alternative to MS Office?

[McGiord]

which software are you using? I receive many powerpoint files from friends and I need a program to see them, what do you use?

I have been using goggle docs for excel and word files, but for powerpoint I don't have anything free yet.
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Ford Shelby GR-1 picture

 

[gauchogolfer]

Why not use MS Office? If you deal with them often it makes the most sense.

For another option try OpenOffice or NeoOffice.

If you like, iWork can import Powerpoint and Word documents.

 

[McGiord]

MS office is too expensive

Why not use MS Office? If you deal with them often it makes the most sense.

For another option try OpenOffice or NeoOffice.

If you like, iWork can import Powerpoint and Word documents.

Hi, thanks for your post, the reason I don't like MS Office is due to its high price, I'm not a student or teacher and spending more than $300 for office is not what I want.

iWork seems to be a good alternative, but the fact that I don't like to pay extra money for the applications we used to have included in the past in our brand new macs, make me avoid to pay.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but AppleWorks and/or iWork were included in previous releases of OS X?
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vaporizer pipe

 

[gollum]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but AppleWorks and/or iWork were included in previous releases of OS X?

Neither, I believe were ever included with OS X, however Appleworks used to be included with new Macs.
iWork, never, iLife with new Macs? (not in OS X)

 

[gunthian]

Appleworks used to be bundled with new consumer-line Mac computers, but neither of them were ever included with the OS AFAIK.

Go with NeoOffice. It's FREE and in many ways is just as functional as MSOffice.

 

[devilot]

AppleWorks is included w/ "consumer" models... my iBook G4 came w/ it, and I think so did my MB (but I'm not sure now 'cause if I saw it on here, I deleted it w/ the quickness ).

 

[HugMnster]

AppleWorks is not included on a new mac now. I got it on my old g4 mini but my new 17 inch imac did not have it this year. Wonder if I try an copy over the appleWorks from the mac mini to imac if that will work. I have ms office for mac but might just try coping over appleworks for kicks to see what happens.

jack

 

[Blubbert]

Hi, thanks for your post, the reason I don't like MS Office is due to its high price, I'm not a student or teacher and spending more than $300 for office is not what I want.

iWork seems to be a good alternative, but the fact that I don't like to pay extra money for the applications we used to have included in the past in our brand new macs, make me avoid to pay.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but AppleWorks and/or iWork were included in previous releases of OS X?

The student edition is gone, now its the home student edition, and you need no credentials to get it. However, you could look into the free Open Office, or Neo Ofice.

 

[SMM]

Spend $79 for iWork, or if you have more than 1 Mac, get the 5 user family pack for $99. Keynote is superior to Powerpoint in almost every way. By most accounts, you will be achieving a gain in the application, not just finding an equivalent product.

I switched to Pages (also part of iWork) when it came out. It took a couple days to translate terms, and morph the paradigm shift from Word. I find it exceeds my requirements and is a very productive package. When it first came out, some users did not think it had the same feature rich environment, and functionality Word has. However, there has been a new revision since then, and these were people who wrote professionally. You may find Pages has everything you require, and more.

 

[valiar]

First of all, don't listen to people who recommend NeoOffice/OpenOffice.

These programs are horrendous. No, that does not even start to describe it. They are just so mindbogglingly awful, bloated, slow, and buggy, that if you write a document that is longer than 10 pages (or a document that has any complex formatting or tables in it), working with this document starts feeling like slow torture.

Now, for the constructive suggestions.

I can highly recommend Mellel (http://www.redlex.com) as a replacement to Word. It is a wonderful word processor which is being actively developed and improved. Developers are very responsive, and the program is as fast and bug-free as it gets. Make sure to give a try to Nisus Writer Express too (http://www.nisus.com). I am not using it because it does not seem to be as stable as Mellel, and because it has certain issues with typesetting subscript and superscript characters. Apple's Pages is a nice word processor, but it is somewhat underfeatured. If your needs do not extend beyond relatively simple documents (you are not writing scientific papers), it might be worth your time to check it out.

The best choice for presentation software is Apple's Keynote. Yes, even if you DO have MS Office. Keynote simply outclasses Powerpoint.

Unfortunately, there is no software that I know of that could serve as a plug-in replacement for Excel. I use Deltagraph for making scientific plots. It has more chart types than Excel, can do nonlinear fitting, etc. However, it is also expensive, and comes with a rather clunky interface - it won't be everyone's cup of tea.

I know that some people had good luck with office suite produced by Mariner, but I have not had a chance to try that. The deal breaker for me there is lack of support for all common bibliography applications.

 

[Cult Follower]

Use iWork, I love it.

 

[zamwi]

Neo Office

I have been using Neo Office and it is great, and free.

But when iWork 07 comes out I will probably purchase that. I just hate using anything from M$.

 

[sushi]

There are alternatives out there.

NeoOffice and Open Office for example.

Keynote (iWork) is nice as well.

However, depending on your PowerPoint needs, PowerPoint may be the only software that will allow you to view the presentations as they were originally intended.