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MS Office Vs. iWork
- Thread starter stonkpot
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Perhaps you are thinking a little too logically.
Even though the two suites are completely independent, they have always been released simultaneously, and I don't see that tradition ending in the near future.
Just out of interest, since everybody is saying Word has so much more word processing features than Pages, can you list me some of them? Not saying Pages is more powerful, I'm just curious to know what those big features are
All of them, as far as I can see. But what do I know? I only write for a living.
Just out of interest, since everybody is saying Word has so much more word processing features than Pages, can you list me some of them? Not saying Pages is more powerful, I'm just curious to know what those big features are
A couple that have been mentioned previously are equation editing, track-changes, and certain kinds of footnoting. That's about all I can recall from previous discussions.
The real issue seems to be that Word is regarded by many as the "industry standard" word processor, therefore anything which is not Word is by definition "not as powerful" and may not even be a real word processor. The definition of "powerful" is pretty much completely circular, and the definition of "word processor" is pretty much Word's precise feature-set and the way its features are implemented.
Right, so right now track changes is a big feature that is missing, certainly very useful for writing collaborative pieces of work. Equation editing and some footnoting features are not present also - but apart from that Pages can do pretty much what you want it to do. Right now, everybody is very quick to point out the superiority of Word over Pages, but nobody is prepared to list a set of things that Word has and Pages doesn't.
As you say, it is the mindset that has been developed over many years and is difficult to break - you consider Microsoft Word to be 'the' word processor - and anything else seems to be less "powerful", however I'm personally not convinced that this is true. While Word may have a few features that Pages doesn't - I'm not convinced that it is greatly superior. Perhaps I'm wrong and if so please do tell me what other features Word has over Pages
When I moved from the Windows world to the Mac a couple of years ago, I used Word at first. I then started using Keynote for presentations and really enjoyed the simplicity of the workflow. I tried Pages to see if it was similar and was very pleased by its ease of use and power. It is very nice to use due to the uncluttered interface and actually allows you to make great looking documents very fast. Pages is especially good at working with pictures, objects and tables, and I personally found I could get the results I wanted better and faster in Pages than Word.
You'll probably get a better list from a regular Word user. But since this topic comes up frequently here, I am aware of the complaint about equations editing, which IMO isn't a typical word processing task, and apparently a work-around exists. I don't recall exactly what the complaint about footnoting was, but IIRC, it had something to do with converting footnotes to end-notes. The other frequently griped issue seems to be Pages' lack of support for Word's track changes, which, as you pointed out, is only an issue for collaborative document writing. This comes up only rarely for me but I well understand that if this is an important feature for you that Word is a natural choice -- a least at this point. We don't know what features Apple will add to the next version of iWork.
One of the problems Apple has with Pages is what you see when you launch it -- the template browser, loaded with all of those brochure and flyer layouts. This leads many to believe something about Pages which isn't really true -- that it's meant to be a junior version of InDesign and not a word processor. I pointed this out to a member of the iWork team I met at MW-SF a couple of years ago. Probably most people who look at Pages never get to the point of creating their own templates, which is a shame since this is one of the great strengths of Pages. This feature alone, which Word cannot touch, saves me tons of time in my writing.
One of the problems Apple has with Pages is what you see when you launch it -- the template browser, loaded with all of those brochure and flyer layouts. This leads many to believe something about Pages which isn't really true -- that it's meant to be a junior version of InDesign and not a word processor. I pointed this out to a member of the iWork team I met at MW-SF a couple of years ago. Probably most people who look at Pages never get to the point of creating their own templates, which is a shame since this is one of the great strengths of Pages. This feature alone, which Word cannot touch, saves me tons of time in my writing.
If you're working in an environment where you need to exchange anything more than trivial Word documents, with people running Microsoft Word for Windows, you're going to have to bite the bullet and buy Office 2004 (or Office 2008, if you can wait that long). It is a necessary evil. I've experimented with OpenOffice and NeoOffice, as well as iWork, and something is always inevitably lost in translation when I'm trying to import Word documents (or export to Word).
Having said all that: I'm a huge fan of the iWork suite, when I'm not working under the previously mentioned constraint. Pages is especially well suited to desktop publishing-type tasks, but like IJ and others have said, it's also a good general purpose word processor.
