> From: Matt Morgan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > As it's quite an expensive upgrade, it doesn't sound like it should be > top of my priority list.
I have actually found quite a number of features that would help justify purchasing it for me (if it weren't already covered by our MS site license :-) If your workplace uses Outlook and Exchange server then it is a very important upgrade to get Entourage 2004 which works with Exchange much better than Entourage vX. For example, the Calendar now works for sending and receiving meeting requests etc. As mentioned by Paul, the dual screen mode in Powerpoint is great in many situations (I use it all the time). Being able to preview the upcoming slide before displaying it on the big screen as well as being able to scroll through miniatures of your entire slideshow and click on a slide to jump there immediately on the big screen can be very useful in the conference, church or dual presenter situation. The new beautiful fully-customisable soft-edged translucent drop shadows option for text and graphics in Powerpoint is gorgeous and allows you to do away with having to use Photoshop to create such pro effects (looks like they're responding to the heat from Apple's Keynote). Changing the transparencies of just about anything is also great for creating just the right kind of look. The notebook mode in Word with it's better implementation of audio recording looks like it might be good for those doing audio transcribing etc. The Compatibility checker has also proved useful every time I've exchanged docs with PC users. Some problems I've encountered with Powerpoint 2004 is the fact that I couldn't get hyperlinks to other ppt docs working properly and some ppts transferred over from the PC had particular transition effects that worked beautifully smoothly on the PC but stuttered and jerked horribly on an iBook 800 768MB/40GB and yet were just as bad on my PowerBook G4 1.25GHz with 2GB of RAM and a 5400rpm 80GB HD. Mind you - these effects might have been just as bad or even worse in Powerpoint vX. The slightly slower performance of all the Office 2004 apps compared to Office vX is also a pain - and of course Office XP is a lot snappier than both. :-( Thank goodness word processing isn't so performance critical as some apps. -Mart ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Martin Hill, Digital Media Specialist Information Management Services, Curtin University of Technology mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED], web: http://is.curtin.edu.au/ims.cfm Mb: 0417-967-969 wk: (08)9266-3101 Fax: (08)9266-3826
