It appears that the latest Microsoft Office 2008 update (12.1.13), has the same bug the last version did.

Namely, if you strip the unnecessary foreign language translations (using a tool like Youpi Optimizer, Monolingual, or even Finder)… the updater will complain that there aren’t any viable installations available.

And yes, this is a bug. Apple guidelines are clear, a user can delete the foreign language localizations, and that should not damage the integrity of the application. Unfortunately, the Office 2008 updater is not respecting that.

Unfortunately, the only workaround is to completely uninstall Office 2008, reinstall Office 2008, update Office 2008 to the latest version, and then re-remove the localizations. This is getting to be a monthly hassle… and hopefully Microsoft will get this message (with this post).