Should I buy MS OFFICE 2004 for Mac or wait?

[CPAMac]

1. Will I be able to save Office:Mac 2004 file and open it up on a Windows PC at university and print any essays etc? (don't have printer at home)

Yes, although since the DOC file format is a word processing format and not a portable document format, so whenever you switch machines/video cards/printers it's possible that some formatting might change or break (line breaks are the key issue, which can impact page breaks). This problem is the same one you could just as easily have with a Windows machine and Office 2003, unless you had an exact duplicate of the Windows PC.

It's not an overwhelming problem and often doesn't surface at all, and can pretty much be ignored so long as you use Word's built in logical page break functions (keep with next, keep together, break before...) rather than take the lazy "hit return until I get a new page" style formatting to deal with awkward page breaks.

I've seen no more problem going from Word 2004/Mac to Word 2003/Windows than moving between different Windows PCs running Word 2003. It's a "going from machine to machine" problem rather than a OSX/Windows issue.

If you really want to "lock down" the formatting, print the file to PDF on the Mac (that's built in) and then take the PDF file to the Windows machine for printing. That should eliminate these issues, and frankly is what I see as preferable unless you expect to need to edit the document on the Windows machine.

 

[piltupso]

I have been haering alot about Openoffice and Neooffice. Is one better than than the other as far as compatibility with MS Office? Earlier in this thread I read Neooffice is native and Openoffice isn't any other advantages? What does that mean to me as a user when I read that Neooffice doesn't need X11? Thanks

 

[Eraserhead]

I have been haering alot about Openoffice and Neooffice. Is one better than than the other as far as compatibility with MS Office? Earlier in this thread I read Neooffice is native and Openoffice isn't any other advantages? What does that mean to me as a user when I read that Neooffice doesn't need X11? Thanks

NeoOffice is a standard mac application and uses your Mac fonts without having to convert them to Unix format which OpenOffice uses, basically NeoOffice is better.

I have found at university that unless you wish to edit documents, saving them as a PDF which you do in the Mac OS X print dialog is better for printing as the formatting doesn't change. (though some of my Universities printers seem to have problems with some fonts with PDF so you may find it better to use .doc files)

 

[gadgetgirl85]

Neo Office is sweet. I have both MS and NeoOffice and Neoffice is essentially the same deal as MS office except much faster!

 

[ashley]

Having just switched from a PC to Mac, I'm looking to buy Office for Mac too.

I've been using Office for Windows for a loong loong time and am very familiar with it. But for now, I've elected to use openoffice as an alternative until I can buy the Intel-native version of Office.

Having said that, I wouldn't recommend openoffice for someone who'll be using the programs a lot. If you have to use Powerpoint extensively, or will be writing a BIG paper on Word, or even if you use Excel for more than the occasional spreadsheet --- I'd bite the bullet and just buy Office for Mac.

The reason is that openoffice (for me) has some major problems - it constantly tries to do the autorecover on documents I know I've saved before closing, trying to make an outline on it is a PAIN, and although it is "compatible" with Word, it still has some format problems, so it's not ideal if you'll be working back and forth with someone using Microsoft Office.

Fortunately, I'm at a point where I'll only be doing the occasional powerpoint, and I can handle a semester of scaled down Word documents.

If you're not though - I'd go with Microsoft Office.

Ashley

 

[Steve Jobless]

*cough* why don't you just "you know what" it?

what is "it?"

pm lol

 

[piltupso]

NeoOffice is a standard mac application and uses your Mac fonts without having to convert them to Unix format which OpenOffice uses, basically NeoOffice is better.

I have found at university that unless you wish to edit documents, saving them as a PDF which you do in the Mac OS X print dialog is better for printing as the formatting doesn't change. (though some of my Universities printers seem to have problems with some fonts with PDF so you may find it better to use .doc files)

Thanks. I had been using OpenOffice on my PC now that I have my Mac I will have to give NeoOffice a try.

 

[NeoMac]

*cough* why don't you just "you know what" it?

Why would he want to "do the naked monkey dance" with his microsoft office software?

 

[furious]

Yes, although since the DOC file format is a word processing format and not a portable document format, so whenever you switch machines/video cards/printers it's possible that some formatting might change or break (line breaks are the key issue, which can impact page breaks). This problem is the same one you could just as easily have with a Windows machine and Office 2003, unless you had an exact duplicate of the Windows PC.

It's not an overwhelming problem and often doesn't surface at all, and can pretty much be ignored so long as you use Word's built in logical page break functions (keep with next, keep together, break before...) rather than take the lazy "hit return until I get a new page" style formatting to deal with awkward page breaks.

I've seen no more problem going from Word 2004/Mac to Word 2003/Windows than moving between different Windows PCs running Word 2003. It's a "going from machine to machine" problem rather than a OSX/Windows issue.

If you really want to "lock down" the formatting, print the file to PDF on the Mac (that's built in) and then take the PDF file to the Windows machine for printing. That should eliminate these issues, and frankly is what I see as preferable unless you expect to need to edit the document on the Windows machine.

how do you find the "built in logical page break". i am having trouble with online submissions for assignments.

 

[Demoman]

*cough* why don't you just "you know what" it?

Why not just steal everything you want? Why buy your computer when you can break into your school and steal one? Theft is theft and there is no moral, or legal distinction other than severity based on dollar value. It does not matter who you steal from, M$ or me. You are still a thief, not Robin Hood.

 

[squirrelonfire]

you shoudl wait for the 2007 of Office

Office 2004 looks very sleek, 4 though it runs ridiculously slow on a mac, of course unless you install 1GIG on your macbook, otherwise it will run very slow.
All of the viruses that currently out there for a mac come from users who use Microsoft Office, so if you can buy Key Notes and Pages (Iwork 06), then u should. Otherwise just buy office 2004 and use w/ caution.
Microsoft expect to release the 2007 version in the spring 2007, so let's see how good it will b (hopefully it wot need too many patches like the 2004 version does).

 

[quigleybc]

I convinced my girlfriend to request a Mac at her job. They got her one (intel iMac) and now she's saying that all her programs are super slow, like taking half a minute to open...)

lol

The only programs she uses are Office and PS...

I'm going to see if she'll try out neoOffice.

Thanks for the tip..

I didn't know that these apps were't updated for Intel yet...

that's weak.