. Of course, I also have to move the cursor to the top of the document before every Replace All operation so that every instance is changed, after first highlighting the last edited spot in order to easily find it again after the Replace All has completed. I then have to quit and restart Word every hour for safety reasons to cause the tmp files to be cleared out and prevent unexpected crashes.

What’s even more frustrating with regard to the Save AutoRecover feature is that, if Word hangs (requiring a force quit) or crashes, it will only find the AutoRecover backup version of the document instead of the more recent one or several versions that you manually saved after an AutoRecover backup. That often means that you lose as much as 10 minutes of editing, which involves a lot of changes when you are in the translation industry, struggling to meet deadlines every half hour to an hour throughout the day.

I have a lot more to write but will only mention this most basic lack of functionality and stability regarding the Replace All feature.  
(Version 12.1.5)

JPW  No Office 2008 applications will launch after update. Perfect; just what I needed while trying to write my PhD dissertation.  
(Version 12.1.5)

BGARLOCK  It starts up a lot faster (at least on my machine). It still seems a bit bloated, and I really wish it didn't cost so much. I think it should cost $39 for students/teachers. Most teachers and students I know, don't have $100+ to essentially be able to open word processing documents with one another. Open Office is a good choice, and now much more "Mac Like". However, MS shines with the TOC, Index, and revision control (track changes).  
(Version 12.1.5)

EASER  My auto-update said nothing new was available. Interestingly, I had 12.1.3. So, I figured I'd first need to update to 12.1.4. I downloaded that, and it did not recognize that I had Office on my drive. Just for kicks, I tried the stand-alone 12.1.5 updater, and it worked. Pretty bizarre.  
(Version 12.1.5)

UMIJIN  Once again, two days after this update is supposedly announced, it doesn't show up in Office AutoUpdate. I don't understand this, but it was perhaps a week before the last update was available with AutoUpdate.  
(Version 12.1.5)

FARAWAY_SO_CLOSE  Worked for me without a hitch. I experienced an issue when I first installed Office on my Aluminum Macbook, the installer hanging indefinitely, but this one went fast and not even a hiccup. It does seem to start up a bit faster...  
(Version 12.1.5)

PEDROL  One of the things that I didn't like about MS Office 2008 for Mac was that it took forever to load and open documents or just oppening the application to create new ones!

It could be just a "placebo effect", but this 12.1.5 update seems to fasten things up quite a bit!

Anyone noticing the same improved behaviour speed?  
(Version 12.1.5)

TEKNOMAN  Upgrade went off without a hitch and only took a few minutes.  
(Version 12.1.5)

WHITEROCK  The updater will take minutes to carefully examine all your hard drive contents and then refuse to find the M$ Office folder if it is NOT inside the applications folder provided by the OS X installation. If it is in any other folder, even inside a folder in the Applications folder, it will not find it. What is the "installer" doing, looking at all the hard drive contents?

I hesitate to say Microsoft is spying or installing spyware. Perhaps it's just their well-known inability to program for the Macintosh environment.  
(Version 12.1.5)

BILLY THE BIKER  Does anyone remember how to install MS updates when you have deleted languages. I'm not going to even try updating. Someone posted a fix last time it was updated..  
(Version 12.1.5)

SCRAGS  I posted earlier saying that I could not install this update due to a never ending spinning beach ball. I just disabled ClamX AV and the install went without a hitch. If you are having any problems, you may want to disable any antivirus programs you may be using.  
(Version 12.1.5)

DANA SUTTON  The downloaded installer worked fine for me. Curiousliy, however, the Microsoft Updater refused to see the availability of this upgrade.  
(Version 12.1.5)

TOMEM  The installer worked right for me, first try, and the programs run at least as well as they did before, though I haven't checked out everything.

The last update fixed the notorious problem where old files had their last modified date changed when they were simply opened. Hopefully some of the stability issues will be corrected with this update.

