Why do some continue using Microsoft Office on Mac?

[MacBH928]

Office 365 is used on multiple platforms because there is nothing better than it currently on the market. The pandemic was the absolute making of Microsoft Teams for example, and Microsoft developed their suite fast and effectively. Until another company comes along and delivers something better, it will be the first choice in business and leisure for the foreseeable future.

Thats not going to happen. Investors do not enter a market that has a dominant player. They flock to new markets that so they become the dominant player. Thats why no one is challenging Google Search, Microsoft Windows, nor Android or iOS.

That being said, sometimes they expand horizontally. For example some SAAS companies that have CRM or accounting software add spreadsheets or word processor into their suite of apps and that how MS Office might lose their dominance or see a new player take the market (like Chrome took Explorer's) .

I hear some business software like ODOO is gaining huge market share and there is ZOHO.

I'll be sure to tell my publisher clients that I'll be handing them a book designed using Pages instead of InDesign. They'll love hearing that! I'll be telling them they won't be getting the PDF/X-1a:2001 file they require, either.

I really don't know what you're going on about. I had to import the material given to me in a Pages file into an industry-standard app that can neither import from Pages nor from a Word doc exported by pages. And you're trying to give me a hard time for having found a work-around?

I do not know what you understood from my post but I meant the person you dealt with was supposed to use MS Word because using different apps will make a mess just like in your case.

And well, for the most part they're just good enough for me, they're free, simple and can do most things the MS Office apps can do. But there are a quite few things I didn't like about them. Sometimes when I try to open a PowerPoint file in Keynote for example, the font becomes messed up for some reason, and the same thing happens too when I try to convert Keynote files to pptx. files.

I think the font issue is because some fonts exist on mac os but not in Windows or MS Office, and the other way around. When I open MS Office documents it always says fonts missing.

 

[VietKinh]

Only Keynote is better than the Office version (PowerPoint). Words and Excel are more feature rich than Page and Number. However, Page and Number are much easier to use. I prefer all Apple equivalents---as long as the features I need is there.

 

[Pinkyyy 💜🍎]

I think the font issue is because some fonts exist on mac os but not in Windows or MS Office, and the other way around. When I open MS Office documents it always says fonts missing.

Yeah that's right. This is like the only issue I have faced with them so far though, but it got me thinking how it might be a little hard to work with Windows users just because of this issue. Otherwise, they work perfectly fine for me, and I actually prefer using them on Mac rather than having to pay for the Office 365 subscription. I just feel like they are more fitting for macOS than the MS Office apps and are more intuitive.

 

[rhett7660]

Only Keynote is better than the Office version (PowerPoint). Words and Excel are more feature rich than Page and Number. However, Page and Number are much easier to use. I prefer all Apple equivalents---as long as the features I need is there.

For my home use, I pretty much only use the Apple products, however I still need Excel for some of the things I do. I like Pages more than Word, but I still use Word for a majority of my work stuff.

 

[neuralengine]

I prefer Pages to Word and Keynote to PowerPoint, but I prefer Excel to Numbers, even for personal use.

I install it from the Mac App Store to avoid Microsoft’s background updater bloatware.

 

[MacBH928]

Only Keynote is better than the Office version (PowerPoint). Words and Excel are more feature rich than Page and Number. However, Page and Number are much easier to use. I prefer all Apple equivalents---as long as the features I need is there.

They are more feature rich but how many people really know what all buttons on MS Word do?

Yeah that's right. This is like the only issue I have faced with them so far though, but it got me thinking how it might be a little hard to work with Windows users just because of this issue. Otherwise, they work perfectly fine for me, and I actually prefer using them on Mac rather than having to pay for the Office 365 subscription. I just feel like they are more fitting for macOS than the MS Office apps and are more intuitive.

I think a middle solution is to use fonts that are also available on Windows

I prefer Pages to Word and Keynote to PowerPoint, but I prefer Excel to Numbers, even for personal use.

