yeah Numbers is not a "Power" tool and I think Apple purposefully keeps it that way for the average person. IF they add power tools it won't be the friendly spreadsheet app that it is.
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Why do some continue using Microsoft Office on Mac?
- Thread starter Benz63amg
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yeah Numbers is not a "Power" tool and I think Apple purposefully keeps it that way for the average person. IF they add power tools it won't be the friendly spreadsheet app that it is.
Frankly, I hope Apple is doing it because they CAN, and I hope they boost their commitment to improving it. Extended to include FileMaker Pro, one could make a case to go Mac vice Windows. [edit: But FileMaker Pro is no-joke expensive, costing way more then MS Office Pro at retail. however, FileMaker Pro is so much better than MS Access, and better than numerous other industrial grade DBMS ]. Apple's shortcoming in the mix is a graphics package like Visio. Apple needs to give up that crazy feature parity across desktop and mobile, though. Not doing them any favors. A trimmed down version for mobiles is fine. Hasn't hurt MS Office any. People understand.
However there may be reasons why they refuse to advanced their desktop office app craft, like we all know they're capable of doing. Decade or so ago, they were rumored to have made a sort of side-deal with Microsoft to keep Office on the Mac OS Platform. True or false, Office on the Mac helped keep Macs relevant as a platform when Apple was in a slump (Bring out your dead... I don't want to go on the cart!). A faustian deal might keep Apple's "Suite" contained </conspiracytheory>. Like Porsche artificially capped the Cayman all those years to protect the 911 (of which I have both, and prefer the 911 on the street, Cayman on track even though it's slower).
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Pretty much this.
I don't think apple is interested in Numbers tackling enterprise accounting problems. Numbers is what it is, and fills a difference niche.
And that's fine!
I've used MS Office since the early 1990s - primarily Excel and Word. But there was a time when I bought a new computer and Microsoft informed me that I would be exceeding the maximum uses allowed - time to buy new again - grrr. So I tried Apple's equivalents. Very different and not liked at all. Libreoffice was good, more like MS Office, but I had some disappearing files problems once when moving to a new computer. So - back to Microsoft. MS Office is universal - it's always there and it's predictable - except - anyone remember that irritating assistant feature, that animated paperclip, clippy? Very much unliked- to say the least. Anyhow, that aside, as I see it Microsoft Office will always be the gold standard.
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how did LibreOffice make your files disappear? files are managed by the OS.
but I wonder how big that niche is and does it deserve a dedicated group of coders for them.
Today, I think that Apple iWork is as capable for 100% of my personal and professional needs. The only reason to use Microsoft Office is that the business has locked down the ability to use something better. While exporting to Microsoft Office formats results are varied (Because Microsoft does not publish the full specifications for the file format), it is still better than using a overbloated program that Microsoft purposely cripples on platforms other than Windows. The only reason to export to Microsoft Office formats is for collaboration, otherwise, it is better to export as PDF. I used Windows since Windows 3.0, and Office since 4.3, and I will never go back to using either.
I was assigned a Windows desktop at work and they use Microsoft 365. I simply use my iPad along with Pages, Numbers, and keynote as my primary productivity tools.
In professional case scenario, Excel can do so much more with stuff like Power Query . I hear they can make excel do stuff like turning the spreadsheets into apps. Maybe Word doesn't have much to offer over Pages, but currently I use it for a more customizable capability for the Mail Merge feature.
Pages can do mail merges as well, so not much different than Word, in about 1/5 the size the package. PowerQuery is an ok feature, but I would rather use R or SQLite over using the bloatware that is Microsoft Office. Not much use for VBA today unless you are delivering malware. You cannot turn Excel workbooks into applications. Being a software developer and cybersecurity professional, there are better tools available to accomplish what people use Excel to perform.
What?!
In my opinion, that's totally not true. Word is SO MUCH BETTER and has so many more features. The UI layout is much easier to understand, and it doesn't have weird submenus for fonts and stuff.
Word has a built-in thesaurus, which I use all the time, as well as easy ways to create bibliographies and other citations. Pages, as far as I'm aware, has none of that.
Same goes for Outlook—does Apple Mail have a built-in calendar? NO! Does Outlook download attachments automatically (soooo annoying)? NO!
That maybe your opinion, but thankfully I make decisions only based on my option. Pages does not need to have any of that extra crap because it is built-in to macOS, iPadOS, and iOS, so duplicating that functionality is a waste of effort. I realize that Microsoft does not include that in Windows so they include it in Office. The Bibliography functionality results in me needed to strip it out and fix all of the citations. On macOS, I could include EndNote citations which are better than Microsoft’s constant behind status on supporting reference styles. Outlook is a bloated piece of garbage and the new version of Outlook is just simply a web browser. I have used Outlook since Outlook 98 and Schedule+ before that. You only believe that about the interface because you have been taught how to use Microsoft Office and you are familiar. In the past, I focused on user interface design and I can adapt to many designs. Of course the worst user interface design goes to Google for Android.
It mostly comes down to collaboration when it comes to Pages vs. Word. If there's a document somebody else needs to redline, it has to be Word because that's the platform everybody is on. Otherwise Pages is decent enough.
Keynote is extremely good, and I use it more than I do Powerpoint.