Whatever one thinks of Office and MS, nothing can touch the Word outliner/TOC tool. If you are a serious writer of structured documents, you can go to FrameMaker or InDesign, but that's a whole other level of expense and complexity. I would cheer heartily if Pages, Mellei or others were to imitate the Word outliner!! AppleWorks never got it right, and neither have any of the others.   
(Version 12.1.5)

ESPIRIDION  I had problems with Office 2008 when I first Upgraded to 10.5. I think I also used "Archive and Install" back then and the Migration Assistant.

I had many problems with various applications and went back to 10.4.

By 10.5.2 Apple had fixed many bugs, so I did an "Erase and Install" and began installing my Applications one by one. Microsoft Office 2008 is one of the first Applications I installed, and was happy with the results. Everything worked fine, and launching each Office application was actually very fast.

By now I have installed additional software, additional applications, additional fonts, etc. Launching Office applications can be quite slow, but so far everything has worked as expected and upgrades have been smooth on my system.

My 2 complaints:

VBA is no longer supported, but that was well known before Office 2008 came out.

Auto-Updater does not work. This is also the case with other Applications, and not just Microsoft.

Overall Office 2008 has worked for me, but I started out with a clean system. I had applications that would not even launch under 10.5 (e.g., Daylite) until I did a clean install of OS X.

I'm sure this comment will not be popular, but I find it annoying when Mac users attack Microsoft. This may have to do with recent switchers and/or the Mac vs. PC adds, but Microsoft was one of the first -if not the first- software developers for the Mac. I'm glad that I can use Office on my Mac and that the 2008 version has been offered at very low prices (i.e., check the Black Friday deals for 2007 and 2008, plus additional rebates Microsoft has offered).

I still keep my 2004 version, but for the most part I'm using Office 2008 now.

i hope this text from Microsoft's page helps:

If you have trouble installing this update or using Office 2008 applications after you install this update, try the following:

* Make sure that the Microsoft Office 2008 folder is located in the Applications folder on the startup volume. If it is at another location on your computer, move it to the Applications folder on your startup volume, and then try installing the update again.

* Restart your computer and try installing the update again.

* Make sure that the user account you use to authenticate the update installer is an administrator account. For more information about administrator accounts, see Mac Help.

* Make sure that you downloaded the correct language version of the update for your copy of Office.

* If you rename or modify any of the files in the Microsoft Office 2008 folder, you cannot install product updates. To correct this issue, drag the Microsoft Office 2008 folder to the Trash, and then reinstall Office 2008 from your original installation disk.

* If you experience problems opening Office applications after you install this update, restart your computer. If you continue to experience problems after you restart, reinstall Office from your original installation disk, and then install this update again.  
(Version 12.1.5)

ERICG  I had exactly the same experience as the other user. Once the installation process is supposed to begin, the only thing that happens it he dreaded beach balls spins and spins.

How Microsoft makes money or even stay in business is a mystery to me. Everything the produce, without any exception known to me, is garbage. Office is the very definition of bloat ware. It crashes often, is slow, and produces bizarre unintended changes to documents. Utterly useless for Mac users.  
(Version 12.1.5)

MACUPMD  I have just installed this and now my email account passwords in Entourage have been cleared and cannot be re-entered. Is anyone else having this problem?

If anyone has any suggestions for fixing this or un-installing this update please let us know.

I am running 10.5.5 on 2.6 C2D  
(Version 12.1.5)

SCRAGS  This updater doesn’t work for me. I get a spinning beach ball that goes on forever. Had to Force Quit. Tried it again with no other apps running. Same deal. Way to go, Microsoft.  
(Version 12.1.5)

ERIC WOEHLER  I really hope someone from the Mac BU at MS is reading all these posts - why does MS insist on having hundreds of megs of disk space wasted on language files we don't need. I don't need Zulu, Russian, Pakistani or Swahili on my Mac - so why penalise me by making the updater hit a brick wall just because these un-needed files are no longer present? The edited updaters work fine without these files present - and all it does is create animosity in the user community - not a good situation with so many viable alternatives out there.

Not everyone has a Mac with a 300 gb drive - and stripping language and PPC code save a significant %age of available space - an appropriate strategy for all users.

MS should be listening to its user base, not alienating them. I really hope the next updater will (a) run without checking for Swahili, and (b) exist in the form of a como updater, so it will update all previous versions, rather than an incremental update.