I install it from the Mac App Store to avoid Microsoft’s background updater bloatware.

forced background updates are disgusting

 

[russell_314]

As to the original question, my answer would be familiarity. I've used Microsoft Office for decades for both work and home so it's hard just to switch to a different program that has the features and settings you use in a different location. When I wanted to do something I had to figure out where is this feature in Pages versus Word for example.

About six months ago I canceled my office 365 subscription. I thought why am I paying for this when it's just for personal use. Whatever I need to do I can just figure it out. It's not going to hurt me to have to learn this new thing. I can understand in a work environment where you have to maintain production and time is money but not at home. Of course everyone is different so if your time is so valuable that you don't have time to learn a new thing, then by all means keep paying Microsoft their monthly stipend.

 

[Pinkyyy 💜🍎]

They are more feature rich but how many people really know what all buttons on MS Word do?

As an OG user of Word, I actually know what all those buttons do 😂 I just don't necessarily use all of them.

I think a middle solution is to use fonts that are also available on Windows

Yeah, but in another case if your work uses the MS Office apps, you'll just have to use them, regardless of all the other free alternatives. And this might be why some Mac users keep on using them instead of the iWork apps, it's because they are more common worldwide since Windows machines are more common than Macs.

During the covid lockdown for example, we were all given Microsoft accounts by the school, so we were basically forced to use only the Microsoft apps (including Teams, the Office apps, etc). So I think this could be the case for most people, aside from the familiarity.

 

[rhett7660]

They are more feature rich but how many people really know what all buttons on MS Word do?

I think a middle solution is to use fonts that are also available on Windows




forced background updates are disgusting

I have been using word for so long, that yeah... I know all of those buttons and more...

 

[walnuts]

The only reason I can use my Mac at all for work (my strong preference) is that I have near perfect compatibility with MS Office that my 99.9% Windows shop uses. I'd say if converting/back converting to another office suite (Apple's or otherwise) produced even minor formatting issues (word, ppt)/formula issues (excel) I'd very quickly be asked to stop using my Mac for the sake of everyone else's convenience.

That said, I'm frankly surprised that some take strong issues with MS Office apps on Mac. To me they are generally pretty good (certainly feature rich and have a great deal of parity with the Windows versions) if not the prettiest apps on the platform. Most of them are Apple Silicon native at this point, run well and quickly. And I remember the bad old days where there wasn't feature parity and there were conversion issues between the Windows and Mac versions of Office. I'm really glad Office for Mac exists and appreciate all the work Microsoft put into it. As above, its the only reason I can use a Mac as much as I do.

 

[MSKenyon]

Hijacking slightly..

I have Office 2016, and sadly it takes a toll on my Macbook. Has anyone used Office 2021? Is it more optimized?

Im not interested in 365, No need for another subscription.

 

[Scott Baret]

A few generalized comments after reading some recent replies:

1. The many tools of Word are sort of like all the bells and whistles on anything else. You may or may not use them because of your individual needs. I use the equation editor constantly and never use mail merge, for example, but the features are there for those who need them. Think of Word as being a full-featured oven, well-equipped car, or a TI graphing calculator. You'll get to know what you need and you'll have more available should your needs change (the TI calculator is a perfect example here; think of what you didn't need until you took trig, calculus, or stats).

2. Excel is definitely a better option for most users. For a home budget, you can get away with pretty much any spreadsheet, but in the business world, Excel is a standard and has been for over three decades (even longer on the Mac).

3. Regarding the comment that something better could replace Office...even if something did come along, it would be a niche product. Think of all the standards that haven't fallen in spite of their flaws: Windows, Photoshop, AutoCAD, etc. If you've been around a long time, you may remember on the DOS side of things when WordStar was a standard, got replaced by WordPerfect, and then Word took over when Windows became popular. The same happened with spreadsheets back when VisiCalc made it big on the Apple II and Lotus 1-2-3 was the DOS standard. At the time, NONE of these products were mature products yet, as the computer industry was still quite young. The chance to replace Word, Excel, or PowerPoint as the dominant player has passed by this point, save for something dramatic like Microsoft going out of business.

