Microsoft Office 2004 & Intel Macs

Hi All,

I have a Intel C2D 2.2 MBP and have Microsoft Office 2004 for Macs installed. I have read that an Intel Mac should not have any PowerPC Programmes installed but recently checking my Activity Monitor shows something called "Microsoft AU Daemon" and it shows kind as PowerPC not Intel. I then checked the Microsoft Office 2004 Apps and they too are all PowerPC.

I am confused, if one should not be using PowerPC apps on Intel Macs, then why is Microsoft 2004 used so commonly by so many? I assumed it was fully compatible with Macs being designed fpr that very purpose regardless of what type of processor was inside a Mac! What should I do - delete MS Office 2004 for which I paid good money for - being new to Macs at the time, I was not made aware that it was not meant for Intel Macs if that is the case.

Thank You,

Suave!

Intel C2D MBP 2.2, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Dec 30, 2008 5:25 PM

Reply
3 replies

Dec 30, 2008 8:49 PM in response to Suave!

Hi Suave!

due to fact that Office 2004 for Mac was released at a time when there weren't any Intel-Macs, but only PPC-Macs, Microsoft has decided to not upgrade Office 2004 to be a Universal Binary (capable of running on Intel-Macs and PPC-Macs natively).

Instead they have released Office 2008 for Macs which is a Universal Binary.

Nonetheless you can run Office 2004 on your Intel-Mac without any fear or problems.

PPC-apps running on Intel-Macs use 'Rosetta' which is a dynamic translation software and part of OSX, that enables Intel-Macs to run PPC-applications.

While it is generally advised to use Intel-apps on Intel-Macs, there is no reason to run PPC-apps when you have no other choice.

Hope it helps

Stefan

Jan 1, 2009 2:48 PM in response to Templeton Peck

I have been using Microsoft Office since Word 3, but have not bothered to upgrade to Office 2008 because it does not have VB. It was a downgrade, not an upgrade!

I understand Microsoft has realised the error and is putting VB back in the next version of Office for the Mac. I'll buy that upgrade.

I have no problems whatsoever using Office 2004 on my Intel MacBookPro.

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Microsoft Office 2004 & Intel Macs

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