Why do people buy Microsoft Office for Mac when there's a better, shinier iWork?

[skaertus]

I have to assume that they know what they're doing -- it's easy to second-guess from the sidelines -- but it does seem a bit strange not to plow a large part of that cash back into the business. It's not like it's a utility company, this is a growth industry.

Apple, of course, has its own approach of doing things. A company is supposed to distribute dividends. But Apple hasn't distributed them for years (under Steve Jobs) and had almost US$ 100 billion in cash. And analysts criticized Apple for that, but it was working because the company accumulated cash and its shares were also going up, despite no dividends distributed. Shortly after Jobs died, however, Apple announced a program to distribute dividends. Something must be going on. To pay the investment of shareholders by means of distributing dividends may be a good thing. But Apple customers would benefit from having this money put back in business.

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This is an oversimplification from a scenario standpoint and it fails to mention that Pages can export to a Word format.

It is not simple at all. The more complex elements you use - footnotes, cross-references, track changes - the more difficult it is to maintain compatibility between these pieces of software.

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I prefer Excel over Numbers but I also prefer Keynote over Powerpoint. Word and Pages is a tossup. However, I think one reason you gave to prefer Office isn't a very good one. You're basically saying that since Microsoft makes absolutely no effort to support opening Keynote or Pages files, then it is better. Meanwhile Apple is making efforts to support opening even its biggest competitor's files and somehow this is a negative on iWork? I disagree.

Well, from a practical standpoint, it makes perfect sense. iWork is a newcomer in this industry. It has to support the filetypes supported by the office suites that have been around for over two decades. Everybody uses Microsoft Office; therefore, I should be able to open and exchange files which are supported by Microsoft Office. But I am not supposed to open and exchange files writen in iWork format. The fact is that Microsoft Office is the standard, and everybody must dance with it. Including iWork.

 

[miles01110]

Why do people buy Microsoft Office for Mac when there's a better, shinier and Open Source OpenOffice, LibreOffice?

Because OpenOffice and/or LibreOffice still have performance and compatibility issues that Microsoft Office doesn't.

 

[DaveTheRave]

If you work in financial services, Excel is king. In a prior job I used VBA to create some Excel macros that automated some mundane daily processes that to this day still saves my former coworkers lots of time. With knowledge of Excel's advanced formulas and VBA, you can quickly become the office hero.

Also have you read the "Inside Apple" book? Apple never put much into Numbers because Steve Jobs wasn't interested in it. He thought no one really used spreadsheets anymore. Very shortsighted...

 

[skaertus]

If you work in financial services, Excel is king. In a prior job I used VBA to create some Excel macros that automated some mundane daily processes that to this day still saves my former coworkers lots of time. With knowledge of Excel's advanced formulas and VBA, you can quickly become the office hero.

Also have you read the "Inside Apple" book? Apple never put much into Numbers because Steve Jobs wasn't interested in it. He thought no one really used spreadsheets anymore. Very shortsighted...

Apple under Steve Jobs was not much interested in the office environment. The audience of Macs were consumers.

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Why do people buy Microsoft Office for Mac when there's a better, shinier and Open Source OpenOffice, LibreOffice?

Are you serious? OpenOffice.org has never been a contender here. Sun bought StarOffice in 1999 because it was a bargain. For US$ 73 million, it bought an office suite that run on Solaris and Linux, and therefore could save money not buying PC laptops and business licenses of Windows and Microsoft Office for its 42,000 employees. As Sun did not really want to compete with Microsoft Office, it released StarOffice for free and later released an open source version, the OpenOffice.org, which forked to LibreOffice after Oracle acquired Sun and donated the OpenOffice.org code to the Apache Foundation. OpenOffice.org was never really meant to be any better than Microsoft Office. It's always been the cheaper alternative. Even for Sun.

 

[jlc1978]

Apple, of course, has its own approach of doing things. A company is supposed to distribute dividends. But Apple hasn't distributed them for years (under Steve Jobs) and had almost US$ 100 billion in cash. And analysts criticized Apple for that, but it was working because the company accumulated cash and its shares were also going up, despite no dividends distributed. Shortly after Jobs died, however, Apple announced a program to distribute dividends.

Actually, a company is supposed to maximize shareholder value - retaining earnings to be able to survive tough times as well as acquire companies is one way to do that. The cash on hand is reflected in a company's share price, so an investor can always get their share by selling stock, plus by not getting a dividend try avoid tax liability until they sell their shares.

The fact is that Microsoft Office is the standard, and everybody must dance with it. Including iWork.

True, but Jobs never cared about industry standards unless they were created by Apple. As a result, iWorks never was aimed at dethroning Office but rather as an alternative for Mac users that didn't need Office.

 

[skaertus]

Actually, a company is supposed to maximize shareholder value - retaining earnings to be able to survive tough times as well as acquire companies is one way to do that. The cash on hand is reflected in a company's share price, so an investor can always get their share by selling stock, plus by not getting a dividend try avoid tax liability until they sell their shares.

