WordPerfect had reveal codes on the word processor application and hardly any other application did anything similar or so helpful in formatting text. While I like MS Excel, Word is atrocious at the best of times.
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Why do some continue using Microsoft Office on Mac?
- Thread starter Benz63amg
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In the later half of the 1980s, I used Lotus 123 (spreadsheets) and MultiMate (word processing). I would draft a letter or create a table, and then give it to a secretary (that's what they were called back then) to put into a formal memorandum.
There was no email, or if it existed, so few had it that no one in my company used it. We used the Technical Information Department to create viewgraphs for presentations. These were generally foils or slides that sat on top of an overhead projector.
We had a whole group of secretaries that assembled our gigantic federal budget submission for just our site's request to Congress. It was a laborious process.
I guess my point is that any of today's productivity apps (iWork, Office, Google Docs, etc.) would seem like rocket science by comparison. I primarily use iWork on my MBA, and it works great. No problems. Occasionally, I will use Office or Google Docs for compatibility reasons, but it is generally unnecessary, since iWork's does a decent job of forward and backward compatibility.
There was no email, or if it existed, so few had it that no one in my company used it. We used the Technical Information Department to create viewgraphs for presentations. These were generally foils or slides that sat on top of an overhead projector.
We had a whole group of secretaries that assembled our gigantic federal budget submission for just our site's request to Congress. It was a laborious process.
I guess my point is that any of today's productivity apps (iWork, Office, Google Docs, etc.) would seem like rocket science by comparison. I primarily use iWork on my MBA, and it works great. No problems. Occasionally, I will use Office or Google Docs for compatibility reasons, but it is generally unnecessary, since iWork's does a decent job of forward and backward compatibility.
Have you looked at MEGA for your cloud backup needs?
Yes, it does carry some baggage due to being originally set up by Kim Dotcom (look him up, if necessary), but it is now owned and supervised by the New Zealand government.
I use it because it is the only one that will run on Mac, Windows, a whole plethora of Linuxen and even my Raspberry Pi's (yes, plural RPi's.).
And it's free for 20 GBytes. And it stores versioned backups for 30 days. It synchronises the copy on your computer with the copy on their server, so you have at least two copies of your work, backed up automatically every time you save a file.
And yes, I'm an Aussie plugging a New Zealand product...
why did you stop using WordPerfect? you can still have it for the low price of $250 😂
I have no idea who pays for this or why😂
Consider yourself lucky. I tried to use it for collaboration with ONE person and had the joy of seeing magically disappearing files and folders. I switched to Dropbox and so for so good.
And for all the Microsoft products, all the pop-ups and notifications that come from everywhere wants me to pull my hair out!
there is also FOSS OnlyOffice that works both in web and app format and defaults to the more common DOCX file type so you do not have to convert the file at every import/export like with libre
I don't need a OneDrive replacement, I have that aspect already covered, it was the office apps, and so far I'm like OnlyOffice more then Libre Office but I've not really put either one through the paces yet.
Personally, I'd avoid anything that had Kim Dotcom's fingers over, but that's me
If they made it available for Mac (or Linux/etc), I would.
I am surprised by current DropBox MO. I don't subscribe to DropBox to them but someone I work with does and he tried to share files with me. Now that the total of the folders he shared with my exceed 2GB (or some threshold along those lines), it wants me to pay. To view his shared folder that he is already paying for. Otherwise my account is entirely unusable. If I had other files in my account I basically wouldn't be able to access them without buying "storage" just to allow for the folder someone shared with me.
Every software and website these days thinks they should be top of your mind.
WordPerfect for DOS was the original focus mode. More of the document was visible on the 12" screens from back in the day than current software does short of two 24" displays. Especially when you start with the default screen layout in a virtual desktop through a browser. At which point it's like viewing your documents through a periscope surrounded by minefields of auto-hide ribbons and docks and whatnot...
Its Word compatibility is the best I've seen so far. Excel feature parity was lacking in past versions but they've invested a lot more in this area over the past few versions. I like that it uses what is the de facto industry standard file format even if I don't like the file format...
For the vast majority of people, the vast majority of the time, for most purposes, Pages, Numbers and Keynote are far better than MS Office equivalents. But the Office apps have deeper functionality for those that need it, and the business world has managed to make itself inseparable from the Office apps.
you can just export to docx from LO?
If they are in any way advanced, I guarantee you will need excel.
you mean the screen clipping tool?
*laughs in i5 MBP 2015* (its as fast as day 1!!)
After that you can install Linux Mint or ZorinOS(Linux) and it will continue to work 😂
do you notice performance difference while using the MS Office on both machines?
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Thanks for sharing the images. Love that Apple floppy box. Always love custom branding packaging.
If you are not too much into advanced excel sheets and insist on De-Microsofting , you will find LibreOffice giving similar experience or try out OnlyOffice, both FOSS! (OnlyOffice uses MS Office documents as default so its a drop in replacement!)
Before WordPerfect (running from 5.25" dual floppy drives initially) there was PeachText (on CP/M). I used WP on up into the 90's. The text mode version was stellar! Lost interest with the bloated/sluggish Windows version. Been using Word & Excel ever since.
