In general, I think Office 2011 is a good upgrade to 2008. A lot of the deficiences in Office 2008 have been addressed, and the application is a bit more "mac like".
PROS:
Probably the biggest change people will see out of the gate are interface changes. I think the move to a more "ribbon like" interface was a good one, that helps keep everything you want together (especially on multiple monitors), but the formatting toolbars are still around if you want to back to those.
Help is now Apple help based, all versions support Automator actions, apps are much more friendly to spaces, spotlight and time machine, VBA is back, etc.
Outlook is a great addition if you're connecting your Mac to an Exchange server at work, and is actually pretty decent on it's own. I think I may actually prefer it to Mail.app, but we'll see how my thoughts are over a longer time scale.
CONS:
Office 2011 is now intel only, but considering the fact that Apple has also started dropping PowerPC support, I don't think that's a huge deal.
Licensing has changed for the business version, whether that's a good thing or a bad thing depends on your situation. Office 2008 let you install a copy on a desktop and a portable computer. Office 2011 now comes in a "1 license" and "2 license" version. If you don't have 2 computers, this might be a positive thing for you, but if you've got a desktop and a laptop, you're probably not too happy about it.
Office 2011 also does require activation, although that's quick and painless. I'm sure some people won't like it though. Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Business 2011 - 1 Pack
Since getting Outlook 2011 is the reason I purchased Office 2011 for the Mac, I'm writing my review only about that component of the suite. I've spent the day using it, and in general, I'm disappointed. While it does look appealing and runs fast, I think Microsoft has slimmed it down too much from Entourage. For example, there is no "resend" option for messages, a feature that I use a lot so that I don't have to copy & paste e-mail that I want to send out to a few people but not as a blind group. Next, while one can still marginally re-configure the toolbar, it's very limited. For example, I find the delete button is in a very awkward position (for me), but I can't move it. And finally, I miss not seeing any feedback while the program is checking for mail (unless you go to the trouble of checking the progress window). I'll spend more time with Outlook, but at this point, I'm seriously considering going back to Entourage. I've never had this experience before with a Microsoft product for the Mac, and I've been using them since they first started making them.
I work at a company where most of us are assigned Lenovo laptops running WinXP, but the clever people use their own Macs. I was part of a small pilot that were assigned Macs, although many of the business apps require a Windows VM to work. I tired of the poor performance of the apps, so I bought my own Windows laptop.
I've always wanted to be able to use the Mac full time, primarily for the coolness factor. But there are so many shortcomings, I just couldn't do it. Even with the arrival of Office 2011, the short battery life (this is a 3-year old MBP) and lack of a right-click button try my patience. I thought that with a new version of Outlook, I might be able to make the switch. However, after using Outlook 2010 for a year now on Windows 7, this Mac version seems like two steps back. Here are a few of my observations:
LIKES
Reading pane in conversation view shows first line of all messages in conversation (mail)
DISLIKES
No OneNote (global)
No side-by-side calendar (calendar)
No auto-population of shared calendars and calendar hierarchy (calendar)
No drag and drop of emails to calendar (mail/calendar)
No business card view (contacts)
No folder view (global)
No icon view; weird since this is the default view for many Mac things (notes)
Can't distinguish between new emails and replies for auto-signature (preferences)
Can't open two windows, e.g., Calendar on one screen, Inbox on another (global)
Long story short, my PC kept giving me uber migraine sized headaches. After two months and 2 heat syncs, 1 motherboard with chip set and a new hard drive I had enough. Since my iPhone was so well designed and user friendly I decided to check out a Mac before getting another WinTel system.
I loved my Mac in college, but back in the day it wasn't so hot for business. Anyway, things sure have changed. But I still needed to communicate and collaborate with non-Apple users and I didn't want to spend a minute learning a new word processing, spreadsheet or slide show suite. So I read up on Office 2008 for Mac and downloaded the trial. It was pretty good. As Office 2011 was due out in 3 weeks from my trial, I decided to hold off on buying Office 2008. Overall, Office 2008 for Mac would get 4 out of 5 stars but it lacked Outlook and that was critical for me. Entourage was good but it was no Outlook Professional. With Outlook being included in Office 2011 for Mac I went ahead and got it. So what is great about it? Well from a recent convert to Mac from a PC here is my take:
1. It feels like Apple minded developers built it - not like it was built on DOS/Windows and converted for a Mac OS. It feels very much like it belongs on a Mac but it also retains a solid core of what made it effective on a Windows OS. It is the best of both worlds in my opinion.
2. It loads faster than the Window version and is way more stable. Not one crash or freeze despite maxing out multiple applications at once.
3. I really like the templates that are provided for each program. The developers really did a good job.
4. Microsoft had better do as good a job with their next version of Office for Windows or they may have a rebellion on their hands. But seriously, Microsoft's Mac team should really be congratulated on a job well done.
5. It is more intuitive on the Mac in many ways than it is on a PC.
6. It is great to create a spreadsheet or document and be able to e-mail it to my PC/Windows colleagues and not have to worry about conversion issues or what format to save the documents in.
7. And with Amazon's amazing price, I say buy it!
While iWorks is highly rated and Apple die hards say it is better (and I can't disagree as I have never tried it), I am very happy with Office 2011 for Mac. It works as though Steve snuck into Redmond one night and decided to tweak Office to be great on a Mac. - Microsoft - Outlook - Microsoft Office - Mac'
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