MS Office Vs. iWork

[stonkpot]

Hey guys,

I'm thinking of converting to Mac, but am put off by the desktop publishing issue - I've got loads of exisiting MS Office files I'll need to access....

Can you read MS Office files in iWork, or do I need to add 40% to the bill and buy MS Office for Mac with my Macbook ?

Indeed, is iWork any good ? Does it let you do any more than Office ?


Cheers for your help. Much appreciated.

 

[lamadude]

you can import word files into pages, but it's no replacement for the other office programs. However you can use neooffice for those

 

[72930]

NeoOffice is free and great for Office documents. There is MS Office for Mac, but its not really worth buying, especially as a new version (which will run a lot faster on the new intel machines) is coming soon

 

[erickkoch]

iWork doesn't have a spreadsheet program (yet) so I'd stick with MS Office for now. NeoOffice works fine too.

 

[discodave]

iWork is excellent for what it it is, and yes you can import/export MS Word documents.

However, MS Office and iWork shouldn't really be compared. They are completely different.

 

[Father Jack]

Neo Office is great but if you really want MS Office for Mac, you can buy the Student and Teachers edition very cheap on eBay.

As already pointed out the new Office 2008 (?) is due out in the Autumn. (fall)

FJ

 

[petvas]

Office is much better than iWork. iWork can read Word documents but you cannot work with excel docs.
I would get the student edition of Office and wait for the new one that comes by the end of the year. You can also use Neooffice, although I dont find it as good as MS Office.
Dont't also forget Parallels and using the Windows version of MS Office. It works great and speed is also very good. I use it regularly and I can print and edit my documents with no issues.

 

[Wild-Bill]

Hey guys,

Indeed, is iWork any good ? Does it let you do any more than Office ?

iWork is great for one and only one reason in my opinion - Keynote. Keynote absolutely blows PowerPoint away. If you want beautiful looking presentations with fall out of your seat transitions, that's the way to go.

At any rate, download NeoOffice (free) to handle your existing MS Office documents.

 

[petvas]

iWork is great for one and only one reason in my opinion - Keynote. Keynote absolutely blows PowerPoint away. If you want beautiful looking presentations with fall out of your seat transitions, that's the way to go.

At any rate, download NeoOffice (free) to handle your existing MS Office documents.

Keynote is very good but not industry standard. Powerpoint is the standard that most people use and when I deliver presentations, most people want the presentation. Imagine giving them a Keynote file...

 

[IJ Reilly]

It depends. If you have to work with a lot of Excel spreadsheets, then you'll probably need Office. If you're going to collaborate on documents with other Word users, or need any of its unique features, then you might want Office. If your document sharing is minimal, then Pages will do fine, possibly backed up with the free NeoOffice clone. If you do a lot of presentations, and are self-contained when you present (meaning, you don't have to use a PC for them), then you'll certainly want to take a close look at Keynote. I don't know anybody who thinks PowerPoint is superior.

The good news is you will get demo versions of both pre-installed on a new Mac, so you can decide for yourself.

 

[Wild-Bill]

Keynote is very good but not industry standard. Powerpoint is the standard that most people use and when I deliver presentations, most people want the presentation. Imagine giving them a Keynote file...

Give them a Quicktime file. That's what I do.

 

[petvas]

Give them a Quicktime file. That's what I do.

Well, that would work, but I dont work alone. I work for a company and everybody else uses powerpoint. You cannot do without it! It's a Windows world and we all know it.
Having said that, I create all my documents on my Mac using Microsoft Office and had never a problem with the Windows World...

 

[IJ Reilly]

It's a Windows world and we all know it.

Now there's a scary concept. Somehow I've survived quite nicely without this knowledge.

 

[petvas]

Now there's a scary concept. Somehow I've survived quite nicely without this knowledge.

hahaha
Well, whilst I don't use any PCs privately, I have to use a PC if I want to have a job! I work as a Microsoft Specialist )

My company is a Microsoft Partner and our clients have all windows...The Business World is a Windows one...

 

[discodave]

Office is much better than iWork.

You can't just say that. They are not intended for the same purpose.

Don't also forget Parallels and using the Windows version of MS Office. It works great and speed is also very good. I use it regularly and I can print and edit my documents with no issues.

Or you could just use the Mac version of Office and save yourself the cost of Parallels and Windows and Office for Windows.