Anyone from MS MBU listening?  
(Version 12.1.4)

ROSENKRIEGER  Does not work for me. Says I do not have a Version of the software that is able for updates. ( I got 12.1.3 ) - when I googled "office update 12.1.4 won't install" I got a few hits.

So this seems another problem with the update that happend a while back with another version.

I tried the solution if one removed a language pack from office ( which I did not do, I also have an original version, did not change paths, etc. ) - but I still have this problem

Just have to wait for the update to the update of the update...

Crappy MS :-/  
(Version 12.1.4)

ESPIRIDION  Since there's some speculation regarding Intel vs. PPC, I had no problem updating Office to 12.1.4.

OS X 10.5.5

Dual 2GHz PPC G5

AutoUpdate did not find a new version. That has happened to me with various programs, so I'm used to downloading and installing some upgrades manually.  
(Version 12.1.4)

THREEDEE912  Anyone else having trouble with AutoCorrect/AutoFormat in Word after updating? It doesn't seem to automatically make formatted lists anymore. (like 1., 2., 3., etc.)  
(Version 12.1.4)

MMUECK  I'm running 12.1.3 and when I Check for Updates within Word it says there's nothing to update :-/

Don't be too hard on Microsoft - writing a good updater is an incredibly difficult task and requires considerable resources. Clearly we're all not paying enough for this software. I'm off to the Microsoft site to find their PayPal link for a donation. That poor overworked guy who writes all the MS Office software needs to know his efforts are appreciated...  
(Version 12.1.4)

MJJ  I think MS screwed up the installer. In my experience, it works fine on Intel machines, but fails on PPC ones.   
(Version 12.1.4)

PEDRORS  I don't know why some people has to go through all the procedure of dragging the .dmg to the Desktop, etc., etc.

I simply downloaded and double click the .dmg and the installation went smooth with no problems so ever.

I checked after installation, and the "About Word or Excel.." shows the last update as 12.1.4.

Am I missing something?

I did it on my 2 computers, a MacBook Air and an iMac 24".  
(Version 12.1.4)

SOLOSAINT  anyone know if this messes up our serial number?  
(Version 12.1.4)

ERIC WOEHLER  OK Resources. You need to modify the script: package_updatable.

4. Remove these TWO lines using Text Edit, BBEdit or similar:

if not found_valid_version:

sys.exit(48)

Save these changes to the Updater [ALLOW IT TO OVERWRITE WHEN ASKED] then close. Now it will update.

I have added the caps above to clear some ambiguity in my original post - apologies, I thought the orig instructions were clear (they were to me!)

reply here if it doesn't work, but I just updated to 12.1.4 after editing the updater file  
(Version 12.1.4)

MACUPDATE ADMIN  We sincerely apologize for having momentarily posted the wrong download URL for this 12.1.4 update. The download URL on this page now yields the English version. Please click on the 'More Information' link to download other language versions.   
(Version 12.1.4)

MHOUTMAN  microsucks again. i am pissed !!

1) update availble through microsoft update: of course not.

2) dmg. download doesn't works either as office 12.1.3 can not be foundon my disc

is there hope ?  
(Version 12.1.4)

CLETUS  I did what ERIC WOEHLER suggested below and it works on this update also. Still.... it is poorly done. First a window opens suggesting "it will see if you can update etc." but that doesn't say "no". The other thing that drives me nuts is watching what is installed and seeing all these proofing tools and other items not mentioned in "what is fixed" etc. Supposedly this dealt with Entourage, yet all this other stuff flew onto the hard drive. Why is this?

Cletus   
(Version 12.1.4)

QMEDPAUL  As usual, this updater reports "A version of the software required to install this update was not found on this volume."

I updated to 12.1.3 when it came out recently. I haven't moved anything. All apps' info boxes report version 12.1.3.

So, what is their malfunction? They can't even write an UPDATER properly. Is Microsoft employing children to write their Macintosh software now?

This is what took 5 YEARS to develop?  
(Version 12.1.4)

ERIC WOEHLER  If you get the message that "No version of the software found on volume", due to having removed all the megabytes of language files etc, you can still get the installer to run.

