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What document processor do you use?
- Thread starter RolandVet
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I'm in the process of converting from Office to iWork, mainly because Office '08 is so bloated and slow I hate to boot it up. iWork seems to be working fine, and I can save Pages files as Word and have them read on my Windoze machines at work.
Reminds me of when I switched to ClarisWorks solely due to Word 6 for Mac. Ecccch.
Reminds me of when I switched to ClarisWorks solely due to Word 6 for Mac. Ecccch.
I have posted something similar to this in other threads, but here is my take
In general...
If you need strict compatibility with MS Office for Windows, your best bet is to run Windows and MS Office with Boot Camp or virtualized with Fusion/Parallels/Virtual Box (free)/Crossover. This is the only way to ensure you are completely compatible with Office 2003 or 2007 on Windows. You can convert docs to .pdf, but that isn't always an option if you need collaboration.
If you need mild to good compatibility with MS Office for Windows, you can use Office 2004 or 2008 for the Mac, with the understanding they are not equivalents and there is little VBA support in 2004 and virtually none in 2008. Excel will be the primary difference more so than Word. Office for the Mac also has issues with Spaces. There are converters for .docx available.
If you want a MS Office-like interface, etc. then Open Office/Neo Office are good choices and they are free. But they will not provide strict compatibility with MS Office. They will however, give you a more Office-like experience. They are robust and complete packages from the Open Source community.
If you want the functionality of MS Office with a Mac experience, then iWork is the best bet. It is a great value for the cost. Pages is a great tool, and Keynote is superior to Powerpoint in my opinion. Numbers is good, but does not provide the power of Excel. You can check out a comparison here: MR Guide - iWork v. MS Office. Nothing compares really to Excel on Windows if you need all of the features.
You can also check out Mariner Write and Mariner Calc. Both are decent alternatives, but are not as widely used.
If you just looking for a nice word processing, then Bean is free.
Woof, Woof - Dawg
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In general...
If you need strict compatibility with MS Office for Windows, your best bet is to run Windows and MS Office with Boot Camp or virtualized with Fusion/Parallels/Virtual Box (free)/Crossover. This is the only way to ensure you are completely compatible with Office 2003 or 2007 on Windows. You can convert docs to .pdf, but that isn't always an option if you need collaboration.
If you need mild to good compatibility with MS Office for Windows, you can use Office 2004 or 2008 for the Mac, with the understanding they are not equivalents and there is little VBA support in 2004 and virtually none in 2008. Excel will be the primary difference more so than Word. Office for the Mac also has issues with Spaces. There are converters for .docx available.
If you want a MS Office-like interface, etc. then Open Office/Neo Office are good choices and they are free. But they will not provide strict compatibility with MS Office. They will however, give you a more Office-like experience. They are robust and complete packages from the Open Source community.
If you want the functionality of MS Office with a Mac experience, then iWork is the best bet. It is a great value for the cost. Pages is a great tool, and Keynote is superior to Powerpoint in my opinion. Numbers is good, but does not provide the power of Excel. You can check out a comparison here: MR Guide - iWork v. MS Office. Nothing compares really to Excel on Windows if you need all of the features.
You can also check out Mariner Write and Mariner Calc. Both are decent alternatives, but are not as widely used.
If you just looking for a nice word processing, then Bean is free.
Woof, Woof - Dawg
+1 for Bean. I had been using OpenOffice and NeoOffice before that, but I've always thought they were way too slow, clunky, and unintuitive. They don't even work right with universal keyboard shortcuts, like cmd+left/right for home/end, cmd+shift+z for redo, or cmd+, for preferences. So I just typed "cocoa word processor" into Google, and Bean popped up as the first result. Bean works wonderfully.
I don't really like open office on the mac that well, there isn't enough contrast in the menus and the buttons. Office costs money, the office I have for vista doesn't get used, because I don't like firing up windows in order to use it.
I don't remember why I didn't like iWork . . .
So I use NEO Office. It is basically a gui for openoffice for the mac. makes the colors and features easier to see.
I don't remember why I didn't like iWork . . .
So I use NEO Office. It is basically a gui for openoffice for the mac. makes the colors and features easier to see.
Pages since '05. Numbers since '08 because I enjoy using them TextEdit for quick letters and for changing any formatted text to plain text. Also for saving info via the services menu and can save in 8 different formats.
iWork and Office '08. I tried OpenOffice for a couple weeks and just didn't like it that much, so added MS Office to iWork.
In my opinion, you're best off with iWork + MS Office/OpenOffice.
In my opinion, you're best off with iWork + MS Office/OpenOffice.
Office most of the time, but have been using iWork more and more. Just got used to using Office from my Windows days, and that's what was always installed on the computers at university.
I set my daughter up with Neooffice and it works great. I have the default save set to MS Office and never an issue at home or school.
Just for clarity ...
Most of the Office 2008 and Spaces issues have been resolved in updates to both Office and Leopard. Make sure that you're at the latest version of each (as of this writing, Office 12.1.9 and Leopard 10.5.7).
Office 2008 has built-in support for the new file formats (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx, etc). Office 2004 can also read and write to the new file formats, for which you need the file format converter.
snowleopard2008 said:
The old file formats (.doc, etc) are all binary formats. The new file formats (.docx, etc) are XML-based formats. The new file format generally results in a smaller file size, and it is publicly fully documented so that other companies can more easily write software that will work with them.
Office:Mac 2004 and Office 2003 for Windows can read/write the new file formats with an update. I provided the link for Office 2004 above; for Office 2003, download the Office compatibility pack. Additionally, in Office:Mac 2008, you can set the default file format for all new files to the old binary format.
Regards,
Nadyne.
In medical publishing, we call the guy who does that a "med student." BTW, you're supposed to get a grad student do that for you, you know.