Said goodbye to MS Office

[Mac-lover3]

Hello everyone

After that I bought my MacBook Air in 2011 together with MS Office 2011 (Student Version) I completely switched to Pages & Keynote (almost don't use Numbers). In the beginning it was quite horrible to be honest but after some time I found workarounds for almost every problem I had. Also keep in mind that iLife is free with every new Mac you buy while MS Office costs 149€/$. I do realize that iLife is not as advanced as Office but it certainly is much user friendly, certain options are so easily found while you need search sometimes in MS Office where it really is. I still have Word, Excel and Powerpoint installed but use them rarely only when someone sends me a Powerpoint presentation that is quite complex or Word files that don't look the same in Pages. Also iLife usus a lot less battery. I use my Mac at school and the battery drains a lot less now.

Thanks for reading, feel free to give your opinion.
Also what do you use?

 

[Partron22]

Libre Office. I've seen Apple go through too many iterations of word processors on the Mac, starting with MacWrite, to trust them long term. They're always changing formats, and if you have a 10 year old doc you want to look at, you usually have to dust off an old computer, or go through incredibly twisted and obscure update acrobatics.
Libre Office, having an open source std., I expect the docs I write today will be easily readable a decade down the road.

 

[dwig]

I've used the lightweight OS provided editors (Textedit on OSX & WordPad on Win) for ages, but I only use them for simple documents that I save in RTF format. For "real" office class work I now use LibreOffice on both OSX and Win after using OpenOffice since around v2. I do have MS Office 2013 on my Win8.1 tablet, but it came bundled with the tablet and isn't often used.

 

[sracer]

When it comes to documents that I create and will print out, I use iWork '09. But I know that it is living on borrowed time and will one day no longer work so I also use LibreOffice. It is able to handle the complex formatting that I use in Pages and is cross-platform as well. I only use MS Office when I need to collaborate with others and need to ensure formatting preserved.

 

[chscag]

When it comes to documents that I create and will print out, I use iWork '09. But I know that it is living on borrowed time and will one day no longer work so I also use LibreOffice. It is able to handle the complex formatting that I use in Pages and is cross-platform as well. I only use MS Office when I need to collaborate with others and need to ensure formatting preserved.

As above. I use MS Office when I have to maintain compatibility with Windows Office users or others. I've actually gotten used to the newer Pages (5.6.1) and find it easy enough to use for most of my work.

 

[Coltaine]

I am deeply rooted in Microsoft Office.
I am a senior physician at a big university clinic and I am totally dependent on Microsoft Office.
I do most of my day to day work in Microsoft Office, I write research papers in Word, my doctoral students do a lot of their work in Word and Excel, which I have to be compatible with, I prepare talks and lectures in PowerPoint and so on. For me these are easiest to work with and I am also pretty content with the 2016 versions of said programs.
They work really well for me on my Macs and iOS devices and I can get them for free as long as I am working and teaching at the university, which is another plus. And they are compatible with Papers 3 for Mac, my research library management software (which I also use to create references in research papers).
Honestly speaking, I never really warmed up with the iLife suite.
The only application I don't use is Outlook, which I consider quite horrible.

 

[maflynn]

I hated how Apple gutted their iWork suite of applications, I'm largely in MS Office for a number of reasons. For one thing, I'm able to run multiple copies of Office on different computers, and tablets. My wife and I both get a terabyte of OneDrive storage and finally nothing nothing beats the actual features of Excel and Word.

I've used Libre office and Open Office, and the rendering is always a little off. Sometime enough to be a minor annoyance, other times its a pain. Since I'm using this for home and work, its tough to use a tool that alters the look of a document.

iWork is a shell of itself and when considering Office compatibility its just plain awful. I have a number of large spreadsheets that are not all that complex, yet Apple's Numbers application chokes on it and strips too much out of it. There's no way I can use that app to edit excel spreadsheets. Its just a plain nightmare.

Libre Office isn't bad, but I think MS Office is superior.

 

[Partron22]

What's up with 1100 views and only 30 votes?
Surely it's not that hard to make a decision and push a button.

 

[cdubb80]

I am deeply rooted in Microsoft Office.
And they are compatible with Papers 3 for Mac, my research library management software (which I also use to create references in research papers).

How do you find Papers 3? I still use Papers 2 (because initial user reviews of Papers 3 were pretty horrible) but hear that they've updated the app to make it recently better I still have issues with syncing Papers 2 to my iPad (takes 30-60 mins sometimes) so I do it once in a blue moon so if cloud syncing with dropbox works better....

