is there an alternative to microsoft office for the mac or would you say that microsoft version is ok
Other free option is OpenOffice www.openoffice.org
Mac Office is fine another option is Pages a word processor made by Apple.
I'm assuming you use Office from that answer, Steve? If so, how does it compare to the windows version? Is it fully compatible and as fully featured?
I used to use Mac Office 2008 but have not reloaded it yet on to a clean install of Lion, my 'office' demands are pretty low and I've found that iWork 09 covers my demands, I'm missing a few Office fonts but that's no big deal to me. My wife used 2008 to complete an MA dissertation but also used a Windows 'office' machine as well , we used to get the odd table glitch.
I'm led to believe that the latest version 2011 is highly compatible but as yet we've not upgraded. One criticism has been that the Mac Office versions has always been a bit backward in terms of features but I believe that this is no longer valid.
Since Mac Mail supported the MS Exchange server we both ditched Entourage (now called Outlook in 2011) , it's just seems to function better on the Mac with Mac Mail and iCal being a better combination imo.
so how are they compatible wise from saving etc on a windows and reading on a mac or the other way round too
For the vast majority of documents you create or edit on either OS you can view and edit on the other. You still have to be careful how you save the document as you have with different Windows Office versions i.e. Office 2003 doesn't like the *.docx extension but will read and edit *.doc created in Office 2010
I bought Pages from the App Store, I don't need a huge amount of office stuff, and with my new Mac wanted to avoid leave MS Office behind. Pages cost £9 and does all I need, it opens and saves Word Documents and you can from a large set for templates as well, it works very well for what I need without adding duplicate fonts to the system.
It's good value at that price,probably ready for an update though.
If I was to move to Mac, I would probably require office for functionality and full compatibility.
Quote from: Steve on Oct 23, 2011, 22:40:56
It's good value at that price,probably ready for an update though.
Indeed, its been a while
Quote from: Lance on Oct 23, 2011, 23:00:44
If I was to move to Mac, I would probably require office for functionality and full compatibility.
Office 2011 is to much for me, iWork is great as you just purchase what you need. You may need the extra Microsoft office offers , try it out in a shop vs iWorks, you an always get the MS Office if you needed it, myself I like not having patch Tuesday office updates and a messy font book, but I dont have the need for MS Office. Now I am rid or Word and use pages I would not go back, but thats based on what I do.