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Microsft Office alternative

T

tadasb

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 26, 2009
7
0
I read big part of discusions, but could not find the satisfying answer.

I am messed up about Office issue. I am a pc user and going to move to mac in several months. Very big part of my work is conserned about working with Microsoft office (Word and Excel about 90%). During work I have 10-20 opened big docs and xls (pricelist, offers, acconts, etc.). As I understand, Microsoft Office for mac works very slow. So:

1. I can not let my Office application be slow (no way);
2. Can not risk "will client open file or not, if will, is it the same" ( iWork case)(no iWork please:) )
3. Spaces is one of the things that attracks me a lot about macs. Because I am doing a lot different tasks in one time. Microsoft office Bugged :)

Is there any rational solution out of this situation? Mainly, working fast and save/open exactly the same through macs and pc's? Would be very thankfull for answer!!! :)

p.s. This community is great,tons of good information. It seems I already know how to work with leopard :) (i've seen it for 5 min. at shop)

p.s.2. Sorry for my pure english :)
 
You can run the Windows version of Office with Fusion/Parallels or through BootCamp. With your requirements, this is probably your best solution. Office 2004 or 2008 for the Mac is not totally equivalent to the PC versions. Open Office will probably not do it for you either. The iWork solutions of Pages and Numbers is not sufficient for what you are asking.

If you are demanding strict compatibility and functionality with Office... run Windows on the Mac.

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
tadasb said:
I read big part of discusions, but could not find the satisfying answer.

I am messed up about Office issue. I am a pc user and going to move to mac in several months. Very big part of my work is conserned about working with Microsoft office (Word and Excel about 90%). During work I have 10-20 opened big docs and xls (pricelist, offers, acconts, etc.). As I understand, Microsoft Office for mac works very slow. So:

1. I can not let my Office application be slow (no way);
2. Can not risk "will client open file or not, if will, is it the same" ( iWork case)(no iWork please:) )
3. Spaces is one of the things that attracks me a lot about macs. Because I am doing a lot different tasks in one time. Microsoft office Bugged :)

Is there any rational solution out of this situation? Mainly, working fast and save/open exactly the same through macs and pc's? Would be very thankfull for answer!!! :)

p.s. This community is great,tons of good information. It seems I already know how to work with leopard :) (i've seen it for 5 min. at shop)

p.s.2. Sorry for my pure english :)
Click to expand...

Office 2008 for mac can be a little slow when starting the apps but seems absolutely fine to me once up and running. You can try the office 2008 'test-drive' to see if it will meet your requirements.
 
running windows is not accepted also, why to buy mac then? :)

Whats is about Open office? I do not need any big possibilities of my office (just doing writing, tables, some charts).

Yes, I need strict compatibility and fast working, would Open office do it? Maybe there are other applications?
 
There is no strict compatibility with anything else than MS Office because its formats are a bloody lock-in mess (I read like dumping in-memory structures, for example).
 
MS Office 2004 or 2008 are going to be your best bet on the Mac, but I stand by my original statement... you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Maybe a Mac is not the best solution for you. You will find that Excel is not the same on the Mac in functionality. The file formats will be compatible (for the most part), but you will still find some irregularities that will drive you batty, even with Word. Spaces will not function correctly, we already know that.

If running Windows on the Mac is not an option, you should seriously consider whether a Mac is the best solution for your work environment based on everything you have stated above.

Just my 2¢

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
tadasb said:
running windows is not accepted also, why to buy mac then? :)

Whats is about Open office? I do not need any big possibilities of my office (just doing writing, tables, some charts).

Yes, I need strict compatibility and fast working, would Open office do it? Maybe there are other applications?
Click to expand...
Openoffice is not going to give you strict compatibility unless you have really simple documents and spreadsheets. Office 2008 is really your only choice or Virtualbox/VMware/Parallels. I know you don't want to install Windows but sometimes you don't have a choice. To be honest, if so much of your work involves being locked into a Microsoft software solution, you really should reconsider whether a Mac is right for you.
 
tadasb said:
3. Spaces is one of the things that attracks me a lot about macs. Because I am doing a lot different tasks in one time. Microsoft office Bugged :)
Click to expand...
Office 2008 for the Mac does not play well at all with Spaces.