 

[Coltaine]

How do you find Papers 3? I still use Papers 2 (because initial user reviews of Papers 3 were pretty horrible) but hear that they've updated the app to make it recently better I still have issues with syncing Papers 2 to my iPad (takes 30-60 mins sometimes) so I do it once in a blue moon so if cloud syncing with dropbox works better....

I wrote you a PM, so we don't hijack this thread.

In case anyone else here is interested in my opinion on Papers 3, just throw me a message and I can also post my answer here.

 

[diggy33]

Unfortunately, I cant dump MS Office from my life completely. I dont use it at home, but have to stay well versed on it to assist people at the job.

 

[RightMACatU]

I've tried Libre and iWorks and both lack features. Although not perfect Office 2016 is here to stay for me.

 

[AlliFlowers]

When I bought my first Mac I bought iWorks. I was determined to leave the MS world completely. I used Pages for about 2 weeks before running out and buying a lite version of Office.

Fast forward to my newest Mac, which came with all the Apple goodies. I decided not to put Office on, even though I get it free from work. But then Mail started misbehaving. So I installed Office so that I could use Outlook...and OMG, I missed Word and Excel! There's just no replacement.

 

[Crazy Badger]

If I wasn't working in a MS Office environment I could probably use Pages and Keynote, but there's nothing to replace Excel so I'll be sticking with my Office 365 subscription!

 

[shaunp]

Office. I share documents with customers and I need 100% compatibility. There is no substitute, and I wish MS would make a Mac version of Visio. As good as OmniGraffle is, it's not Visio.

 

[whodatrr]

While I do have some flexibility with OSs, I have none for desktop productivity. My job is pretty much spent in MS Office. There's nothing close to Excel, for the type of massive projects I use it for (Business Intelligence, modeling, etc.). Yes, it starts out simple, but it can be very complex and powerful as well. I'm not kidding when I say that I've seen organizations build functionality with Excel that they'd had to pay 6 figures licenses for, were they to use an off the shelf app. Then there's PowerPoint, which I push to the limits. I've built many interactive decks with hundreds of slides that are organized in a way that's more like an application than a presentation. Outlook, while many people hate it, is essential in my life. The schedule and collaboration with other parts of the suite are invaluable, top me. I could go on and on, but really there is no way I could or would want to ditch Office.

And really, it's now a great value for the money. I have the family plan (5 PC/Macs and 5 Tablets), which goes on sale for ~$80 mourned this time of year. heck, since I've gotten free licenses that have converted to the family pack, I think our MS office license if now expected to 2017 or 2018. This is especially nice, since it comes with 1TB of free Cloud storage, per user. And then there's the Corporate home plan, with which I pay a one-time fee of $10 for two unlimited licenses, since my company already pays for the work license. Plenty of ways to get Office very cheap, and plenty of value there. Besides, Microsoft is now pushing out solid versions for OS X and even decent apps for iOS.. what's not to like?

So, i guess I'm in the minority - I don't just use MS Office because I have to, but because it's by far the best Office Productivity suite out there.

 

[rhett7660]

Like others, I have to use MS Office re: work. But I really like Pages for all of my other things that I need to do. Numbers is not too bad, especially for what I use it for at home.

But for work it is Word and Excel.

 

[AZhappyjack]

I hated how Apple gutted their iWork suite of applications, I'm largely in MS Office for a number of reasons. For one thing, I'm able to run multiple copies of Office on different computers, and tablets. My wife and I both get a terabyte of OneDrive storage and finally nothing nothing beats the actual features of Excel and Word.

I've used Libre office and Open Office, and the rendering is always a little off. Sometime enough to be a minor annoyance, other times its a pain. Since I'm using this for home and work, its tough to use a tool that alters the look of a document.

iWork is a shell of itself and when considering Office compatibility its just plain awful. I have a number of large spreadsheets that are not all that complex, yet Apple's Numbers application chokes on it and strips too much out of it. There's no way I can use that app to edit excel spreadsheets. Its just a plain nightmare.

Libre Office isn't bad, but I think MS Office is superior.

Excellent points. I get the "the rendering is always a bit off" statement. I run RedHat Linux on my work laptop, and they gave us a choice between office-wannabes OpenOffice and Libre office. The formatting options are just a tad "off" whenever I attempt to tweak anything. I feel pretty much the same with Pages. And Numbers is one hot mess, iMO.

