Why no Publisher in MS Office for Mac?

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Level 1

1 points

Why no Publisher in MS Office for Mac?

I worked with Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, and Publisher for several newsletters that I help out with. I was using MS Office 2000 on an outdated Dell pc. Needing an upgrade real bad, I elected to switch gears and go back to Apple and the newest iMac.
When I made the switch to the iMac, I also installed iWork with Pages & Keynotes so I could get back into the newsletter editing. I find that Pages works okay, but it just does not have the editing features that come with word & publisher. Unfortunately, no Mac version of Office has Publisher as part of the program.
In order to get back real editing & publishing capabilities, I have had to take another route by installing Parallels and Windows xp home, then MS Office 2000. Working with Parallels and Office 2000 for Window xp works great. I hope I haven't defeated the purpose of upgrading to a iMac instead of upgrading to another Dell. Word & Publisher work quite well with each other in the Windows OS environment.
I heard that MS will be bringing out a more equipped version of Office for Mac in the near future. Since they left it out of all of the versions that are currently offered, does anyone know if the newer version will include Publisher?

iMac-24";iMac-17";'98 Dell xps R-1400, Mac OS X (10.4.8), iMac 24 also Win XP Hm

Posted on Feb 11, 2007 12:10 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Dah•veed

Level 9

66,487 points

Feb 11, 2007 12:25 PM in response to bigLaker

Since Office is a Microsoft product, that's more a question for them.
I never recall Office for Mac including a version of Publisher. Desktop publishing and graphic design has been the domain of the Mac platform since its inception. With so many Desktop Publishing programs available for the Mac I'm sure MS didn't find developing Publisher for the Mac a prosperous proposition. Office for Mac was designed from the ground up as Mac PPC software. It isn't a ported Windows program. Although Office for Mac and Office for Windows share many of the same feature sets, they are two entirely different programs. The promised upgrade of Office for Mac for later this year is probably an improvement and more importantly will be a Universal binary, but I seriously doubt it will include Publisher.

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Answer 2

Kappy

Level 10

362,001 points

Feb 11, 2007 1:11 PM in response to bigLaker

Why would you need Publisher? Current versions of Word are quite capable of full desktop publishing without the need for other applications. If you need full-blown layout software there are two worthy competitors - Quark and InDesign. If you simply want to do basic newsletters you don't really need anything more than Word.

Furthermore, Publisher only is available in the Small Business and higher versions of Office. Basic, Home and Student, and Standard versions (the same versions available for the Mac) do not include Publisher. Only the Standard and higher versions include Outlook. All the Mac versions include Entourage.

I would not count on Microsoft providing more in their OS X version of Office than they have in the past. They are not interested in offering a product on the Mac that would detract from using Windows and Windows' versions of MS software. Were Microsoft to add another application to Office for the Mac it would more likely be Access than Publisher. But I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for either.

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Answer 3

jsulcer

Level 1

70 points

Feb 24, 2007 1:57 PM in response to bigLaker

You might try the free version of RagTime SOLO:

http://www.tucows.com/preview/243912

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Answer 4

Feb 12, 2007 6:05 PM in response to Kappy

Have you tried Pages in the iWork trial folder? It reminds me a lot of an easier to use version of Publisher. It has more of the feel of a desktop publishing program than a word processing program. I think it is only $79 to buy it after the 30 day trial period.

MIKE

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Answer 5

Dah•veed

Level 9

66,487 points

Feb 12, 2007 7:00 PM in response to Mike Raub

So you didn't actually read the original post? Let me quote;

When I made the switch to the iMac, I also installed iWork with Pages & Keynotes so I could get back into the newsletter editing. I find that Pages works okay, but it just does not have the editing features that come with word & publisher. Unfortunately, no Mac version of Office has Publisher as part of the program.

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Answer 6

bigLaker Author

Level 1

1 points

Feb 24, 2007 10:48 AM in response to BradPDX

BradPDX,
True, Publisher is a Windows product through and through. I was hoping to get more layout options and template resources, but Pages just does not have that within it.
I had Office 2000 Premium on my Dell. I needed to upgrade the memory to fully utilize its potential, and thus came the need to buy a new computer.
For the time being I have installed Parallels/Windows XP Home/Office 2000 and am using with some distain, since I would rather be using Mac software, not Windows on a Mac.
I am looking at other programs since watching what you folks have to say. Even PrintShop has more layout templates than Pages. I recently read about InDesign CS2 by Adobe, but it looks too expensive for my wallet.
Much thanks so far!

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Answer 7

BradPDX

Level 1

128 points

Feb 13, 2007 1:14 PM in response to bigLaker

It is true that MS Publisher has always been a Windows-only program. MS has declined to create Publisher for Mac because there are so many far superior publishing tools already available.

Among all of my friends in computer graphics and publishing, MS Publisher is most definitely not held in high regard; MS rightly fears that a Mac version would find no audience. Publisher was originally created because at the time there were fewer decent layout tools for Windows when compared with the Mac.

Any number of far better products can be substituted for Publisher, though Pages is probably not quite the one you want (though it can work very well and is used for newsletters and the like). Adobe InDesign, Quark, and many others fill the gaps. Heck, I used to do newsletters in AppleWorks.

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