Office for Mac or stick with AppleWorks?

[kwajaln]

I will be buying an iMac and have a question about AppleWorks/Office for Mac. I will be a switcher so I am not familiar with AppleWorks. Is "Office for Mac" necessary, or is AppleWorks enough? I would be using Word and Excel primarily, and would not be concerned about PowerPoint or Entourage. Thanks!

 

[robbieduncan]

AppleWorks is probably good enough for basic usage. If you need perfect import/export of very complicated Word docs or Excel with loads of macros you probably need Office. I think you either get or can download a 30 day "test drive" for Office with a new Mac so you can see if it's worth it before you buy it.

 

[bubbamac]

If you're going to be using the files that you create only for your use, and not importing a whole lot of files from others, Appleworks will be sufficient.

However, if you've got to collaborate with lots of people with Windoze computers, sharing files, and altering them, you'll want to spring for Office.

Office really works, and is still the best office suite out there for the Mac. It's too bad Apple didn't release a spreadsheet app along with the new Word competitor (the name simply escapes me right now.)

If you get Office v.X for cheap, it'll work great. Just remember to quit the apps when you're done with them - a very non-mac like process. It eats processor cycles, even when idle. I'm told that Office 2004 doesn't have this problem.

 

[Damien]

Certainly Office!

 

[wrldwzrd89]

If you're going to be using the files that you create only for your use, and not importing a whole lot of files from others, Appleworks will be sufficient.

However, if you've got to collaborate with lots of people with Windoze computers, sharing files, and altering them, you'll want to spring for Office.

Office really works, and is still the best office suite out there for the Mac. It's too bad Apple didn't release a spreadsheet app along with the new Word competitor (the name simply escapes me right now.)

If you get Office v.X for cheap, it'll work great. Just remember to quit the apps when you're done with them - a very non-mac like process. It eats processor cycles, even when idle. I'm told that Office 2004 doesn't have this problem.

I felt like replying to your points in reverse order...

Actually, switchers probably aren't used to leaving applications open anyway, since Windows isn't the best when it comes to multitasking - this may not be an issue.

The Apple word processor application is called "Pages". My theory as to why Apple didn't include a spreadsheet application in iWork '05 is because they think most people use spreadsheets purely for the charting feature - this is built-in to Pages.

If you have complex Office documents from Office for Windows, Office for Mac is the ONLY way to go - guaranteed "perfect" compatibility, and easy to share your documents with Windows users.

I agree. If you're not sharing your work with others (or you need only to share work with others in non-editable form, like PDF - printing to these is built in to Mac OS X), AppleWorks will be sufficient for your needs. I'm not going to use AppleWorks anymore myself, since I'm getting Pages as part of iWork '05 (whenever it arrives, that is - I bought it online).

 

[Blue Velvet]

If you're a student or teacher, Microsoft offer substantial discounts on Office 2004. Like robbieduncan said, download the trial version and give it a go...

If you do end up buying it, then make sure you also download the updaters for it as well (service packs as MS calls them). There's at least 1 new one for Office 2004 already.

To be honest, it's almost one of those indispensable applications for your Mac. I haven't seen Pages so can't comment on it although there are some grumblings about it already...

 

[tubedogg]

iWork's Pages is not intended to be a Word competitor...it compares much more to Microsoft Publisher, a SOHO page design program. As mentioned elsewhere in this thread it can handle simple Word documents, but if you are going to be working heavily with them, springing for Office is definitely the better idea.

If you are a student or teacher or have a student or teacher in the household, you can get the Student and Teacher Edition for $149 ($133 at Amazon) which is the same as the regular version, except it includes a 3 computer license and is several hundred dollars cheaper. Even if you don't have a student or teacher in the household, if you don't mind bending the license rules a bit, no one ever checks to make sure you actually qualify. It's more of a marketing gimmick than an actual academic package.

 

[Jsmit]

Even if you don't have a student or teacher in the household, if you don't mind bending the license rules a bit, no one ever checks to make sure you actually qualify. It's more of a marketing gimmick than an actual academic package.

What you are advising is theft. You might as well tell kwajaln to download Office P2P. In both cases you don't have a valid licenses. [edit: unless of course kwajaln qualifies for educational discount]

To answer kwajaln question: I believe only you can determine if Office is needed by you. When I first switched, I tried using just Apple Works but found that I missed some of the features of Office. Apple Works can be used very effectively and I do occasionally use it, but for most instances I rely on Office. I too use mostly Exel and Word, and have no use for Entourage.