It was cheap to buy a perpetual license ($49 for version 16 which still gets updates) that can be used on two Mac's.
It was cheap to buy a perpetual license ($49 for version 16 which still gets updates) that can be used on two Mac's.
I work in a big company with thousands of people who are issued Windows laptops, and I think 95% of them don't care what computer they use (and that is fine). I, like presumably many of you, like using a Mac. I actually went through some effort to be allowed to use a Mac at work, and I'm really happy about that (work is the vast majority of my computing time).
And I weirdly owe all that to Microsoft. Most people view my "weird" Mac with a shrug, but we collaborate on Office docs all day long. Its fine, but if there was even a hint of incompatibility (back in the day there was the off chance my Mac might disturb the formatting of a complex word doc, for example) I'd be forced back to a computer I'd enjoy less. Frankly, they do a good job making it a seamless experience and maintaining compatibility. I'm really grateful for that.
On top of that, I am gonna go out on a limb and say I don't mind the Mac versions. They look nice, operate as I expect, and I enjoy using them.
And I weirdly owe all that to Microsoft. Most people view my "weird" Mac with a shrug, but we collaborate on Office docs all day long. Its fine, but if there was even a hint of incompatibility (back in the day there was the off chance my Mac might disturb the formatting of a complex word doc, for example) I'd be forced back to a computer I'd enjoy less. Frankly, they do a good job making it a seamless experience and maintaining compatibility. I'm really grateful for that.
On top of that, I am gonna go out on a limb and say I don't mind the Mac versions. They look nice, operate as I expect, and I enjoy using them.
Sorry, I should have been more specific. The "image" clipping tool, I should have said "crop"! when after you have insert an image to the slide, it has way smoother handlebars than the LibreOffice (old version) which, IIRC, took about 3x the clicks to get the image into place/shape etc and felt like a hassle, especially with large numbers of imported images to crop.
Yes, but the export is not 100% MS compliant. I do the export, then open it in Word, and check the formatting. I then save as to make it truly MS compliant.
It has to be MS Word on Windows, as even MS Word on Mac saves differently from MS Word on Windows. Little things that truly muck up the formatting like inter-character and inter-word spacing.
In my personal landscape I have never seen anyone use Numbers, or the other Apple apps. They feel deprecated and old.
I so wish there was an Apple native WordPerfect (or, one that would run through Crossover). I really miss its Reveal Codes and would buy it in an instant if I could run it on a modern Mac! I expect there is some deep incompatibility issue that has prevented that from happening?
May I ask HOW you collaborate with them on Office docs? i tried it with 1 guy sharing via OneDrive and it was a disaster (files started to randomly disappear). Sharepoint or OneDrive Business?
So I thought when I used it myself. Hint: its actually better and more user friendly until you reach advanced stuff (vba, automation, cross referencing)
you could give it a shot and try out if it works. Always test before you buy, probably trial version of crossover and wordperfect
Here's the issue I faced just this week.
A similar situation, where my company is mostly PCs, but some folks use Macs. A certain functionality in the software I support simply would not work on her Mac.
I was paged - the only way I could replicate the problem and/or try to figure out why it wasn't working, register my Mac to the company, i.e., put the MDM profile onto my mac, and I wasn't about to do that. She was largely SOL, because my SLA extends to only company provided equipment.
Most of our docs are shared on share points. I can "open in desktop" or sync the files to my desktop (best for the folders I use all the time. Then open and use as normal. We also have "personal" (work issued) OneDrives and we share back and forth between those. Have even dealt with complex things like excel file linking (used to be an issue between Mac and Windows style paths but that was solved with Sharepoint) and multiple users all in the same doc. There have been some issues with all the stack (Sharepoint, each app, etc.) but only to the same level as my Windows peers (no clear "Mac" issues).
Yeah- it's not easy issue. Honestly my arrangement may expire. Officially Macs are "unsupported" and new IT policies technically outlaw my Mac (they only pay for Windows-based security, though I maintain my own mostly to make them comfortable, which works for now). I even went so far as to get a separated, dedicated Mac mini I use there, so if they wanted to run MDM or whatever would make them comfortable they could, but they don't have the capability so they don't. And, like your coworker, If I ever run into an issue where I needed them to do something or they make a policy that impacts my work, I might be SOL too.
My company has tightened and clamped down on what is permitted to access the corporate network, no MDM profile, no access. similar restrictions for the PC, they are very restrictive on the devices logging into the system.
Mine is slowly beginning to offer more Mac support as Intune and Entra ID finally have a viable integrated approach (that negates the need for piling monolithic and expensive JAMF on top).
A place where I worked in the past with ~1k Mac users (and ~2k Windows users) ripped JAMF out completely last year.
A place where I worked in the past with ~1k Mac users (and ~2k Windows users) ripped JAMF out completely last year.
A particular annoyance with the latest update of Word (M365 subscription) is the Copilot icon appears on the right hand margin of every single document and can't obviously be turned off. If you have the Copilot setting disabled in Preferences the button doesn't do anything, but it's still there. Presumably this "feature" will be coming to Excel and Powerpoint soon.