Despite the excessive price, I'm a MS Office guy. Always have been, and always will be.

 

[ignatius345]

I am deeply rooted in Microsoft Office.
I am a senior physician at a big university clinic and I am totally dependent on Microsoft Office.
I do most of my day to day work in Microsoft Office, I write research papers in Word, my doctoral students do a lot of their work in Word and Excel, which I have to be compatible with, I prepare talks and lectures in PowerPoint and so on. For me these are easiest to work with and I am also pretty content with the 2016 versions of said programs.

I'm no fan of Office either, but I will admit that the 2016 versions of Word, Powerpoint and Excel I've used are quite decent and WAY closer to Apple's design standards than previous versions -- and bring the interface more in line with the latest Windows versions so bouncing between the two platforms is less painful (I mean, except for the part where you have to use Windows)

 

[CocoaNut]

I'm still on the fence here... Have used MS Office since the Win 3.0 days, at home and at work. When I moved to a Mac some ten years ago the Mac version of Office was so horrible, I rarely used it.

Now the company I work for provides me with a MacBook Pro and we use Office, though I just recently had to write a longer text in Pages on my personal MacBook Air, and found it quite nice. Outlook on the Mac is bad IMO, though it's true the calendar and sharing functions are very powerful. Haven't yet seen or used the new Office 2016 versions.

My old ThinkPad has LibreOffice installed, though I need to get used to it every time, and constantly hunt for commands through the menus...

So, that said, I don't yet know if I will buy Office 365.

 

[mikeka]

What's up with 1100 views and only 30 votes?
Surely it's not that hard to make a decision and push a button.

Incomplete poll. A couple of years ago I ( and a number of people I know) switched to the free open source program Open Office. Can import and export files in MS format for compatibility. Excellent full-featured app.

 

[whodatrr]

What I don't get is how people complain so much about the cost of MS Office? yes, for corporations, it can get a bit expensive. But for home and Edu usage, it's now cheap. Here are a few examples:

• $9.99 for 1 non-expiring license - If your company uses MS Office, and you'd like to use another copy at home.
• $70 for two four year licenses - If you are a college student, and would like a couple MS Office licenses. BTW, this includes 2x1TB of OneDrive cloud storage
• $99yr - Five PCs or Macs, plus 5 tablets. This also includes 5x1TB of online cloud storage. BTW, MS discounts this to $80, for Black Friday.
• Plus, there are lots of ways to get Office for free. Buying a $150 HP Stream laptop with touch screen also extended our Home license by 9mos, for example. Any time you buy a PC that comes with a free year of Office, you can chose to use that key to extend your 5 license copy by an additional 9mos, instead of the one year individual one.
• There is also a "Work and Play" bundle for those with X-Boxes (my kids have one) and other stuff. You get one-year subscriptions to: Office 365 Home (5 users), Skype Wi-Fi, Skype Unlimited World Calling, Xbox Live Gold, Assure Support Plan, and a $60 MS Store Gift Card. this is now $149, but I got mine for $120, with a PC purchase.

Yes, I realize that many our there want all software to be free, but that's sometimes a tough business model to support. I don't think MS is charging a whole lot for Office, especially with the other free benefits that get thrown in.

Look at it this way - Apple charges $10mo, just for 1TB of iCloud Storage. Microsoft throws in 5 times that amount, for free, with a 5 user MS Office pack that's still cheaper than iCloud. And no, I'm not a MS fan-boy, but I am starting to get ticked at Apple for pushing us into their overpriced cloud...

 

[alvindarkness]

Incomplete poll. A couple of years ago I ( and a number of people I know) switched to the free open source program Open Office. Can import and export files in MS format for compatibility. Excellent full-featured app.

Since the Oracle take over, I'd presumed most have moved from Open Office to Libre Office. Something you might want to look at since you mentioned both "free" and "open source". Almost all linux distributions have switched, and almost all developers have switched since it was forked from Open Office in 2011.

 

[jojoba]

Like others, I have to use Office for work reasons. I work in an Office environment and most of my work is collaborative. I've started using markdown apps like Ulysses for a lot of my writing, though, and then I export to Word when the document is just about complete. I mostly work with text only and a few tables, so I don't need a lot of the added functionality of Word. I also use Scrivener for long writing projects, and export to Word when it's ready to be shared. I find Office 2016 a huge improvement, but it still feels clunky.

 

[GlenK]

Still use MS Office and no plans to change. Tried the iLife programs before and they just didn't measure up.