 

[bob_zz123]

I'm guessing this thread is about the apps rather than the Microsoft 365 package, and of course people have their own views on subscription software. But mine is that £79 per year for M365 Family is the steal of the century considering:

1) The apps are really polished and elegant (at least for how I use them) and the iOS apps are pretty good too. I can quite happily create / edit a simple spreadsheet on my iPad. No worrying about document compatibility either.

2) 1TB OneDrive. Other cloud storage services can cost you that just for storage. The iPhone app does automatic photo upload.

3) I can share with 5 other people for no additional cost, both parents have a license, some friends.

4) You get non-essential but nice-to-have extra features like extended group meetings in Teams (no having to pay for Zoom Pro)

5) I get the feeling that new features come at a steady stream, often trickled down from business editions. I could imagine seeing a VPN service in the not too distant future.

6) It's often on promotion (at least in my region) from reputable resellers like Amazon, who sell product key cards and I have stacked up 5 years (the maximum allowed), at an average price of around £50 per year.

Now I can see if I was fully committed to the Apple ecosystem then 2TB iCloud+ for the same list price gives you (some) similar features including nice-to-have's like Private Relay. But for cross-platform and web compatibility that works basically everywhere, I can't fault M365 at all.

 

[skaertus]

Nothing comes close to Microsoft Office. Other software may be fine for you, but if you need specific features or need to collaborate, then Microsoft Office is basically the only option.

 

[Matz]

If it hasn’t already been mentioned, it’s worth noting that Excel was first developed for the Mac in 1985. It didn’t exist for PCs then.

 

[zorinlynx]

I'd use Pages and Numbers more if they worked better with MS Office files.

As much as we love our Macs, we live in a world with users of other platforms and need to be able to work with them. It's the same deal with all the features Apple is adding to iMessage; I can't use them 75% of the time because most of my friends are on Android.

Apple should make things more cross-platform.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Only Keynote is better than the Office version (PowerPoint). Words and Excel are more feature rich than Page and Number. However, Page and Number are much easier to use. I prefer all Apple equivalents---as long as the features I need is there.

I like Keynote's themes and animations better, but in terms of making slideshows I'd rather use Powerpoint, since Powerpoint has the slideshow recommendations as well as guides for adding the elements of the presentation to make it look as clean as possible.

Plus I'm too used to the UI of Powerpoint since I've been using it since Office 2000.

 

[Pinkyyy 💜🍎]

As much as we love our Macs, we live in a world with users of other platforms and need to be able to work with them. It's the same deal with all the features Apple is adding to iMessage; I can't use them 75% of the time because most of my friends are on Android.

Apple should make things more cross-platform.

Exactly !! Here where I live for example, nobody really uses things like iMessage or FaceTime, even those who own iPhones. That's mainly because most people here use Android, so it's easier for iPhone users to just use apps that work for both Android and iOS so they can talk to their friends, kinda like WhatsApp.

Same thing goes for Windows and Mac, Windows machines are more common worldwide than Macs, and that's why most Mac users end up using apps that work for both platforms instead of those that are exclusive only for Apple devices.

So yeah, Apple should really make something that works for both platforms. So far the only Apple app you can get on Android is Apple Music (and iTunes for Windows).

 

[MacBH928]

As an OG user of Word, I actually know what all those buttons do 😂 I just don't necessarily use all of them.



Yeah, but in another case if your work uses the MS Office apps, you'll just have to use them, regardless of all the other free alternatives. And this might be why some Mac users keep on using them instead of the iWork apps, it's because they are more common worldwide since Windows machines are more common than Macs.

During the covid lockdown for example, we were all given Microsoft accounts by the school, so we were basically forced to use only the Microsoft apps (including Teams, the Office apps, etc). So I think this could be the case for most people, aside from the familiarity.

Its a problem of monopoly. I think because most people use MS Office -> you are forced to use Office -> You are forced to pay Microsoft. You do not have the freedom of choice to choose another app. Microsoft is loving it.

But for whats in favour of society a standard is better like how all JPEG, PDFs, and HTML open on all devices the same and can be edited by multiple software. I heard there is an open standard called Open Document but no one is using that idk why.

I have been using word for so long, that yeah... I know all of those buttons and more...

