Rookie Question About Office For Windows On A Mac...

[ftyfhgv]

Hi, I'm pretty new to Mac's and have a question that probably seems basic to you guys, but nonetheless I still need an answer.

I'm a student and I need Excel on my Mac because I'm an accounting major. Most of my courses deal with Excel all the time and I'd really rather not have to use a communal computer from the library to do the majority of my work. Mac-friendly options are not an option no matter how good they may be because I have to use Excel. I have a copy of Microsoft Office For Windows and I've heard that I can use this on a Mac using Bootcamp. I tried to install it and I transferred all the files into Bootcamp, but when I open setup.exe, everything is gibberish. So I guess what I'm saying is, do I need to install some sort of Microsoft operating system to run Office For Windows on a Mac? I'm pretty sure I do. And in that case, where do I get a Microsoft operating system? The whole point of using Office For Windows is that I already owned it and I'd rather not pay for Office For Mac or for an operating system. It doesn't have to be a current operating system because the only Microsoft programs I'll ever use are Excel, Powerpoint and maybe Word.

Sorry if this has been asked before, I did a few forum searches and nothing came up.

 

[wesrk]

Hi, I'm pretty new to Mac's and have a question that probably seems basic to you guys, but nonetheless I still need an answer.

I'm a student and I need Excel on my Mac because I'm an accounting major. Most of my courses deal with Excel all the time and I'd really rather not have to use a communal computer from the library to do the majority of my work. Mac-friendly options are not an option no matter how good they may be because I have to use Excel. I have a copy of Microsoft Office For Windows and I've heard that I can use this on a Mac using Bootcamp. I tried to install it and I transferred all the files into Bootcamp, but when I open setup.exe, everything is gibberish. So I guess what I'm saying is, do I need to install some sort of Microsoft operating system to run Office For Windows on a Mac? I'm pretty sure I do. And in that case, where do I get a Microsoft operating system? The whole point of using Office For Windows is that I already owned it and I'd rather not pay for Office For Mac or for an operating system. It doesn't have to be a current operating system because the only Microsoft programs I'll ever use are Excel, Powerpoint and maybe Word.

Sorry if this has been asked before, I did a few forum searches and nothing came up.

in short, yes, you need an operating system
Bootcamp is just a partitioning tool that you use to start the process of installing windows, after the partition it will ask you for your Windows disk and then it installs.

where and how to get it? Look for the cheaper option. For what you say, you don't need Windows 7, nor Vista. XP will suffice in your case. Maybe you can get some sort of discount at your school for buying XP? Or perhaps they can give you a free copy or something. I would definitely look for a way to get XP (or any other Windows OS you want/need) at your school first, since this would probably be the cheaper way.

If this is not successful, then try ebay or some other place and buy it.

 

[ftyfhgv]

Thanks for the reply. Another option I was thinking of - if I find someone who already has Office for Mac, then I don't need anything to do with Windows, right? It'd probably be cheaper to pay someone to use one of their licenses (you get to install it on 3 computers, I think) than to buy anything to make my Office for Windows work on a Mac. Still, it'd be nice to find a free version of XP (hell, maybe even Windows 2000 would work?) so that I won't have to pay anything, see a how I already own the software I want to use.

 

[robbieduncan]

Thanks for the reply. Another option I was thinking of - if I find someone who already has Office for Mac, then I don't need anything to do with Windows, right? It'd probably be cheaper to pay someone to use one of their licenses (you get to install it on 3 computers, I think) than to buy anything to make my Office for Windows work on a Mac. Still, it'd be nice to find a free version of XP (hell, maybe even Windows 2000 would work?) so that I won't have to pay anything, see a how I already own the software I want to use.

The licenses are for a single person: you cannot split them/sell them to another person as you are suggesting (legally at least).

 

[balamw]

Have you considered Crossover Mac?

http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/

No OS needed, and designed to support running Windows Office on Mac OS X.

B

 

[ftyfhgv]

UPDATE: I now have a version of XP that I want to install, however, I am unsure as to how to actually install it. I dragged everything into Bootcamp, and some of the readme's and setup files are in english while some of them are in that incomprehensible code that happens when you try to open a non-Mac compatible file on a Mac. I now have all of the components necessary, I just need to know what I do to actually install it.
I realize this is a very, very basic question, but I am still new to Macs and am pretty bad with computers to begin with.
Any help would really be appreciated, I am a student and absolutely need to run Windows so that I can use Office!

 

[Consultant]

http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/

 

[wesrk]

follow the Bootcamp guide and you'll be fine.