 

[tubedogg]

What you are advising is theft. You might as well tell kwajaln to download Office P2P. In both cases you don't have a valid licenses. [edit: unless of course kwajaln qualifies for educational discount]

No, what I am advising is that unlike actual academic software, the Office Student and Teacher edition is a marketing gimmick and to take it as such. If it was academic software, they would require photo IDs like they do for their actual academic products. They wouldn't be selling it at Staples and Best Buy where anyone can buy it with no questions asked.

Regardless of whether it is against the EULA or not, it is not theft. It may be violating a license agreement, but there is no definition of theft that it would fall under.

 

[SuperChuck]

The Apple word processor application is called "Pages". My theory as to why Apple didn't include a spreadsheet application in iWork '05 is because they think most people use spreadsheets purely for the charting feature - this is built-in to Pages.

Excel is for much, much more than charting. My guess is that their Excel competitor is not yet ready for release. The iWork suite will likely expand in products and functionality over the next couple of years - and will hopefully end up being a formidable opponent to Office.

At the moment, though, I think Office is still pretty indispensible for most users - especially recent switchers.

 

[pimentoLoaf]

Certainly Office!

I second this.

Make sure you have Office 2004: The Missing Manual, as it has tons of tricks, tips, and techniques.

 

[MisterMe]

No, what I am advising is that unlike actual academic software, the Office Student and Teacher edition is a marketing gimmick and to take it as such. If it was academic software, they would require photo IDs like they do for their actual academic products. They wouldn't be selling it at Staples and Best Buy where anyone can buy it with no questions asked.

Regardless of whether it is against the EULA or not, it is not theft. It may be violating a license agreement, but there is no definition of theft that it would fall under.

Actually, the Windows version of Office Student and Teacher is sold at Office Depot. I presume it is sold at other office supply stores including Staples.

 

[tubedogg]

Actually, the Windows version of Office Student and Teacher is sold at Office Depot. I presume it is sold at other office supply stores including Staples.

That's exactly my point.

 

[kwajaln]

Wow, a lot of excellent responses....thank you! The majority of the opinions are in line with what I was expecting, which is good. As for the student/teacher edition debate, if I was interested in getting Office via P2P, I wouldn't have bothered asking, I would have simply downloaded it. By the way, an employee at the Apple store in ATL told me that the ONLY difference between student/teacher and standard was not that you had to be a student or teacher to qualify, but that it could not be upgraded, that's all. Whether that is entirely correct or not I don't know. Anyway, thanks for the info!

 

[Macky-Mac]

......By the way, an employee at the Apple store in ATL told me that the ONLY difference between student/teacher and standard was not that you had to be a student or teacher to qualify, but that it could not be upgraded, that's all. Whether that is entirely correct or not I don't know. Anyway, thanks for the info!

Actually, if you check with Microsoft, this is what they have posted on their website;

"...Qualified Educational User Eligibility
To license Office 2004 for Mac Student and Teacher Edition, you must be a Qualified Educational User or the parent or guardian of a Qualified Educational User who is a minor. Qualified Educational Users include:

* Full- or part-time students
* Home schooled students
* Full- or part-time faculty or staff of an accredited educational institution...."

 

[tubedogg]

Yes, well, the sticking point is them actually checking that you are one of those things. As previously mentioned in this thread, unlike nearly every other academic software package on the planet, they don't check, they don't make any attempt to check, and it is a marketing gimmick to get people, who would normally download Office or get a copy from a friend, to buy it at a reduced rate, without offering an actual "regular consumer" Office at that price point. (That would kill them being able to charge $400 a pop in the future.)

 

[tubedogg]

It's also interesting that the qualifications for Office Student and Teacher Edition 2003 (PC) are different from Office 2004 for Mac Student and Teacher Edition. For the PC version you need only be living in a household with someone who qualifies; the Mac version requires you be someone who qualifies. (Though I don't quite understand the point in including 3 licenses in that case; the average American household has 2 kids, they don't likely each have their own computer, so likely two of the licenses would be going on Mommy's and Daddy's computers. Why include 3 licenses if you aren't going to allow household members of qualified users to use it as well? And why make the qualifications different for PC and Mac users?)

 

[Macky-Mac]

... Why include 3 licenses if you aren't going to allow household members of qualified users to use it as well? ...

if you reread my post above you'll see that Parents or Guardians ARE included as qualified users

 

[tubedogg]

OK, I misread that part. However it doesn't include other people who live in the household as the PC Office license does.