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iWork vs Microsoft Office
- Thread starter 55test55
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I prefer MS Office for Mac, for maximum compatibility with Windows users, and because Excel is more advanced than Numbers. If you don't want MS Office for some reason, there are many alternatives, such as:iWork, NeoOffice, LibreOffice, OpenOffice, Google Docs, etc. Searching the forum will reveal dozens of threads discussing these various alternatives and the pros and cons of each.
Neoffice.
http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php
Much cheaper ($10 or free if you get earlier version) and it works great.
I hear more people who do presentations say Keynote blows away Powerpoint. Word is different than Pages. Pages is more of a page layout app and less of a word processor. Excel is much more powerful than Numbers.
iWork is supposed to be updated this fall. I am guessing not much will change except for iCloud integration. It's doubtful that Numbers will suddenly become an adequate replacement for Excel, unfortunately.
I've used both but started with iWork and to be honest it is good but the major drawback is compatibility between windows. Microsoft office will be your better choice, no compatibility issues.
Office. Better compatibility with PCs and more features. I always have some kind of layout mismatch when I open a .docx file in Pages. Pages also lacks equation builder, which I use very often.
If you just want something to create files for yourself, and you don't mind learning something new (assuming you already know Office), iWork isn't bad IMO.
I have both. The only times I use iWork are for simple documents that I want to save in iCloud, so I can edit from my Mac and iOS devices. I also like that the "templates" for creating flyers/brochures/etc in Pages are rarely seen (at least where I live), which makes it a quick way for me to create something that doesn't look like a run-of-the-mill Microsoft Office job.
For everything else (especially if I'm sharing with PC users), I use Microsoft Office. I rarely run into any file compatibility issues, and trying to figure out how to do anything "not basic" in iWork really slows me down.
These posters are not wrong about compatibility with Windows users. I had a Word template for a resume sent to me. I edited it on the Mac with Pages and emailed it back. The result was spacing being off. My bullet points were diamonds on my end, but half of them turned into dashes on the PC side. Ended up firing up a Windows PC to re-do it.
I've had iWork since I bought this Mac and this is the first issue (that I know of).
I've had iWork since I bought this Mac and this is the first issue (that I know of).
Some of the above comments mention compatibility with windows users...
I would assume since fonts are different one windows and mac that it would alter the formatting to a certain extent. Does anyone have expereince with this?
Also, I know the latest version of Excel for Mac has visual basic now, how is the campatibility between windows and mac in that regard?
I would assume since fonts are different one windows and mac that it would alter the formatting to a certain extent. Does anyone have expereince with this?
Also, I know the latest version of Excel for Mac has visual basic now, how is the campatibility between windows and mac in that regard?
The same fonts can be installed on both platforms, so they are less likely to be an issue. Other formatting elements such as margins, headers, tables, etc. may be affected when sharing files between platforms, although I have seen very little difference in documents between the platforms.
Depends on what you want to do. I like iWork because I hate microsoft clogging up my puter with crap.
But the programs are slightly different in their approaches, and if you are used to word and excel, then pages may seem awkward, but once used to pages and numbers, word and excel seem like crap.
I've also used open office.
But the programs are slightly different in their approaches, and if you are used to word and excel, then pages may seem awkward, but once used to pages and numbers, word and excel seem like crap.
I've also used open office.
My experience with iWork's Office compatibility is such, that it works for simple documents, but fails badly for complex ones. The first thing that Pages failed on me was opening Word document with fillable forms. That was way over Pages' capabilities. If you depend on Office macros, then this question becomes a no-brainer.
Though I find this very difficult to write because it seems so oxymoronic, the Microsoft product is better, though I wish it weren't.
As maddening as Excel can often be, you can actually get serious work done with it. Numbers should be called Whole Numbers.
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As maddening as Excel can often be, you can actually get serious work done with it. Numbers should be called Whole Numbers.
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