1. Download the update from MS and save the updater on yr desktop - you will be modifying the file, so need to be able to edit and save it

2. Right click on the Updater and click "Show Package Contents".

3. Navigate to Contents -> Resources. You need to modify the script: package_updatable.

4. Remove these lines using Text Edit or BBEdit or similar:

if not found_valid_version:

sys.exit(48)

Save these changes to the Updater then close. Now it will update.  
(Version 12.1.3)

ESPIRIDION  Updater ran fine for me as well.

One thing to consider is that some problems may not be related to Microsoft alone. For example, when I "upgraded" to 10.5 I ran into many problems with various applications under the new OS.

The solution, after numerous installations of OS X 10.5 using Upgrade, Archive and Install, and Erase and Install, was to do an Erase and Install and reinstall my applications. Using the Migration Assistant and other install options rendered some of my applications useless.

After this Erase and Install, I installed Office 2008. Under a clean system, launching Office programs was actually fast. Now launch times are slow -except for Word- but I have added more stuff as well as numerous fonts.

There are some things I dislike about Office 2008. Mainly the lack of VBA support. But that was announced months before Office 2008 was released. For some of my work I need to go back to Office 2004, which I keep on a separate partition using 10.4.

I'm not going to rate the installer, or complain about Microsoft or about issues unrelated to this update. Overall Office has worked fine for me.

By the way, for those who want to know what the update actually addresses:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/958267

Particularly, performance enhancements only have an effect related to Charts. Launch times are still slow, but again, that's not what this update was about.  
(Version 12.1.3)

TEKNOMAN  Update went flawlessly!  
(Version 12.1.3)

AQTINC  Installer worked effortlessly. I'm an intensive Word and PowerPoint user for training programs. I haven't seen any stability problems with these apps, so I'll defer to the Excel power users if there were any stability problems there.

All told, the apps work as advertised and allow those of that must function in a Windows/Office dominated workplace to bring our Macs to the table. Woot! to the Mac Business Unit of Microsoft for continuing to support us in spite of the unjustified venom displayed by so many in the Apple community.

Geez, just take two aspirin and a nap, and maybe you won't be so knee-jerk bitchy. Otherwise, do the rest of us a favor and keep your Kool-Aid-inspired comments to yourselves. Using, and being appreciative of the MBU is in no way being disloyal to anyone!

Good job MBU! Ignore the pathetically addlebrained. Most of us appreciate your efforts.  
(Version 12.1.3)

SGGINC  Download doesn't recognize I have any software to update. Won't install. Thats MS for you. Anyone get this to install?

Thanks ... Ken  
(Version 12.1.3)

EJI  Does this update finally prevent Word from switching *@^&(! spaces on me for no apparent reason? My guess is no.

Incidentally, has anyone heard of a fix for this irritating bug, since none seems to be forthcoming from the developers, developers, developers?  
(Version 12.1.3)

BILL DAWSON  Don't notice any changes. Is it my imagination or does it take longer to load now? Damn, Microsoft products suck! If I weren't mandated to use this thing (Office), I wouldn't.

Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are SO MUCH BETTER!

BTW - Microsoft's Autoupdate program doesn't know there is an update available yet. One hand doesn't know what the other is doing (which is wiping it's a**.)  
(Version 12.1.3)

ALBABE  Worst version ever... and that's a lot considering how crappy MS usually is.

It's incredibly slow STARTING UP... very slow OPENING a new page... and RIDICULOUSLY slow SAVING a document.

My old Word worked perfectly well and fast... and like an idiot I let the new version overwrite the old version... now I have to uninstall this and reinstall 2004.  
(Version 12.1.2)

GRYPHONENT  What ever did they think when getting rid of the Macros? This renders the suite useless for anybody who wants to use files from coworkers or clients who live in the PC world. Not to speak of my own files/templates that I've created over the years. Stupid, so stupid these folks at Microsoft.  
(Version 12.1.2)

LIAM_IMAC  If you have office 04 like me and it works fine and you don't use it much, just don't bother with the hassle of updating.  
(Version 12.1.2)

