Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac worth the Money?

[iBunny]

I am an avid office 2003 user for my PC... and I do not own a mac yet, however will get my powerbook this year very near christmas time. I need a good set of office applications. I am not asking if it is good or bad, I am just asking is it worh the 399$ (Standard Edition)

Thanks

 

[nbaker756]

worth the investment

i have office 2004 and i find to be a worthwhile investment. i use it all the time and it has a good feature set. i would say get the student and teacher edition instead. its about $150 and nobody checks student id. it comes with all the same features but for a decreased price. it also allows 3 installs, which may be good if you ever get another mac. i read somewhere that microsoft sells more student and teacher editions than any other product in the windows office system.

 

[jaseone]

Depends what you need...

If you just need to do basic word processing, spreadsheets, presentations etc. without needing 100% compatibility (and I mean 100%) to exchange important documents with other MS Office users like in a corporate environment where things have to be absolutely perfect then I would say MS Office isn't worth it.

Instead I would recommend first installing X11 from Apple's software repository and then installing OpenOffice, it has just about all the same functionality as MS Office but is completely free and as an added bonus has native support for saving PDF files.

Cheers,
Jason

 

[dsharits]

In a word, yes. I have used every version of MS Office for Mac and PC, and I can tell you that Office 2004 is by far the best, most complete and closest to perfect of any of them.

Daniel

 

[Josh]

Considering I only paid $60 for it at my girlfriend's university, I'd have to say yes!

MS Office is by FAR the standard - especially Word and Excel. Powerpoint could be better, but there is a reason everyone uses office.

OpenOffice shouldnt even be mentioned as an alternative. Its horrible IMO. Sure it does the job, but comparing it to MS Office is apples and oranges. Its like comparing an abacus to a calculater. They both do the same thing, but obviously one is going to do the job better.

Get MS Office through a school somehow, and you will be more than satisfied. The Standard edition, originally close to $400, can be picked up for around $60 at a university

 

[~Shard~]

Gotta agree. Although the price isn't cheap, Office is really great, assuming you make good use out of it, and in my mind it is definitely worth it. Some things are actually worth paying for, and IMO this is one of them. As with everything though, it comes down to personal use and how much you, specifically, will use it.

 

[abc123]

is it that much better than office x?
i find that office x has the annoying trait that it unexpectedly quits ALL THE TIME and i find myself typing things up in text edit and then formatting them in word so i don't have the risk of losing everything. excel is the same but there isn't much i can do to avoid it.

 

[Blue Velvet]

It's fairly stable esp. with release of Service Pack 1.

PowerPoint is still the flakiest... but it's still an essential package for those who have to work with PC users.

 

[DJY]

Never used Office X, but as a new switcher I am used to Office - and it is a must have for me.

Was quite surprised though at the Office 2004 (for Mac)
WOW! I think I like it better than all of Windoze versions I have used!

 

[kiwi-in-uk]

Have used every version of Office for PC, also Office X and now Office 2004 for Mac.

Office 2004 for Mac is the best of the lot in my opinion - especially with a large-ish screen (in my case a 17") to spread around all the toolbars and the formatting palette.

 

[iJon]

I must say the Notebook feature is pretty awesome. I am almost to the point where I go into dork mode and start using it for classes to take notes. I've gotten to that point because I went to study the other day and I could hardly read what I wrote.

jon

 

[BWhaler]

Get it, no question about it. It's one of the best apps MS has put out in a long time on either platform. A lot of non-mac magazines have said that Office for the Mac is better than the PC version.

Get the academic version...you can buy it anywhere. It's got 3 licenses for 150 bucks. They are the same programs. Only the box is different; nothing more.

 

[Pixeled_Apple]

Alternate - AppleWorks ; Keynote

I dunno if this will appeal to you but apple has AppleWorks 6, it has a Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Presentations... and Keynote will also help.. Just an alternate.

