I finally got my nearly-free-after-rebate copy of Office 2008 for Mac from their Black Friday special in 2007. Basically, you bought a new copy of Office 2004 for Mac on Black Friday for $149, got a $100 mail-in rebate, and a free upgrade to Office 2008 Special Media Edition when it shipped in February 2008. So, to put it bluntly, that's a $299 upgrade for $49 and five months of waiting. Not too shabby.

However, I've seen totally inconsistent reviews for the product. I've read that people think it's great, people hate it, people hate that the VBA support is gone (which I never, ever use), it's unstable, it's slow, it's great... you get the picture. Well, I played with it a little at the Apple Store in Salt Lake City while I was on vacation, and I liked it well enough to give it a shot. Worst case, I'll downgrade again until Microsoft patches it to be perfect (unfortunately, and somewhat unsurprisingly, Office 2004 and Office 2008 cannot coexist on the Mac).

I'll let you know how it goes.

UPDATE: You can install Office 2008 for Mac and leave Office 2004 for Mac on there at the same time after all.