Mac Users: Apple's iWork vs Microsoft's Office

[Gerie]

I'd love to hear some opinions, please.

I recently blew the power supply in my 9 year old iMac and purchased a new iMac, which, unfortunately, no longer includes a pre-packaged program like Appleworks. I have been "test driving" the Microsoft Office program, but have not yet tried the Apple iWork trial software.

I wonder if any Mac users out there have compared the two programs. I would really prefer to stick with the Apple software. I've always used Appleworks and assume iWork would be similar. My primary use will be word processing.

Can I work with Word documents in Pages?

Can I send documents from my home Mac to my classroom PC?

Is there a spreadsheet application for the Mac since it isn't part of iWork?

Can Keynote play Powerpoint presentations?

Is one word processing program just better than the other in your opinion?

The Microsoft software will cost me $149.95 with the education discount, the Apple software will cost me $49.

Thanks in advance.

Gerie

 

[Liz Wolf-Spada]

Well, at my school, I am running an OSX and it has the Apple word processing, (not sure it's I-works though). The biggest problem is that others in the district send things as Word and Excel files and then I can't open those files at school. I can at home, where we have a Mac and Office.
Liz

 

[Icarus]

The biggest problem is that others in the district send things as Word and Excel files and then I can't open those files at school. I can at home, where we have a Mac and Office.
Liz

Have you tried Open Office? www.openoffice.org

-David

 

[GregGH]

Can I work with Word documents in Pages?

Can I send documents from my home Mac to my classroom PC?

Is there a spreadsheet application for the Mac since it isn't part of iWork?

Can Keynote play Powerpoint presentations?

Is one word processing program just better than the other in your opinion?

Hello Gerie

Yes - look at open office.org -- a FREE program that does a lot. Has options to save as standard MS file formats-- and is also available for Windows as well. Does all that MS Office does.

Does Keynote play Powerpoint - yes -- but it also has more features that will 'impress' powerpoint users ( but may not play on PP ).

Can I send to a PC - yep - just remember to avoid things that older mac users got use to --like naming the file with a slash - and get use to using file naming suffix --standard on osX ... like test.doc ( you can hide or show the suffix name - your choice)

Most WP have way more features than mere mortals can use - it is a personal preference. Check out www.macsurfer.com for some links to whats new, etc.

Enjoy the mac - quite a difference from os9 to osX - eh? It takes a few weeks to grow on you - but you will realize how nice osX is after a bit of use.

Regards
Greg

 

[Gerie]

Thanks David and Greg,

I had never heard of this before and will definitely look into it. I took a tour around the Open Office site and got a glimpse of the different programs. Seems complex right now, but I'll investigate further.

I just wish I could load my old Appleworks program into the new computer.

Greg, I've been using OS 10.2 for several years, but even it was outdated and limiting. I'm completely loving my new iMac and OS 10.4. Of course Leopard is coming out shortly, but I needed to replace my computer now, rather than waiting as I had planned.

Again, thanks for the recommendation.

Gerie