BLUESTAR  I hate Microsoth as much as anybody else. But this update actually installed for me and all apps are running fine and no crashes so far. I trashed my old app folder from "Applications". There was a brief tutorial on this on MacFixit. Now it's in the archives for paid subscribers only. FU Macfixit. Reinstalled Office 2008 from original installer (this was the Home & Student Edition). Didn't start any of the applications yet! Downloaded all updater "dmg" files, standalone installers. Applied them one-by-one and all's well.  
(Version 12.1.2)

APPLEDOGX  Even with the edit Microsoft suggests, it simply doesn't run.  
(Version 12.1.2)

MMUECK  I have tons of old Word documents containing graphics that display as garbage in Word 2008 (including this new version). They display fine in all previous versions of Word. Pictures are either bounding boxes with a big cross, wrong magnification, upside down and backwards, light gray instead of black... Good Grief!

I just received a PowerPoint presentation from a co-worker - it displays fine on everybody's PC but when viewed on my Mac all the graphics contain offset magnified double-images that extend off the page. I'm in complete awe of M$'s legendary hopeless quality control.  
(Version 12.1.2)

MR.ASH  If you have troubles with this update like the installer won't find your current office 2008 installation please refer to:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080813052404365

This way you can patch the installer. At least this worked perfectly for me.  
(Version 12.1.2)

ISLANDMACMAN  Updated 2008 and 2004: OMG, it's faster and some of the bugs are fixed. Keep going guys!  
(Version 12.1.2)

DUSTIN2  AutoUpdate did not work properly, kept downloading the update over and over but never initiated the install. So I downloaded the stand-alone and it errored out near the end of the process after it seemingly updated all the apps. Now no MS apps launch at all. Looks like complete re-install for me.

Thanks MS!  
(Version 12.1.2)

MARK_CAIRNS  Installed 12.12 to find that Entourage no longer opens and crashes on launch. Word is the only one that works fine out of the main four.

Pulled Office 2004 out of the trash and back to using it again.

Poor MS! Poor.  
(Version 12.1.2)

WIZZARD1  This did not work for me but I have tracked it down to the issue and MS should take note so they can fix their installer code.

1. Had no issues in any update to 12.1.1.

2. Removed languages files except English (you can remove them).

3. Tried the autoupdate; failed with that error message about not finding an valid install.

4. Tried downloading the dmg and tried installing; same error as in #3.

5. Install and download files were English.

6. Mounted a backup drive with a copy before language removal.

7. Autoupdate and downloaded file worked just fine on this version.

8. Copied all changes to main drive; MS 2008 works just fine.

9. Tried to run both update files against my newly updated MS 2008 (which all read 12.1.2); told me no valid installation. I was only expecting that it was already up to date.

10. MS needs to modify their installer and remove this darn bug.  
(Version 12.1.2)

RC PHOTO  Launch times are much improved. This update requires you install the two previous updates in order to run. I found this out the hard way. Hope this helps.  
(Version 12.1.2)

ERIC WOEHLER   Unable to install updater - I have deleted the numerous additional language files, mainly because I only use English, to save HUNDREDS of megabytes of disk space. Lo and behold, I have to reinstall the software from scratch and run 3 updaters to update it!!!!

The same problem exists for Acrobat Pro in CS3.

When will Microsoft and Adobe provide updaters that don't require complete re-installs for their software, and allow users to delete unnecessary bloat files, such as un-needed language files?

This is probably the last time I use Office - I suggest others look at Open Office 3 or NeoOffice or iWork. All are excellent alternatives to Office with Open Office and NeoOffice both FREE to d/l and use. iWork is a cheap alternative.

Microsoft is losing touch (if that is still possible) with its Mac users - get rid of the stupid requirement of a bloated install as a pre-requisite for upgrading from 12.1.0 to 12.1.1 and from 12.1.1 to 12.1.2 etc etc etc

(8/12/2008, Version: 12.1.2)   
(Version 12.1.2)

SPECTRAL7  All updated OK.