Yes, but a company is also supposed to distribute dividends if it retains as much earnings as Apple did.

True, but Jobs never cared about industry standards unless they were ate by Apple. As a result, iWorks never was amid at dethroning Office but rather as an alternative for Mac users that didn't need Office.

Alright, but, unlike many other Apple products, iWork is not on par with Microsoft Office. It is an alternative, but it isn't any better. At least if you compare iWork '09 to Office 2010/2011. I thought Apple would release another version of iWork in 2010 or 2011. But this version never came.

 

[McGiord]

Well kids, if you remember Microsoft Office was originally develop for the Mac in the 80s.
Even MacWrite was the king of word processors, Microsoft Word set the new standard there, and if you care to remember Word for Mac was at version 5 something, and the Windows version was 2 something, and suddenly there was jump to Word 6.0 that started to offer fully compatible .doc files for both platforms. Many Windows users don't even know why there was jump from version 2 to 6. This was a great solution.

I used to be an advocate of OpenOffice and NeoOffice, they did a great job with them, and I used them for 4 years.
However my needs changed when searching for new job opportunities: my Resume and cover letter were not properly formatted. And not getting good results with the versions made with these free packages.
Once I did them in Word it was a different game.

About iWork, even I have tried several times to give Pages and Numbers a try, both have never been easy to use for me, as they are not intuitive as any other Mac Software.
It seems to me that Apple's strategy is to make you go to the Apple Store to get some one-on-one sessions to learn about them.
I can imagine that after unlearning the way we have used our Macs for decades, we will learn how to really use these apps, and then after that, think differently about them. But I don't have time for that.
If you find them very easy to use, please give me your advice, and in a simple post please let me know what is the nice and easy way to use these.

However, the main reason why I do prefer Excel is: Pivot Tables, Pivot Charts, and the macros. There is nothing out there like it.
OpenOffice have something called Data Pilot, it is a nice attempt, but it is not even close to the Microsoft solution.

The Format Painter tool is another great tool in the Office toolbox.

 

[jlc1978]

Yes, but a company is also supposed to distribute dividends if it retains as much earnings as Apple did.

You keep saying that but the is nothing that says a company must pay dividends even if they have a large cash stash. Most do, if only not to become a takeover target if their total valuation is too close to the cash on hand. Apple, as a recall, isn't in that situation.

Alright, but, unlike many other Apple products, iWork is not on par with Microsoft Office. It is an alternative, but it isn't any better. At least if you compare iWork '09 to Office 2010/2011. I thought Apple would release another version of iWork in 2010 or 2011. But this version never came.

True, with the possible exception of Keynote, which for me holds it's own with PowerPoint as long as file interchange is not required.

 

[nuckinfutz]

The Format Painter tool is another great tool in the Office toolbox.

What makes the Format Painter better than Styles?

 

[McGiord]

The format painter is a very quick way of making one or many objects like the one you use as a reference.
I do not use pages or Numbers, so I have no clue about Styles.

Guess: Styles is only for fonts?
The format painter works with everything.

 

[jozeppy26]

IMO, iWork is a user friendly, watered down, aesthetically-pleasing version of MS Office. It's no surprise so many find Keynote a viable competitor (people assuming a "pretty" presentation is a better one). It is great for someone who does not use any of these products on a regular bases and just needs a suite of tools "just in case" or for very light editing. However for students, teachers, businessmen, etc... it just doesn't cut it for the majority of us.

It seems everyone agrees that Excel is better than Numbers in terms of features.

I believe powerpoint has more features. Powerpoint is compatible with many third party plugins, has advanced picture editing (background removal, color changes, brightness, sharpness, artistic effects, etc...), and the list goes on. Powerpoint always works when you try and run a presentation on a different computer (the Apple Quicktime problem with pasted images was beyond ridiculous).

Word has far more features as well. Does everyone use footnotes? No. Might I need to for any reason in the future? Idk. Would I like the option? Yes. So I buy MS Word. With Office products you're guaranteed features you may need in the future that you have no idea even exist now. With iWork, you live with the fact that there aren't certain features you might currently use if given the option.

There's just no comparison. MS Office and iWork are completely different products for completely different purposes.

 

[exegete77]

The format painter is a very quick way of making one or many objects like the one you use as a reference.
I do not use pages or Numbers, so I have no clue about Styles.

Guess: Styles is only for fonts?
The format painter works with everything.

The problem with Format Painter is that it is an ad hoc formatting solution that may be quick for small portions, that in the long run (and with longer documents) leads to a mess. Styles are far more than fonts; there are character styles and paragraph styles (and even page styles in some of the programs listed below). For a document, if you use styles then, you can 523 paragraphs with the same style. To make a change to all 523 paragraphs requires only one change—in the paragraph style sheet.