We are talking average joes, not super users

That said, I'm frankly surprised that some take strong issues with MS Office apps on Mac. To me they are generally pretty good (certainly feature rich and have a great deal of parity with the Windows versions) if not the prettiest apps on the platform.

It has to do with old Apple vs Microsoft fights, people hating Microsoft monopoly, the apps themselves are a mess when doing formatting especially Word that is famous for messing up the formatting, and proprietary files and software that many FOSS enthusiasts are against.

Personally, I'd hate to pay Microsoft just so I can edit or open a .docx file someone has sent me.

 

[MacBH928]

A few generalized comments after reading some recent replies:

1. The many tools of Word are sort of like all the bells and whistles on anything else. You may or may not use them because of your individual needs. I use the equation editor constantly and never use mail merge, for example, but the features are there for those who need them. Think of Word as being a full-featured oven, well-equipped car, or a TI graphing calculator. You'll get to know what you need and you'll have more available should your needs change (the TI calculator is a perfect example here; think of what you didn't need until you took trig, calculus, or stats).

I think ease of use comes into play here. I think Apple Pages is easier and more pleasant UX. UX is very important. There is a reason why people rather deal use MS Word as a word processor over something like LaTex although I heard LaTex has much higher fine tuning and customizations.

2. Excel is definitely a better option for most users. For a home budget, you can get away with pretty much any spreadsheet, but in the business world, Excel is a standard and has been for over three decades (even longer on the Mac).

Correct but this is a negative, the whole world relying on one company product is not something in favour of society.

3. Regarding the comment that something better could replace Office...even if something did come along, it would be a niche product. Think of all the standards that haven't fallen in spite of their flaws: Windows, Photoshop, AutoCAD, etc. If you've been around a long time, you may remember on the DOS side of things when WordStar was a standard, got replaced by WordPerfect, and then Word took over when Windows became popular. The same happened with spreadsheets back when VisiCalc made it big on the Apple II and Lotus 1-2-3 was the DOS standard. At the time, NONE of these products were mature products yet, as the computer industry was still quite young. The chance to replace Word, Excel, or PowerPoint as the dominant player has passed by this point, save for something dramatic like Microsoft going out of business.

I am not sure what you are saying. You say that MS Office standard will not fall but you mention in your post past standards that have fallen.

I think there is a lot of chance for replacement. I didn't think any one will tip Photoshop over but looks like Pixelmator and Affinity are doing great already.

 

[rm5]

Because:

1. My school's giving it to me for free
2. It's just flat out better than iWork

 

[Pinkyyy 💜🍎]

Its a problem of monopoly. I think because most people use MS Office -> you are forced to use Office -> You are forced to pay Microsoft. You do not have the freedom of choice to choose another app. Microsoft is loving it.

But for whats in favour of society a standard is better like how all JPEG, PDFs, and HTML open on all devices the same and can be edited by multiple software. I heard there is an open standard called Open Document but no one is using that idk why.

You know, I partially agree. Like for me personally, I started to have a preference for the iWork apps ever since I switched to macOS, as I just feel like they're more simple, user-friendly and overall they just seem more fitting for the macOS platform. I agree that the MS Office apps are more feature-rich, but I personally wasn't really using all of their features back when I was a Windows user anyways, so it isn't a really big deal for me. So yeah, I'd rather use Apple iWork apps than having to pay Microsoft to use their Office apps on Mac. I'd simply just use iWork for macOS and MS Office for Windows (I have always been using them for free on Windows).

But in another case, maybe some people actually need those features that I don't use, so they might have a preference for MS Office instead. It's not always that "Mac users are being forced to use MS Office" you know, it could actually be just a personal preference after all.

And well, the thing about Apple is that most of their apps are exclusive only to Apple products, which not everybody uses. Like why is MS Office more common than Apple iWork ? And why is it being used by most companies, schools, etc ? Well aside from the fact that most people use Windows, MS Office is available for both platforms, Windows and macOS. So basically anyone on both platforms can use them. Apple iWork on the other hand is available only for macOS, and since most people around the world use Windows, it'd make more sense for companies & schools to choose Microsoft apps, because they're available for both platforms and not everybody owns a Mac, which is fair enough.

