I would like to know if anyone uses iwork and MS office Student & Home. If so what do you think is best? I am thinking about getting the Student & Home edition. I have iWork
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iWork or MS
- Thread starter cbbob
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
It's not about which one is best but which one meets your needs. Since you already have iWork, how is that working out for you? Have you had any cross-compatibility issues with any of your Office documents? Features you need that are missing in iWork? If not, you're probably not a power user and therefore don't need Office.
Also... if you decide you do need Office and work someplace that has an enterprise Office license, Microsoft has their HUP program going right now because a new version of Office for Windows is coming out soon. You can snag a full copy of Office 07 or Office:mac 08 for $9.95.
I've you've already got iWork, I'd definitely pick up Office.
I've found that while Keynote is a fantastic application, Pages and Numbers are really only useful if you need to do some quick and dirty work.
I love the flexibility and ease of use of Excel, and Word is just about the perfect word processing app. If it had a mode for writing scripts it would be perfect.
Get both, use Word and Excel, and Keynote instead of Powerpoint, perfect combination.
I've found that while Keynote is a fantastic application, Pages and Numbers are really only useful if you need to do some quick and dirty work.
I love the flexibility and ease of use of Excel, and Word is just about the perfect word processing app. If it had a mode for writing scripts it would be perfect.
Get both, use Word and Excel, and Keynote instead of Powerpoint, perfect combination.
I have both iWork (08) and Office '08 Home and Student. I prefer iWork for what I do - personal stuff only. I haven't opened a MS app for months.
Rich
Rich
I like iWork more, it's just awesome. Keynote is definitely better than PowerPoint and I also like Pages more than Word. Haven't used Numbers or Excel much so it's hard to say
iWork?
LOL
I put it at the same level as Microsoft Works, as in its fine if you just want a word processor/spreadsheet/etc but don't need one.
The latest iWork is definitely a nice piece of software, but for mission critical things like this -- where your livelihood depends on it, I have no choice but to use Office. I cannot risk possible incompatibilities with other people. Also, I don't trust Keynote conversions to Powerpoint format - many times I give a talk and have to use the host's computer, which is invariably a PC. Using a converted Keynote and hoping for the best is not an option. Furthermore, all the pretty niceties of Keynote are (apparently) lost in most conversions.
Office is a very good piece of software and, if you are a student, you can often get a very steep discount. I am employed in a University and I got it for free.
Office is a very good piece of software and, if you are a student, you can often get a very steep discount. I am employed in a University and I got it for free.
To add to what the OP is asking, here is my question. I plan on getting the 27' iMac early next year and wanted to get iWork and see if I could go without using MS Office, although I use it now, the version I use now is just PowerPC.
I write word docs, and the most I would use Excel/Numbers for would be home finances. When I go back to college though I'm sure I will use Pages more, and Keynote, those work fine with Office on another machine PC or Mac right?
I write word docs, and the most I would use Excel/Numbers for would be home finances. When I go back to college though I'm sure I will use Pages more, and Keynote, those work fine with Office on another machine PC or Mac right?
You can save Pages/Number/Keynote file in Windows format e.g. .ppt or .doc so it works in Office too. Some features like Keynotes 3D effects don't work so you need to do quite simple stuff. This is what I do. I don't have Office but I've returned dozens of projects and essays and they have been fully compatible with Office.
I personally use both.
Concerning word processing: If it is ever sent to an editor, publisher, or someone that extracts/modifies text, I will always use Word natively. I will use Pages for nearly everything else.
Concerning presentations: I always use Keynote and I keep Powerpoint around if someone is sending me a file.
Excel is almost used exclusively if I need a spreadsheet.
Concerning word processing: If it is ever sent to an editor, publisher, or someone that extracts/modifies text, I will always use Word natively. I will use Pages for nearly everything else.
Concerning presentations: I always use Keynote and I keep Powerpoint around if someone is sending me a file.
Excel is almost used exclusively if I need a spreadsheet.
I try to use iwork for all my projects. MS Office is used when something doesn't quite work right, which is becoming less and less. I don't really like the Office 08 interface that much. I like the overall integration of iworks better. Entourage sucks and no MS Access... I have been debating using filemaker, but Access is pretty hard to beat. I wonder if the new version of office will have access.
I have both and suspect I will be stuck that way for awhile.
D.
I have both and suspect I will be stuck that way for awhile.
D.
OpenOffice is the way to go
If you don't know about OpenOffice, you should check it out at www.openoffice.org . Its equal to any office suite out there today, runs the same on all popular platforms, and is free.
Highly recommend it! We've switched over at work and there's a bit of a learning curve fro the legacy (MS Office) programs, but once you make the jump there's no looking back.
If you don't know about OpenOffice, you should check it out at www.openoffice.org . Its equal to any office suite out there today, runs the same on all popular platforms, and is free.
Highly recommend it! We've switched over at work and there's a bit of a learning curve fro the legacy (MS Office) programs, but once you make the jump there's no looking back.
To be clear, we have one of these threads every month or so and the result is always the same - the choice is yours. If nothings wrong, why fix it? But, with that being said for my needs, I prefer having both.
I was about to say something similar.
I grew up using MS Office. I downloaded iWork to check it out. Really... A wordprocessor and spreadsheet app are the same no matter what...
The application with the best compatibility is OpenOffice.org. It will open any file type, save in any file type (defaults to OpenDocumentFormat, but you can change it's default to .doc or just Save As .Doc if you want)
OOo is free and I really hope OpenDocument format catches on. I know IBM is already officially switching over to open formats (unless client requests otherwise). Basically I'd like to see M$ have to offer support for ODT rather than all us using OpenOffice having to save as .DOC.
So.... My technobabble aside, please at least try OpenOffice.org. It's free. If you don't like it then drag it to your trash and buy one of the other options. What have you got to lose?
Just to throw this out there... I use Keynote pretty much exclusively for workplace presentations. Usually, I bring my MacBook with me. However, just in case, I have Keynote convert the presentation to DVD as a backup. That way, if I am forced to use an alternate machine - Windows, Linux, or whatever, I have a backup that still has all my transitions the way I want them. Slides move forward and stop with the Chapter Forward button.
Yeah I know open office is out there but it isn't quite the best thing overall, although anymore I will agree there isn't much one word processor can do that the other can't.
I like the mac versions better. Unfortunately, I work in the business/professional world where everything is MS office.......
......So I use Office 99% of the time. I recommend upgrading at least to the standard version of office though. It will run better on your mac.