Wow Entourage launched in 5 seconds instead of 50 all seams a bit snappier...Word Scrolls large docs with pix better ie. does not crash...so this could be teh update we have been waiting for but will fully test before rolling out on other machines i support  
(Version 12.1.2)

EASER  I did not have this problem. Everything installed fine. I restarted, repaired permissions, and fired it up. Word seemed to open in about 5 seconds.  
(Version 12.1.2)

RAINBIRD  Here we go again. I have Office version 12.1.1 on the HD and the 12.1.2 update will not install. I get the error message: "You cannot install Office 2008 12.1.2 Update on this volume. A version of the software required to install this update was not found on this volume". The same thing happened on the last update. It required a complete reinstall of the office suite. Why does this only happen with Microsoft updaters? Why does it keep happening?  
(Version 12.1.2)

BLUESTAR  I would advise everyone to back up with Time Machine before the update, or just the "Microsoft Office 2008" folder in your Applications folder. After I got highly unstable applications from an update that professes to "improve stability" I restored my entire Office folder with my old apps in it and everything works fine again. Thanks to you Microsloth!  
(Version 12.1.1)

BLUESTAR  This update was supposed to be making applications more stable. I have Myday not even launch but crash upon launching. Word crashes every time I simply quit the app. Office Rminders come up with funky graphics. Microsloth is unbelievable! Just shows you what a nasty monopoly can do to software products. Leave Office alone and go for something else and generally avoid ANY Microsoft product in the future. Do not buy anything from them. They should NOT be charging us for this cr.p that simply DOES NOT WORK and you can't get your act together Microsoft! They deserve what's coming to them.  
(Version 12.1.1)

DUTCHBILLIE  I just worked out why my machine would not update. I had removed some of the Dock icons of Office2008. After complete re-install, keeping all the icons in the Dock, everyhting updated fine.

That was on the second try, The first try, I had removes some icons after the inital re-install. After that even de 12.1.0 SP1 could not be installed.

Just my two pennies.  
(Version 12.1.1)

BACKPACKER  From macrumors:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=505414&page=3

"Somewhere within the Office 2008 12.1.1 Update package is an item named 'updatables' which shows that multi-language versions of Microsoft Office Setup Assistant are sought, in particular the Plugins/SLT.bundle inside it. This bundle was introduced in the SP1 Update (12.1.0) and is not found in the original MSO2008 install.

Opening up the Office 2008 SP1 Update (12.1.0) package, and looking inside Packages for Office2008_en_core_12.1.0.combo.pkg, I opened this one up with Pacifist to look for the Microsoft Office Setup Assistant updater/installer. Inside, we find the SLT.bundle in its multi-language state. When this is extracted with Pacifist onto the hard-drive somewhere (desktop will do), it can then replace the one embedded in your existing Office 2008 SP1 installation. (Like many, I had also removed all language localizations and, in so doing, changed the SLT.bundle inside Microsoft Office Setup Assistant)

After doing the above, and after a couple of goes (no Safe-boot or logging-out required), the Office 2008 12.1.1 Update went fine, and the 12.1.1 apps work."  
(Version 12.1.1)

RANDYHARRIS  I have Office 2008 installed, I tried updating with the 12.1.1 update but after it scans my system it tells me that I have no Office found on my system. Odd since I got the update from the Office AutoUpdate application.  
(Version 12.1.1)

CARLOS85  I had to removed Office (including folders the uninstaller missed) and install it fresh and then add the 12.1.0 update just to install 12.1.1. Microsoft really needs to get its act together or get out of the Mac business. This is pathetic.  
(Version 12.1.1)

MSTIELAU  Not sure exactly what is fixed or changed, but at least the update went smoothly, and things seem to be generally working OK, so far.  
(Version 12.1.1)

ISLANDMACMAN  POS all the way, sorry. That initial scanning for other volumes kills it, + the fact that the Auto-Update doesn't recognize when it is being updated (and needs to be manually quit) kills it for me as well.  
(Version 12.1.1)

MEEGO  Is exposé fixed?  
(Version 12.1.1)

ERIC WOEHLER  What a crock!!! The error message "You cannot install Office 2008 12.1.1 Update on this volume. A version of the software required to install this update was not found on this volume." appears and I can not update. Unbelievable!! No wonder people are leaving M$ in droves and using iWork instead..