You know if there was an iWork version for Windows ? I think they could've probably been more common. They're free, more intuitive, and definitely more user-friendly. But because they're only available on the Mac platform, they simply don't get much recognition. So far the only Apple app you can get on Windows is iTunes which is outdated and doesn't even have all the features. Although I heard Apple Music and Apple TV are coming for Windows too, but... I bet they'll also be missing features and won't be as good as the Mac versions.

 

[MacBH928]

You know, I partially agree. Like for me personally, I started to have a preference for the iWork apps ever since I switched to macOS, as I just feel like they're more simple, user-friendly and overall they just seem more fitting for the macOS platform. I agree that the MS Office apps are more feature-rich, but I personally wasn't really using all of their features back when I was a Windows user anyways, so it isn't a really big deal for me. So yeah, I'd rather use Apple iWork apps than having to pay Microsoft to use their Office apps on Mac. I'd simply just use iWork for macOS and MS Office for Windows (I have always been using them for free on Windows).

But in another case, maybe some people actually need those features that I don't use, so they might have a preference for MS Office instead. It's not always that "Mac users are being forced to use MS Office" you know, it could actually be just a personal preference after all.

And well, the thing about Apple is that most of their apps are exclusive only to Apple products, which not everybody uses. Like why is MS Office more common than Apple iWork ? And why is it being used by most companies, schools, etc ? Well aside from the fact that most people use Windows, MS Office is available for both platforms, Windows and macOS. So basically anyone on both platforms can use them. Apple iWork on the other hand is available only for macOS, and since most people around the world use Windows, it'd make more sense for companies & schools to choose Microsoft apps, because they're available for both platforms and not everybody owns a Mac, which is fair enough.

You know if there was an iWork version for Windows ? I think they could've probably been more common. They're free, more intuitive, and definitely more user-friendly. But because they're only available on the Mac platform, they simply don't get much recognition. So far the only Apple app you can get on Windows is iTunes which is outdated and doesn't even have all the features. Although I heard Apple Music and Apple TV are coming for Windows too, but... I bet they'll also be missing features and won't be as good as the Mac versions.

MS Office is more popular because its what businesses use. I hardly believe any or much people buy MS Office for personal use. Businesses run Windows and no one dared to compete against windows or MS Office so Office became the most advanced better product.

Apple will never release their product on Windows or multi-platform because they make money off the hardware and to make you buy the hardware they try to lock you in with alternative software which is Mac/iOS only. Thats why Safari, iTunes, iWork, finalcut etc are macos only including imessage

 

[Tagbert]

If it hasn’t already been mentioned, it’s worth noting that Excel was first developed for the Mac in 1985. It didn’t exist for PCs then.

Yes, we used Microsoft’s Multiplan on Windows before Excel. that was when VisiCalc was the king and before Lotus 123.

 

[Pinkyyy 💜🍎]

MS Office is more popular because its what businesses use. I hardly believe any or much people buy MS Office for personal use. Businesses run Windows and no one dared to compete against windows or MS Office so Office became the most advanced better product.

Apple will never release their product on Windows or multi-platform because they make money off the hardware and to make you buy the hardware they try to lock you in with alternative software which is Mac/iOS only. Thats why Safari, iTunes, iWork, finalcut etc are macos only including imessage

That's right. But we live in a world where people use different platforms. Not everyone uses Apple products, and therefore third-party apps that work on all platforms (be it macOS, Windows, iOS or Android) are more common worldwide than the only-Apple apps.

Like for example if you're an iPhone user and most of your friends use Android, then you'd rather use another chatting app instead of iMessage so you can talk to them.
Not to mention the fact that not all iPhone users themselves own a Mac.

So yeah, I just feel like it'd be nice if Apple released some of their apps to other platforms. And since some of their apps are actually services (Like Apple Music & TV) they'd still make money off them especially when they get more people to pay for them. And they already have a lot of people who pay for their hardware anyways, so I don't really see why not.
But I know they wouldn't do it. They always have to keep something exclusive only to people who pay for their hardware, just to try to lock you into their "ecosystem".