Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iWork 08 or 09? Need help quick, purchasing on monday

I

ikermalli

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 9, 2008
691
0
Hello,

I want to know if I should get iWork 08 for 79.99 or get iWork 09 and use NeoOffice for now? I really need something for school and neo office isn't really that great. I also need the documents to work with Microsoft Office. Thanks in advance!

- ikermalli
 
Why not get Office 2008 for Mac? Amazon has it for $95. If you look harder or eBay, you may be able to snag a copy at even a lower price.

I have both iWork and Office '08, and I find most of my time in MS Office. Nothing is wrong with iWork, but I thought you might want to go for it since you will most likely be handed Office documents. Also, Numbers isn't that great when you compare it to Excel.
 
But amazon is in US prices, I am in Canada, I am about to download the 09 trial right now... For some reason 06 costs 10 dollars more
 
If you require 100% document compatibility w/ docx, there's no substitution for going w/ Office 2008. Although, now that MS Office XML is an open standard, I'm hoping Apple makes iWork '10 100% compatible w/ it.

Although, don't take this as a recommendation of Office 08. It's awful. I have to use it for work. It doesn't behave properly w/ Spaces. It's clunky. It's terrible. I really like iWork 09.
 
iWork 09 has been out since January 9th.

What are you doing with Microsoft Office? iWork is compatible with standard Word, Powerpoint and Excel documents. Anything remotely fancy however and the odds are it wont work.
 
ETA: Oops...my original response was for another post. Here's my response for you.

If you're going to go with iWork you should get the latest version. Buying iWork only to use NeoOffice doesn't make any sense. I use Microsoft Office but I used OpenOffice/NeoOffice before I purchased it for a low price at school.
 
Between the two versions of iWork, definitely get the 09. It's much better. And yes the 09 has been out. The iLife 09 was the delayed version but it has since been released.

As a business tool, the Microsoft Office version is the way to go. It's a pain to convert documents back and forth and the conversion loses some features. Microsoft is what the business world uses.

If you rarely exchange documents, the iWork 09 software is great. It is definitely more fun than Office. The major downfall with iWork is Numbers, it's very incapable of the advanced features of Excel.

So depends on how you plan to use it.
 
I am going to buy my external HDD tomorrow, I am testing out iWork soon, I have english class this semester so I will need a word processor. However I will definitely to exchange documents, I will see how much I can get word for, if I cannot get it for less than the $95 from amazon I will have to get that.
 
You might find an authorised education site where you can pick up Office cheap. I can get it for £35 ($50) in the UK, and the full edition not the student edition. All perfectly legal and authorised by Microsoft :)
 
Give JourneyEd a try. They cater specifically to students and have a good collection of software. Their website is www.journeyed.com. I believe they sell Office 2k8 for about $99.00.

Being a new Mac convert I am also looking at options. I am using the trial version of iWork '09 and like it so far.

Good luck!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back