Having said all that: I'm a huge fan of the iWork suite, when I'm not working under the previously mentioned constraint. Pages is especially well suited to desktop publishing-type tasks, but like IJ and others have said, it's also a good general purpose word processor.
Not necessary.
I always use OpenOffice when needed to work with other 'PC' users, and send them PDF. If they want to edit anything I just send them the file in OpenDocument format, and if they ask I either force them to get OpenOffice which runs on almost anything, or get the OpenDocument plugin for MS Office.
That's what I do to my team members. And of course, my email automatically rejects all .doc documents and sends an automated reply.
If I would do the same, my company would fire me and my colleagues would call me an ass$$$$$
I think a few of my colleagues do think I am as ass for doing this... but I am lucky enough to not get fired for this.
I understand different company would have different policy regarding to this kinda of word format madness, but just because it is a company thing doesn't always means you have to take it - not every company is ignorant about it and the number of more flexible policies are increasing. Quite a few government agencies around the world has began adopting Open formats lately and there is just going to be more.
I understand different company would have different policy regarding to this kinda of word format madness, but just because it is a company thing doesn't always means you have to take it - not every company is ignorant about it and the number of more flexible policies are increasing. Quite a few government agencies around the world has began adopting Open formats lately and there is just going to be more.
You obviously do not understand what Pages is.
Pages is not a Word alternative. Pages is an Indesign or Quark lite for everyone to use. With no graphic or publishing knowledge, ANYONE can make a presentation that blows anything you'll ever produce in Words.
As for Powerpoint, you can use your templates into keynote and export your .ppt file from it. I do it many times each week.
May I suggest that you read through a thread before making a statement that has already been completely debunked.
I have a couple different flavors of MS Office -- Office 2004 and Office 2007 for my BootCamp/VMWare Fusion installation ... and yet I write most often in Pages. The reason is speed ... Rosetta is fine, but I type way too fast for it. And going into Windows just doesn't suit me. So I write first drafts in Pages, save in Word format ... then I'll use MS Word for edits and comments.
For anyone who writes for a living, Pages is a highly underrated piece of software that will only get better. I don't understand people who think that it's only for page design, it's simply not true.
So it sounds like we're in agreement.
If you're working in an environment where you need to exchange anything more than trivial Word documents (by which I mean DOC files), with people running Microsoft Word for Windows, you're going to have to bite the bullet and buy Office 2004 (or Office 2008, if you can wait that long).
And you've addressed a different option, which is working in an environment where you're allowed to exchange documents in OpenOffice (OpenDocument) format instead of Word format.
After hearing so much talk about it, I finally broke down and downloaded the latest version of NeoOffice. It has some quirks, and it helps to like the way MS Office works to begin with, but it seems to function quite well on a whole. And for free, what can you complain? I tried it on a Word document with included track-changes. It opened fine. It seems to be a reasonable backstop to iWork, probably better than the old version of Office I've been keeping around for this purpose. With iWork ($79) and NeoOffice ($0), I don't see a compelling case for MS Office ($400).
And with a truly aquafied OpenOffice in the works (the alpha now is virtually unusable), there should be great speed increases before MS Office comes out. I do get a bit annoyed that NeoOffice takes a while to open.
I find Keynote great and I will start using it. I am sorry but I can't say the same for Pages. I just can't get used to it.
Well I do open .doc files in Open Office sometimes, if it is an urgent matter - but if something doesn't work I always blame the person for not using OpenOffice or its plugin for MS Office.
With the new .docx it would be just more fun, since I simply would not even try open it.
You said the right word, government. The private sector works differently. My company has 5000 employees. Imagine doing what you do! It's not possible.
I have to admit that I like Word. I am used to it, I can create good looking documents very fast, it has all the features I will possible need. The price is also great for me: It's Free!!! (through my company)
I tried creating my CV in Pages and after an hour I gave up. I just couldn't get used to the interface.
All I am trying to say is that not every company is like that, so don't overly generalise by only your own experience.
I found Pages somewhat difficult at first too when I was too used to MS and Open Office; but now I simply love it. I think it is just a matter of learning and accepting new things and see if it can work for you.
I found Pages somewhat difficult at first too when I was too used to MS and Open Office; but now I simply love it. I think it is just a matter of learning and accepting new things and see if it can work for you.