Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Pages in the workforce
- Thread starter jwolf6589
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I'm a big fan, but even in my very Mac-centric office it's a hard sell to get others to use it instead of Google. Pages definitely provides a really nice UI and works beautifully on Macs -- and has very strong formatting features. I think it's a good substitute for Word, but I don't think the collaboration tools are anywhere near as strong as Google's.
I've used Numbers a fair bit. I think it's really good for general spreadsheet use. Each tab is kind of a blank canvas onto which you can put multiple tables if you like, but also drop in images, which can be really handy for some uses. I'm not spreadsheet power user by any means, but I gather it's missing a lot of the really high-powered stuff that Excel can do.
It does lack those features. But it’s great for the basics. I use it for my budget. However how many major corps use Macs anyways as their primary computer? Very few.
I have personnaly not heard of a single org using the iWork suite as their main productivity offering. Not that they are not fine pieces of software.
The google products are web-based, so they are platform neutral. Apple's and Microsoft's corresponding applications can also be accessed just using a web browser. You should check them out to compare the features of these three web-based offerings.
It's not true that only small offices use Macs.
It's not true that only small offices use Macs.
Some corps use Macs. But I am saying the dominant computer is Windows in most large companies like the one I work for.
They may be platform neutral but I bet a donut the Windows browsers have more features.
Numbers is a very capable spreadsheet offering. I enjoy using it a lot without missing a beat. Although it took me a while to adjust to it as a recovering excel user for many years. If you give it time and learn it -- it is great to use. I have not used Pages quite as much but it appears to be a good software as well. As for corporate use, I think you do not really have much of a choice -- you use the software your company decides to use.
Whilst that is not entirely true I do know a lot of small offices using only Macs, but, they all use office 365. It's been many years since I have seen anyone's office making any serious use of Pages/Numbers/Keynote.
Even if offices use Macs, chances are they are interacting with external parties that are not or are whilst still using Office 365.
Since you were looking to compare tools to Google's web apps, were you asking about the competing web apps or their desktop products?
Have you tried Microsoft's and Apple's software to compare? It's pretty easy to do.
The tools work the same on both platforms. You can run Edge, Firefox, or Chrome (and others) on both Windows or Mac. Try it out and see if you get more features on Windows. I'd be interested in any examples you find. You had better go out and buy that donut; I have a feeling someone will take your bet and you'll owe them
.
I run my business via Numbers. It's different. That's all I can say really. But it works.
I was using Excel via O365 on Windows originally and mostly due to apathy to move anything over. After two separate data loss incidents in O365 and a hardware failure (thanks Lenovo - couldn't replace a 2 month old Thinkpad for 3 months!) I put some effort into testing use cases. I found myself reaching for my Mac, mostly only used for photography and music stuff, as the only thing that ticked the boxes. I didn't trust O365 and Numbers was there so I ran some sheets up on it and it stuck. Two years down the line, no problems.
I've got some shortcuts automations that are quite handy as well - you can use it to add rows to sheets.
I was using Excel via O365 on Windows originally and mostly due to apathy to move anything over. After two separate data loss incidents in O365 and a hardware failure (thanks Lenovo - couldn't replace a 2 month old Thinkpad for 3 months!) I put some effort into testing use cases. I found myself reaching for my Mac, mostly only used for photography and music stuff, as the only thing that ticked the boxes. I didn't trust O365 and Numbers was there so I ran some sheets up on it and it stuck. Two years down the line, no problems.
I've got some shortcuts automations that are quite handy as well - you can use it to add rows to sheets.
I am a basic user so could not find anything with Safari. But then again there may be features that an advanced spreadsheet user will find.The tools work the same on both platforms. You can run Edge, Firefox, or Chrome (and others) on both Windows or Mac. Try it out and see if you get more features on Windows. I'd be interested in any examples you find. You had better go out and buy that donut; I have a feeling someone will take your bet and you'll owe them
The only notable omission from my perspective is missing engineering unit formats. That's quite useful for some personal stuff I do. But I can work around that fine.
That's a sweeping statement, and inaccurate. Large businesses that I'm familiar with have some people working on Macs and some on Wintel machines. Because they want to use the best tool for the job, and to be able to support employees who have a necessity to use one platform or the other.