Why do some continue using Microsoft Office on Mac?

[weckart]

I completely forgot about Lotus, and I was also there from the beginning with that suite. I even had the first version of Microsoft Word back in 1984. My favorite word processor back then was WordPerfect and I still think it was easier to use than Word.Time really flies… ⏳

WordPerfect had reveal codes on the word processor application and hardly any other application did anything similar or so helpful in formatting text. While I like MS Excel, Word is atrocious at the best of times.

 

[Mainsail]

In the later half of the 1980s, I used Lotus 123 (spreadsheets) and MultiMate (word processing). I would draft a letter or create a table, and then give it to a secretary (that's what they were called back then) to put into a formal memorandum.

There was no email, or if it existed, so few had it that no one in my company used it. We used the Technical Information Department to create viewgraphs for presentations. These were generally foils or slides that sat on top of an overhead projector.

We had a whole group of secretaries that assembled our gigantic federal budget submission for just our site's request to Congress. It was a laborious process.

I guess my point is that any of today's productivity apps (iWork, Office, Google Docs, etc.) would seem like rocket science by comparison. I primarily use iWork on my MBA, and it works great. No problems. Occasionally, I will use Office or Google Docs for compatibility reasons, but it is generally unnecessary, since iWork's does a decent job of forward and backward compatibility.