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Word processor for Mac -- Pages (iWork) or Word (Office)

A

ataylor

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 15, 2008
44
0
I just got a new iMac and I'll be needing a basic word processor for college essays, etc. I have Office 2004 on my older iMac, but my wife will be using that for her college papers as well. I ran into some problems last year with some classmates sending me .docx files, so I'm going to need to upgrade on at least my computer.

Should I purchase iWork or Microsoft Office for Mac?

Thanks,

ataylor
 
I would recommend Office 2008. I haven't had any issues with it so far, I haven't used iWork so I don't know what that software can and can not do. If you're going to work a lot with *.docx files, then I would suggest Office 2008.
 
Try NeoOffice, its free and compatible with Microsoft Office. In fact its more compatible with Office than Office is.

iWork is hands down the best in the world, however it has limited compatibility with Office.

Also if your in the UK, and your a student or have a son who is a student etc. take a look at this

http://www.software4students.co.uk/
 
I prefer office. especially since I have to share a lot of documents with windows users.

NeoOffice is free and capable, but it seems to run slow, in my experience. MS Office definitely loads, saves, and prints faster.

you can get free trials of all these apps. try them and see which you prefer.
 
Office is one of those things that Microsoft makes and it's actually worth buying. iWork is just so, lacking.
 
I would go with office, just based on sheer compatibility and Microsoft seems to have ironed out most of the problems and streamlined it.
 
You can make Office 04 work with new office files

Hi All:

There is a compatibility update to make Office 04 work for you.

Here is a link:

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downlo...d=6B9238E1-CF69-48C4-BF2D-C4A8ACEEE520#viewer

Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.0

Open XML Converter allows you to convert Open XML files that were created in Office 2008 for Mac or Office 2007 for Windows so that you can open, edit, and save them in earlier versions of Office for Mac. Open XML Converter can convert Word documents, Excel workbooks, and PowerPoint presentations that are in the Open XML Format so that you can open and edit the files in Office 2004 for Mac and Office v. X for Mac. You can choose to convert and open one file, or convert a large number of files.

Released: Tuesday, June 24, 2008
 
It really depends on what features you use. If you use only the most common features, either iWork or Office will work for you. If you're a more advanced user of Office, however, you'll find missing capabilities in iWork. For example, Excel has almost twice as many functions as Numbers, but they're mostly advanced functions, like database or financial analysis functions. The same goes for Pages vs Word or Keynote vs PowerPoint. If you search Google for "iWork vs Office" or "Pages vs Word", you'll find several reviews and comparisons with more details.
 
Office for word processing and spread sheets.

Keynote for presentations. That's how I roll...

I think that's what they're best at.
 
iWork will permit you to be productive and get on with creating good work.

It's reliable and easy to use and very Apple-esque.
 
I have both iWork and Office 2008. I really tried to use iWork as my main word processor. However it just doesn't cut the mustard. I've had problems converting documents into Word and sending them on and I've lost little things converting Word documents I've been sent into iWork. The biggest irritation is the spellchecker and thesauris. Compaired to Office it sucks big time. Yep Office for Mac just works.
 
Office takes too long to load, and is more compatible with windows than apple software, after all, .doc is microsoft. iwork is great, but lacks a few features, but does compete with office for price vs. function. seeing as iwork isn't an old veteran like office is, and only existed for less than 5 years, future versions might be better and more compatible with office. i have both, so i get best of both worlds. but thats just my opinion...
 
IMO pages is a better app. it works fine with office 07 and I think the iwork apps are far more versatile and handy. Pages is like word with a nicer UI, more publishing features (it's like word and publisher) and a few other nicer touches. Numbers isn't as good as excel (it's probably more suited when you like to have 'prettier' tables and spreadsheets, but excel has more complex features. Keynote craps all over powerpoint, full stop.
 
tominated said:
IMO pages is a better app. it works fine with office 07 and I think the iwork apps are far more versatile and handy. Pages is like word with a nicer UI, more publishing features (it's like word and publisher) and a few other nicer touches. Numbers isn't as good as excel (it's probably more suited when you like to have 'prettier' tables and spreadsheets, but excel has more complex features. Keynote craps all over powerpoint, full stop.
Click to expand...

I like Pages and I prefer it to Word when I'm working on short, quick and dirty documents for consumption by other people. But for long documents such as dissertations, etc - you would likely be better off with Word.

As for Keynote crapping over Powerpoint - well this is something I subscribed to, but ever since abandoning the POS that is the Macbook Air - and indeed the MBP - for any portable use I've transitioned to Powerpoint, and it hasn't been anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be.
 
Pages does not give you headaches. Word is guaranteed to give you several per day.
 
dukebound85 said:
lol i disagree.....especially when you are sharing documents with other office users
Click to expand...

Exactly.


In a closed system where you're the only person you need to worry about, it doesn't matter which you use (although Word allows you to do things Pages simply cannot).

If you communicate with the rest of the world, you probably need to have the best compatibility with others as possible.......so you need Office.

Pages isn't a replacement for Word. It was never meant to be. I don't mind if people do, but if you're in uni like I am, you'll need Word, and Excel (depending on what you study).
 
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