and M$'s response? delete Office 2008, reinstall and run the updater... just like Windoze... unbelievable...

what a waste of money, time and effort - typical MS crapware!!  
(Version 12.1.1)

GYAWITZ  I used the auto updater and it worked but now every time I check mail a dialog warning box appears stating that the authenticity of Entourage cant be verified asking permission to use the info in the keychain. I have selected "Always Allow" 5 times now. Trying a permission repair to see if that helps.  
(Version 12.1.1)

YETIBOY  I have the same problem - no solution, but your experience is not unique.  
(Version 12.1.1)

LARRY R  I agree, something is wrong with Microsoft Software Update again. The installer says that my 2008 version 12.1.0 and needs the update. When I continue I get the following dialog box: "You cannot install Office 2008 12.1.1 update on this volume. A version of the software required to install this update was not found on the volume. Once again Microsoft has succeeded in providing a service that does not work. Hope this update will be fixed shortly.  
(Version 12.1.1)

RAINBIRD  Well, something is wrong with Microsoft Software Update again. The installer says that my 2008 version 12.1.0 and needs the update. When I proceed it get, I get the following dialog box: "You cannot install Office 2008 12.1.1 update on this volume. A version of the software required to install this update was not found on the volume".  
(Version 12.1.1)

BILLY THE BIKER  Under select a destination on the Installer window:

You cannot install Office 2008 12.1.1 update on this volume. A version of the software requires to install this update was not found on the volume.  
(Version 12.1.1)

JOSHP  Well this update installed painlessly. What a refreshing surprise!  
(Version 12.1.1)

INQUISITOR  Certainly a different comment, but Office 2008 is very good!

The 10.5.3 update from Apple totally improve the stability of this suite. For the first time we have a good office on mac.

When microsoft do a crap we say it, but when they do something good, we have say it too!

This office version work very well on intel CPUs. Working perfectly on my iMac as well as my 1st gen MacBook.

Sorry for my approximative english.  
(Version 12.1.1)

BLUESTAR  Let's face it folks, Microsoft is a WINDOWS universe god. They own the WINDOWS OS for god's sake! As usual MICROSLOTH is giving Mac users a major headache. They do NOT Give a hoot and in return I urge every mac user to STAY AWAY from Microsoft products for the Mac!

I VERY carefully updated my Office 2008 with this after reading many reviews and troubleshooting stuff on boards. I was brave and wet ahead, BUT not before backing up with Time-machine and thank god for that! Why? Because of course this update has made my previously perfectly fine Word unusable - it crashed every time I opened a doc.

In Microsloth's own words: this update is for "stability improvements" - ha, now that's a good laugh!

I reverted back to my previous version from mt Time Machine backup.  
(Version 12.1)

EASER  Having read a lot of reviews, I decided that I wanted the increased speed and opted to attempt this. I had success through the following, although it was probably considerable overkill. I agree with all commentary that having to go through so many hoops in order to make this update work is pure B.S. on Microslop's part.

1. Restarted in Safe mode.

2. Reset launch services and repaired permissions. (I use YASU)

3. Restarted in Safe mode.

4. Ran the MS update installer.

5. Restarted in Safe mode.

6. Repaired permissions with Disk Utility.

7. Restarted in regular mode.

I haven't had any problems with it. Word does seem to open faster. I can't say I've seen any change in Excel. Haven't tried PowerPoint yet. I don't use Entourage, so I can't speak to that.  
(Version 12.1)

JPWGIBSON  It's slow, it's ugly, it's cumbersome, it's expensive: in short, it's a Microsoft product. Get this slack-jawed piece of poorly-thought-out trash off of your Mac and get a real (and free!)word processor – Neo Office.  
(Version 12.1)

MAHOJAS  For all of you having trouble to run this update and getting grey hairs as a result, it might pay off to refer to this web page, it might solve your problems...

http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20080514094814989

Personally what worked for me was a combination of steps outlined here, and after fixing permissions and rebuilding launch services with Onyx, restarting the computer.

