Do I need Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac

[macfevorite]

I just ordered my 20" online and the sales rep highly recommended that I buy Microsoft office for mac. His reasoning was that I would need it to open any word documents that other pc's would email me. I then asked the store rep and she said that I could open it in Pages and I would only needit for powerpoint etc. I don't know who to believe. I already ordered it....so I need a quick reply if I need to cancel. Any help wouldn be appreciated. I'monly paying 144(military discount). Thanks.

 

[WildCowboy]

It depends on your needs. Pages can open/save Word documents and Keynote can open/save PowerPoint documents if you want to pay for iWork. There is no Apple equivalent of Excel yet though. Other people like the free NeoOffice suite instead.

 

[petvas]

I just ordered my 20" online and the sales rep highly recommended that I buy Microsoft office for mac. His reasoning was that I would need it to open any word documents that other pc's would email me. I then asked the store rep and she said that I could open it in Pages and I would only needit for powerpoint etc. I don't know who to believe. I already ordered it....so I need a quick reply if I need to cancel. Any help wouldn be appreciated. I'monly paying 144(military discount). Thanks.

Pages doesnt work well with Word documents. If you need compatibility get it. The performance is ok, could be much better though if it was a Universal application.
Keynote is better than Powerpoint and I use it for my presentations. If you also need Excel plus the Remote Desktop Client, MS Office is a really good choice. At this price I wouldnt think about it!

 

[MacBoobsPro]

TextEdit can also open word files and it comes free in OSX.

 

[extraextra]

I think Microsoft Office is the best for any type of word /spreadsheet document. I'm not a fan of Pages at all. People like other 3rd party software like NeoOffice or things like that but I've never tried any of those.

If you don't have a preference for Word, and don't use Powerpoint, Excel, Access, etc. then you don't need it.

I wish Apple would bundle Appleworks with their computers, sigh.

 

[meepm00pmeep]

you don't need it, Apples TextEdit can open .DOC files and there are cheaper alternatives like Appleworks that you could use to create documents

 

[rtdgoldfish]

Check out Open Office. Its a free open source office suite that is fully compatable with MS Office. I've been messing around with it on my PC and I love it.

 

[xfiftyfour]

Pages doesnt work well with Word documents.

Works just fine from what I've used. Sometimes you come across an imcompatibility, but it's only formatting - it will still open and show the document just fine, it just may be altered a bit from the original - and that's only sometimes.

at any rate, I don't use Office, just iWork. I used to only use Office, but because it's not UB, I started using iWork instead, and found that it was really nice and easier to use. So.. now I use that exclusively.

Office is still a nice suite, though. If you want the standard or need excel, then it's worth it.

Just be sure that you are aware of the fact that there are free alternatives, and a mac-native alternative. It all boils down to preference, really.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

I've ditched MS Office completely for a mix of TextWrangler (text), TextEdit (word processing) and NeoOffice (for opening/making other Office documents).

TextWrangler and NeoOffice are freeware and TextEdit is preinstalled on all Macs.

Hopefully, I'll never need MS Office ever again...

 

[dwishbone]

OpenOffice is now publically available in a native Mac version now. no X11 required. no NeoOffice java wrapper. its all native. i believe its listed as an "alpha" but i've been using it for awhile now with absolutely no problems.
it works fine with nearly anything Microsoft Office can produce/read.

 

[ChrisA]

Try Open Office

I just ordered my 20" online and the sales rep highly recommended that I buy Microsoft office for mac..

Get Open Office. http://www.openoffice.org

It is very comparable to MS Office. It can open and let you edit most MS Office documents and the best thing is that it's free. It runs on most OSes too. Solaris, Linux, Windows and Mac OSX. And it does one thinf MS Office can't do - It runs native n the Intel Mac without sing Roseta

Mac version is here: http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/download/index.html

 

[macfevorite]

Thank You !

I called the rep back and after muchn discussion he checked with higher ups and he was wrong and apologized. Again thanks to all of you for your help!

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

no NeoOffice java wrapper.

Well, NeoOffice still has some very nice features, like the new Aqua menus and Finder integration...

 

[wchong]

imac's come with office 2004 so why would you have to buy another one?

 

[WildCowboy]

imac's come with office 2004 so why would you have to buy another one?

Because that's just a test drive version. You have to pay for it if you want to keep using it.

 

[wchong]

oops my bad, should've known that! sry, new to macs!

 

[miles01110]

Down with MS Office...

Again, I push for LaTeX!

 

[coachingguy]

In the minority here...

I'm obviously in the minority here, but if you can get Office for $144, that's a pretty good bargain. I use Office right now because IMHO it's the most complete and (relatively) easiest to use productivity suite for Mac. I've tried Pages, and while it's a good start, it needs work and is not meant to be a word processor. I love Keynote and use it almost daily.

Appleworks...well, we should not speak ill of the dead.

As others have commented on, Excel is the top right now. I've downloaded and used NeoOffice, I keep downloading the updates hoping they'll make it more functional. In the end, NeoOffice is a very good idea that still needs work. I teach and I write every day, I need something I can absolutely count on to do what it says it's going to do. Right now that application is Microsoft (boohisssbooo) Office . Again, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Coachingguy

 

[cuestakid]

I don't know if I am the only person that this has happened to but when I bought Office it worked fine but all of a sudden it wouldnt even open-sometimes rebooting worked, sometimes not, and sometimes it would bounce for a second and nothing would happen-this occured on my Mac Pro and I think I am guessing that the culprit is the fact that Office is not a UB-i know this because i have done several uninstalls and reinstalls on it and it has not fixed it- In the end, I downloaded NeoOffice and have been very satisfied

just thought I would give my two cents