Keynote is very good but not industry standard. Powerpoint is the standard that most people use and when I deliver presentations, most people want the presentation. Imagine giving them a Keynote file...

You don't have to. You can export ANY Keynote file to PowerPoint format. I do this regularly with no hiccups. And it depends on which industry you are talking about. Most scientists at my institution use Keynote.

 

[petvas]

I am in the IT Business and I cant use Keynote. The company I work for has standards I have to follow. It has standard presentation templates (Powerpoint templates) and many time we collaborate on presentation files. It is hard to do using a platform alone.
98% of the world uses MS Office. Everybody is used to it and can't change habits so easily.

Pages pale in comparison to Word. For Excel there is no equivalent and powerpoint is standard. Please don't also forget Outlook!

 

[IJ Reilly]

I am in the IT Business and I cant use Keynote. The company I work for has standards I have to follow. It has standard presentation templates (Powerpoint templates) and many time we collaborate on presentation files. It is hard to do using a platform alone.
98% of the world uses MS Office. Everybody is used to it and can't change habits so easily.

You have our sympathy, but this is not everybody's situation, fortunately.

Anybody who really cares about the quality of their presentations should strongly consider going self-contained. Personally, I won't even use a supplied projector, let alone somebody else's PC running PowerPoint.

Pages pale in comparison to Word.

Now, there's an unsustainable assertion. If everybody preferred the same thing, then there'd be no reason for the Mac.

Again, my advice is "it depends."

 

[discodave]

I am in the IT Business and I cant use Keynote. The company I work for has standards I have to follow. It has standard presentation templates (Powerpoint templates) and many time we collaborate on presentation files. It is hard to do using a platform alone.
98% of the world uses MS Office. Everybody is used to it and can't change habits so easily.

Pages pale in comparison to Word. For Excel there is no equivalent and powerpoint is standard. Please don't also forget Outlook!

You are missing the point. You cannot compare iWork to MS Office. iWork is not an office suite. Pages is more of a design package than a Word Processor. As you point out, there is no spreadsheet package in iWork also.

Compare NeoOffice/Open Office to MS Office, but iWork is something different entirely. The only similarity lies in Keynote and PowerPoint.

Pages is far from pale, but is a very powerful application for what it is supposed to be used for.

 

[petvas]

I know that iWork doesnt compare to MS Office. It should though!!!

Pages is ok, I just find it not good in comparison to Word. Its the power of using something for 10 years. You cannot stop thinking that!

 

[72930]

Office is much better than iWork. iWork can read Word documents but you cannot work with excel docs.
I would get the student edition of Office and wait for the new one that comes by the end of the year. You can also use Neooffice, although I dont find it as good as MS Office.
Dont't also forget Parallels and using the Windows version of MS Office. It works great and speed is also very good. I use it regularly and I can print and edit my documents with no issues.

Crossover is much better for the Windows version of Office, as you don't need Windows, Parallels, or all that much RAM

I personally take notes in Pages, and if I need to write an essay in school, I use Pages and then copy it into NeoOffice for editing purposes...

 

[RaMaz]

Apple Keynote is a LOT better than Microsoft Powerpoint,

Keynote has 3D Effects, It is so easy to use, just drag and drop,

 

[72930]

Apple Keynote is a LOT better than Microsoft Powerpoint,

Keynote has 3D Effects, It is so easy to use, just drag and drop,

Powerpoint does handle objects better...and Powerpoint:Mac has the cube effect...

 

[IJ Reilly]

I personally take notes in Pages, and if I need to write an essay in school, I use Pages and then copy it into NeoOffice for editing purposes...

Really? I'm surprised by your flow. I use TextEdit for note taking, then paste into Pages to make it look good. Nothing is easier and faster for basic typing than TextEdit, and nothing I've found formats as easily as Pages.

 

[72930]

Really? I'm surprised by your flow. I use TextEdit for note taking, then paste into Pages to make it look good. Nothing is easier and faster for basic typing than TextEdit, and nothing I've found formats as easily as Pages.

I e-mail work to school PCs, and "export to .doc" isn't perfect...

 

[EricNau]

Eh. NeoOffice is no replacement for MS Office, but it will work well enough until Office 2008 is released for OS X.

iWork is a nice specialty suite when interoperability isn't an issue (e.g. Pages makes wonderful slideshow presentations, as long as you'll be presenting on your own laptop).

Powerpoint does handle objects better...

How so? To me, it seems the other way around.