P.S. I'm sure Microsoft really didn't have their act together on this one, I hope they will. I'm glad though I don't have a Windows machine.  
(Version 12.1)

BABYFETT  My Word 2008 12.01 doesn't see an update when I check for updates. Anyone else having this problem?  
(Version 12.1)

MRUBEN  Still a piece of junk after 12.1 update.

Two main problems:

(1) STILL doesn't play well with Spaces; splash screen AND your document open in the current space, and then only after the document is open does Word switch to its proper space. And even then, the formatting palette is blank until you click on it. Also, when Word is already open and you open a new document from a different Space, sometimes Word loses track of the documents and you can't see one of them.

(2) STILL ridiculously slow upon startup. Actual startup of the app is a little slower now, but once it's supposedly already started up, the interface is unresponsive for the first minute or two, with constant spinning beachballs.

Remember the infamous Office 4.2.1 (with Word 6) for the Classic Mac OS? Well, Office 2008 is shaping up to be the WORST MS office produce since that.  
(Version 12.1)

DARRELLMAC  1) Could not install update--received same message as noted in earlier posts.

2) Deleted all files related to Office 2008; reinstalled MS Office 2008; applied update successfully.

3) Well worth the effort! All Office applications start up much more quickly and are considerably more responsive.

I highly recommend installing the update, but you may have to delete your existing installation of Office 2008 and reinstall before you can apply the update.  
(Version 12.1)

RADDLE  Upgrade proceeded faultlessly on my machine (I fixed permissions, for whatever minimal/non-existent difference that makes, but didn't bother to quit background processes or indeed anything except Office applications).

Entourage a little quicker to kick up; Word lost a few very minor preferences but feels snappier overall and has also - thank god - stopped trying to reformat complex documents every time I open them. That alone makes me happy I ignored the doomsayers and had a crack at it...  
(Version 12.1)

GAZMAN  Crap, crap, utter crap. After using Office 2004 under Rosetta for so long I jumped the gun and bought Office 08 early on as I need it for work. However, it is ridiculously slow to startup, beachballs if you even look at it wrong and has random crashes. I was hoping that this update would fix these issues but it hasn't so its into the trash for Office 08.

The aqua version of openoffice.org is coming along nicely, I can't wait for the final version  
(Version 12.1)

RIDDLER  After the update you are forced to run Auto Update, if you have no net connection on the machine your updating you can't launch the apps. Great.  
(Version 12.1)

BUZZARD  As with many others here, I tried to run the update on my copy of Office 2008 (yes, legal and registered), and again:

"You cannot install Office 2008 SP1 Update (12.1.0) on this volume. A version of the software required to install this update was not found on this volume."

Repaired permissions, no copy of Office 2004 (but I wish I had kept 2004 that instead!), etc etc...it just won't run.

I had high hopes that perhaps SP1 would do something to improve the incredible sluggishness of the apps, but alas, I and many others can't even get the update to run, so I guess we will never know. But then, maybe I should consider myself lucky since other users managed to get the updater to run, only to find Office 2008 completely hosed.

Nice piece of work, Microsoft. I am still searching for a good reason why I shelled out the money to upgrade to Office 2008

As for this SP1 update, what else can I give it but a string of 1s?  
(Version 12.1)

ERIC WOEHLER  seems the Service Pack 1 for MS Office 2008 (12.1.0) can't find my installation on my MacBook

I have an original DVD and the software has already been updated to 12.0.1 with an earlier updater

but the SP1 installer comes up with an error:

"You cannot install Office 2008 SP1 Update (12.1.0) on this volume. A version of the software required to install this update was not found on this volume."

permissions are ok, so unsure why the SP won't install; the software is running ok.

Am hoping this updater addresses the horrendous launch times for MS Word 2008 (still typically 30 seconds ...)

am hoping that someone has the answer for the SP install

all best to all from down under!  
(Version 12.1)

~S  Same release notes than in year 2003-4-5-6-7-8... Hopefully this update will definitively fix the issues with security, stability, and performance, appart the malicious code and the memory stuff.  
(Version 12.1)

PABLITO  In always used to say good stuffs about MS Office for Mac, because it used to be ahead of Windows version. But since ver.2004 (intel) it's a lot of mess.