 

[Mustafa]

I don't need the full package

Can you buy just the Word part of the package -- I don't need Excel, PowerPoint or Entourage?

 

[Darwin]

Can you buy just the Word part of the package -- I don't need Excel, PowerPoint or Entourage?

You could, its just that the seperate packages aren't really any cheaper than a full box, Ive seen Word for £100+ and thats just on its own

(I'm assuming over were you live the prices are set in the same way)

I think you'd be better off getting the Student & Teacher Edition, it will save you money (compared to the Word only package) and you get all the other Office apps too

 

[~Shard~]

is it that much better than office x?
i find that office x has the annoying trait that it unexpectedly quits ALL THE TIME and i find myself typing things up in text edit and then formatting them in word so i don't have the risk of losing everything. excel is the same but there isn't much i can do to avoid it.

It's not significantly better (after all, how much can a word processing or spreadsheet app change? ) but with all the little features added in here and there, I would still say it's worth it though. If you're on a tight budget though, and are already using Office v.X, then you may not see too much additional value if you purchase Office 2004.

As for unexpectedly quitting, I can't really speak to that, as I have been using Office since v.X came out for Mac, I use Word, Excel, and used to use Entourage, and never had one unexpected quit ever, even after hours of solid use. All I can impart to you on this is the good old rule: save often!

 

[~Shard~]

It's fairly stable esp. with release of Service Pack 1.

PowerPoint is still the flakiest... but it's still an essential package for those who have to work with PC users.

Yah, that would be the only time I would ever use PowerPoint nowadays - I'm a Keynote man whenever I can be!

 

[~Shard~]

Get it, no question about it. It's one of the best apps MS has put out in a long time on either platform. A lot of non-mac magazines have said that Office for the Mac is better than the PC version.

I have read this too, and I wasn't sure if it was just written by a Mac zealot or if it was true. However, after thinking about it and thinking about my own experiences with Office for Mac, I'd tend to agree - it's a really solid app and I have no complaints whatsoever with it - and due to the added features in 2004, I'd have to say I do like it better than its Windows counterpart.

 

[SpaceMagic]

There is no doubt. MS Office is a must buy. Honestly, as a student, mum a teacher, dad an MD, we use it all the time. I've used others, even free one like ThinkOffice and yes they are fine for word processing. But nothing makes it as easy and productive as MS Office.

 

[mpw]

I dunno if this will appeal to you but apple has AppleWorks 6, it has a Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Presentations... and Keynote will also help.. Just an alternate.

AppleWorks is SO in need of an update.

If Apple release just one thing next year please let it be AppleWorks 7, iWorks or AppleWorks X.

If they can release something as polished as iLife or their OS it'll do more for their bottomline then a pBook Dual 4Ghz G6 tablet edition. (maybe)

I'm convinced that the only reason they don't is because it would destroy any 3rd party developer support for the Mac OS.

 

[Guitarius]

Like many other smart folks, I use Open Office. I love it. It was free. It works great. It was free. Its compatible with MS Office. It was free. Never given me any problems. It was free. Wonderfully stable. Free. Can easily open and read all kinds of documents recieved from friends, class mates, etc who use PCs. Oh, and did I mention it was free?

 

[Macmaniac]

You can buy Excel, Word, and PP separately for about $200.

Now people the Student and Teacher edition is for STUDENTS AND TEACHERS ONLY!
Yes it feels good to get it for less, but this is only going to mean that M$ is going to stop offering the S&T edition because they are losing money, then that leaves the real S&T out in the cold.
Honestly if you are a parent of a school age child you qualify, if you are a student in K-12 or in higher ed you qualify, that is a lot of people.
Be ethical, if you are not a S&T then pay the full price.
Sorry to preach but it goes against the whole anti piracy thing we try to promote on the boards.
2004 is worth it, I love Appleworks, but its outdated and buggy.

 

[aswitcher]

I've got it and it isvery good. A little slow when word is loaded up with images but good.