Numbers is useless and shouldn't even ship. Excel or failing that, Google Sheets absolutely dominate.
Keynote is extremely good, and I use it more than I do Powerpoint.
Numbers is useless and shouldn't even ship. Excel or failing that, Google Sheets absolutely dominate.
Actually Google should not exist at all, a solution looking for a problem. Numbers is actually the best designed spreadsheet application that I have used (Excel, Quattro Pro, Lotus 1-2-3, etc.). The best part is that you do not have to use Microsoft Word to allow people to access a document. The other thing that people do not realize about Pages is that it also replaced Publisher, because Pages is both a word processor and page layout application. People know Microsoft Office because Microsoft gives it to universities to get people hooked on their product and turn them into lifelong subscribers to their mediocre product.
Yep - Zotero plugs straight into Word, and references to figures/tables etc number and link nicely.
However, I decided to go right back in time and wrote my thesis last year in LaTeX, because I'm a sucker for getting my hands dirty with code ... err I mean it's perfect for citations and referencing.
(I used Word Perfect to write my undergrad thesis back in the early 90's.)
I have used Pages to write both of my dissertations, currently working on the second one. No one has been able to determine that I was not using Microsoft Office. This time I am simply using Numbers to track my references and it has been better than relying on EndNote. I also used WordPerfect before switching to Office 4.3.
I find Pages easier to use, and wrote other docs using it, but for my thesis I (temporarily, before going to LaTeX) switched to Word as I wanted to learn and use Zotero. Also, my supervisor could theoretically make changes and comments which would be tracked, as MS Office was the Uni standard, although they never bothered 
As for the other apps: I much prefer Keynote* over Powerpoint and also Numbers over Excel (but then I've never been a heavy spreadsheet user).
* I love the fact I can control presentations on my Macbook using my phone.
As for the other apps: I much prefer Keynote* over Powerpoint and also Numbers over Excel (but then I've never been a heavy spreadsheet user).
* I love the fact I can control presentations on my Macbook using my phone.
I love the fact that I can control presentations from my iPad using my Apple Watch! I use the Latex editor in Pages, Numbers, and Keynote to typeset equations, but other than that, too much work and not enough time to use a markup language to write anything lengthy.I find Pages easier to use, and wrote other docs using it, but for my thesis I (temporarily, before going to LaTeX) switched to Word as I wanted to learn and use Zotero. Also, my supervisor could theoretically make changes and comments which would be tracked, as MS Office was the Uni standard, although they never bothered
As for the other apps: I much prefer Keynote* over Powerpoint and also Numbers over Excel (but then I've never been a heavy spreadsheet user).
* I love the fact I can control presentations on my Macbook using my phone.
I believe in the right tool for the job. Pages is excellent for most tasks that I perform (and when I have a choice, it is what I choose), but when it comes to finalizing documents to send to my publisher or formal document submission, I'll use MS Word.I find Pages easier to use, and wrote other docs using it, but for my thesis I (temporarily, before going to LaTeX) switched to Word as I wanted to learn and use Zotero. Also, my supervisor could theoretically make changes and comments which would be tracked, as MS Office was the Uni standard, although they never bothered
As for the other apps: I much prefer Keynote* over Powerpoint and also Numbers over Excel (but then I've never been a heavy spreadsheet user).
* I love the fact I can control presentations on my Macbook using my phone.
I too prefer Keynote over PowerPoint. Controlling a presentation (that is displayed using a laptop) using a phone or tablet felt too uncomfortable for me. I like the freedom of a small presentation remote with physical buttons. I tend to wander on the stage and engage with the audience so having a small remote rather than a large phone in my hand feels more natural.
I'm interested in videos of presenters who use their phone instead of a remote. Maybe I'm overlooking something.
I might use the Microsoft 365 website to verify the formatting, but installing 1.23 GB application to simply verify formatting is not really something that I want to do. I have access to two Microsoft 365 accounts, so I do not have to pay directly for Microsoft 365. I have taught classes using my Apple Watch to change slides on my iPad. The iPad is an 11” iPad Pro with the M2 SoC and is the perfect size for a portable computer. With external display support it is exactly the same as using a MacBook. I do walk around the classroom to give the lectures, so using the Apple Watch is also ideal for this. I could attach the iPhone to the cable to give the presentation, but I prefer the larger size of the iPad to accomplish this. I used a 12” MacBook once in addition to the iPad, but the MacBook ended up staying at my desk most of the time, so back to a desktop Macintosh and using the iPad & iPhone exclusively while mobile. Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel) is ≈3 GB of storage on the Macintosh, and I really dislike having single purpose devices and applications that duplicate applications I use, so I will not install Microsoft Office at all, even the Microsoft 365 application. This is also why I use Safari instead of the spyware known as Google Chrome or any other unnecessary web browser.
Anecdotally, pivot tables are nonexistent on Excel for iOS / iPadOS. But Numbers have it on all supported platforms.
I downloaded the Mac App Store versions of 365, except for Teams. Easier auto-updates.
People use 365 and Teams on Macs because in the working world it is the best package for its purpose and a standard. I’d imagine like anything Apple, cross platform collaboration would be an absolute nightmare otherwise.