I agree with the other members here. Except, I love Open Office, and have had no compatibility issues or speed issues.

If you do decide to go ahead and get you a Mac, I think you should try Open Office, and see what you think, since it's free and all.

Do you have any friends with Macs? Maybe you could test drive one?
 
redwarrior said:
Office 2008 for the Mac does not play well at all with Spaces.

I agree with the other members here. Except, I love Open Office, and have had no compatibility issues or speed issues.

If you do decide to go ahead and get you a Mac, I think you should try Open Office, and see what you think, since it's free and all.

Do you have any friends with Macs? Maybe you could test drive one?
Click to expand...

One of the things the OP can try is running the Windows version of OpenOffice and see if it has any issues with his files first.
 
I am currently analyzing my work :)

I must have speed to work with office application. That's essential. But, I guess, I could overcome incompatability.

I do need compatability when dealing with clients. But they do not need to edit my word/excel files. So I can use iWork in making "doc's", "excels" and send pdf. It even looks better. Any incompatability here?

I do receive doc's and excel's (mostly) from my dealers. But they are simply. Just specifications, numbers etc. No special diagrams, formulas or etc. Will iWork read them correctly? I would like to receive number 10, not 11 :))) Also what about languages, as in Lithuania we have some other leters that are nor included in qwerty.

Inside company, it seems to me, that mostly my files do not need correction. But if they would need, would microsoft office and iwork "talk together" - when dealing with simple things +-*/, simple diagrams, some formulas (IF I gues would be the hardest one)?

Thanks guys a lot!!! It seems to be the best forum :)
 
NeoOffice. Mac specific port of Openoffice. NeoOffice is more integrated into Mac OS X (ie it has access to the system grammar checker and etc.) Also Neooffice better supports Office 2007 formats (opens and saves in) and VBA in excel.
 
tadasb said:
I am currently analyzing my work :)

I must have speed to work with office application. That's essential. But, I guess, I could overcome incompatability.

I do need compatability when dealing with clients. But they do not need to edit my word/excel files. So I can use iWork in making "doc's", "excels" and send pdf. It even looks better. Any incompatability here?

I do receive doc's and excel's (mostly) from my dealers. But they are simply. Just specifications, numbers etc. No special diagrams, formulas or etc. Will iWork read them correctly? I would like to receive number 10, not 11 :))) Also what about languages, as in Lithuania we have some other leters that are nor included in qwerty.

Inside company, it seems to me, that mostly my files do not need correction. But if they would need, would microsoft office and iwork "talk together" - when dealing with simple things +-*/, simple diagrams, some formulas (IF I gues would be the hardest one)?

Thanks guys a lot!!! It seems to be the best forum :)
Click to expand...

iWork should work fine, but IMO it's one of those things you have to try before you really know if you'll run into an issue.

I guess the good thing is there are so many options.

My suggestion would be this. Once you get your Mac download the trials of iWork, Mac Office, etc. give them a try and see if you have any issues.

OpenOffice would be a decent suggestion, personally I don't really like the UI all that much on the Mac version though.

And I guess worst case scenario is you can do like others suggested and run Windows in a VM so you can use the exact same version of Office you do now.

If your Mac will replace whatever PC you have now you could just install that copy of Windows and Office in whatever VM software you have to save some money. Also check out VirtualBox by Sun for a free VM program.

I use iWork 09 myself but it's mostly for personal files I create and not so much for working with Office files sent to me.
 
beg_ne said:
OpenOffice would be a decent suggestion, personally I don't really like the UI all that much on the Mac version though.
Click to expand...
Which is why NeoOffice is a good choice, now based on Oo_Org 3.0. Very stable and handles all my work exchanging files with MS Office users on Windows.

However, if there will ever be VBA, then your only true option is virtualization with Bootcamp, et al. MS Office 2008 does not support VBA at all; MS Office 2004 does support VBA to a limited extent, but it is based on VB5 which is the same as MS Office 97 on Windows. Anything done with MS Office 2000, 2002, 2003, or 2007 will have compatibility problems.

I worked for a Fortune 50 company for 8 years as an analyst, using Windows. If I still had that job and had to do any work on my Mac, it would be with Bootcamp, et al, and the Windows version of Office.
 
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