Styles are used in MS Office (Word), LibreOffice (Writer), Symphony, Pages, Nisus Writer Pro, Mellel, Papyrus, InDesign, etc.

I have been using styles with Word since 1990, and in every program listed above since they were first introduced.

When I was an analyst for a Fortune 100 company, I was an Excel expert and also used styles in Excel to save time, etc. Most of those styles were applied using VBA.

 

[McGiord]

Well I never say it was better than Styles, as it seems to be a different feature.
The Format Painter in Power Point is quite useful and Styles will not make the same thing for making an object like the reference you select with a couple of clicks.
It also works with several objects as a target.

By object I mean the cell format, a graph, a shape, a group of cells, a square, circle, almost anything you can make within the app.
Another great feature is Paste Special. It is very intuitive and functional. Over the years it has evolved to a better solution.

Other things in Excel are:
- The capability to import data from other data formats.
- Conditional Formatting.
- Filters.

 

[McGiord]

Another reason is that Apple advertises Office more than iWork:

 

[Ixtyr]

Excel has more capabilities than Numbers. Otherwise, I agree wholeheartedly. Pages is great and Keynote just flat out kicks Powerpoint's ass. I suspect people are just skeptical because Office has been the norm for so long, and generally not a terrible set of programs, whereas iWork hasn't had this level of popularity nor been BETTER than Office by a large margin since recent times.

 

[davidg4781]

I love iWork over Office, but, for work, there's some stuff I have to do that just will not format and read properly when opened in Pages, OpenOffice, or anything else but Word.

Not sure what I'm going to do this year. I upgraded to Lion and I was using either Office XP or Office 2004 for Mac. I'll either have to buy 2008 or do the work at work. Blah.

 

[jlc1978]

Powerpoint always works when you try and run a presentation on a different computer (the Apple Quicktime problem with pasted images was beyond ridiculous).

I have to take issue with this, if you create a presentation in one version and open it another you can't have problems. Even with the same version, links get busted, embedded videos don't always play, memory errors cause problems - PowerPoint, while nice, certainly doesn't always work.

 

[Herdfan]

IMO, iWork is a user friendly, watered down, aesthetically-pleasing version of MS Office. It's no surprise so many find Keynote a viable competitor (people assuming a "pretty" presentation is a better one).

In the case for my daughter, pretty is better. She is in middle school and when they are assigned a presentation, the entire class does it in Powerpoint. They all look the same. She does hers in Keynote and it looks completely different so the teacher thinks she put a lot more time and effort into it.

 

[iAppleseed]

Try writing a legal academic dissertation in Pages. Seriously, try it. In your first paragraph you'll realize Pages is wholly inadequate to handle referencing.

I'd love to be all-Apple on the software side, too, but iWork doesn't cut it.

And also try doing Professional looking Newsletters on Word. Seriously, try it. In your first headlines, you'll realize Word is terrible at those kinds of things.

 

[RHA]

Compatibility

For me its simple, I am an Apple convert in a MS work environment. Using office for Mac keeps compatibility issues to a minimum. No muss or fuss.

 

[MadTester]

For me its simple, I am an Apple convert in a MS work environment. Using office for Mac keeps compatibility issues to a minimum. No muss or fuss.

Totally agree, with your statement in using office when I'm at work and doing general business stuff. I use the 2011 version. But when I'm away from the office... iWork is king

 

[bigjnyc]

I think word and pages are very similar and neither really edges the other out too much

Keynote is much better than Powerpoint

Excel blows numbers out of the water

 

[Frozzie]

Why do people buy Microsoft Office for Mac when there's a better, shinier iWork?

Because people collaborating with your work will hate you if you use iWork when they use Office suites - the conversion is very poor, and it is impossible to be 100% perfect.

A lot of people have no choice but to use Office because nobody else will be able to work with them if you use iWork or OpenOffice. Just like you have no choice other than Boot Camp when a software doesn't run on Mac.

 

[rbrian]

I bought Numbers, but it choked on some large spreadsheets which Office 2003 on Vista had no trouble with. Then I discovered my company was signed up the Microsoft Home Use Program, so I got the complete Office 2011 for £8.99. Excel is much better (but not as pretty) as Numbers, and for me, it was much cheaper.

 

[Crazy Badger]

Numbers is a poor excuse for a spreadsheet application. Lotus 123 and even Quattro Pro were better.

That said, Excel on Windows is 10x better then Excel on the Mac and I often find myself running in Parallels than trying to fight with the Mac version.

Didn't think there was much between Pages/Keynote and Word/PowerPoint so just stuck with the MS versions when migrating to OSX 5/6 years ago

Started using Outlook too, as it was familiar, but the lack of sync between devices though MobileMe and now iCloud made me move to Mail/iCal/Address Book which I now prefer.

Omni Group products fill most of the missing MS office product (Project, Visio) gaps