Have iWork any need to install Office?

[Luba]

I am about to do a clean install of Mavericks and I am thinking of only installing iWork. I do have Office 2011, but every month there's a critical update. I wonder if I could get by with just iWork. I don't collaborate with anyone using Office, but I do need to be able to read Office documents when they are sent to me. When I create a document I send as a pdf.

Have I thought of all the scenarios where I might need Office? Btw, I do have Office 2011, I just don't want to install, if not necessary.

 

[maflynn]

It sounds like you have your needs met by MS office which is a more robust and powerful app. I think you'll be very disappointed in what iWork has to offer in its current forum. Stick with Office and ignore the monthly updates until you get to a point where you can do a large number of them or it closes a security hole that that might impact you

 

[Fishrrman]

If you have the space, put on both MS Office '11 and iWork.

Then you'll have compatibility when you need it.

BTW, be aware that the version of iWork which is offered with Mavericks is somewhat "stripped down" vis-a-vis earlier versions of iWork. If you have an older copy available, that might be the better choice...

 

[Crusader007]

iWork is ok for most basic personal use. But Office still holds the edge. Definitely.

I mean compare Numbers vs Excel. For example, in Excel, you can connect to external data sources like SQL or Filemaker. Can you do that in Numbers? Nopes. Not yet. Excel is far better and much advanced than Numbers in terms of features.

 

[maflynn]

If you have the space, put on both MS Office '11 and iWork.

This will work as well, but I think if the OP has office, there's almost no reason to have iWork. I have both, and to be honest the only reason why I use Numbers if because it has iCloud syncing and I have a number of very simple spreadsheets that I need to view on my iPad

Prior to their update, I found Numbers and Pages to be decent, now they're completely hamstrung by apple gutting them.