Mac Software Question

[Reggie Dunlop]

Anyone here use iWork?

At 80 bucks, I'm looking for a cheaper alternative to Microsoft Office.

I'm loathe to spend a lot on software in order to read Word documents. How does iWork handle converting Word?

[llama64]

I don't have iWork, so I'll leave comments to someone else.

But I do use Open Office on the Mac
http://www.openoffice.org/

I've been working with the beta native Mac port (Aqua) and have had some fun with it. You can find it here:
http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/download/index.html

The straight OO distribution runs very poorly on Leopard though (in my experience).

For free, it handles all Office Documents except complicated spreadsheets and word documents involving a lot of tables. Plus it has a built in PDF printer. I wouldn't use it in a business setting, but for personal stuff it works great!

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Anyone here use iWork?

At 80 bucks, I'm looking for a cheaper alternative to Microsoft Office.

I'm loathe to spend a lot on software in order to read Word documents. How does iWork handle converting Word?

all the iWork applications can open their respective Microsoft applications. They just throw some errors on formating that the program fixes right away for you (never actually see it do changes as a result of this).

[Reggie Dunlop]

Thanks guys...

Actually, it's for a family member whose only need is to read the occasional Word document from email attachments. I have MS Office myself.

[Barnes]

Yeah it works great. It even opens Office 2007 docs which Office:mac can not.

[llama64]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Yeah it works great. It even opens Office 2007 docs which Office:mac can not.

Serious? And I was going to by the Mac version of Office for that support.

Damn Microsoft. Hopefully the ODF gets adopted more support soon. Getting tired of having all my documents locked in a closed format.

[ah123]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Yeah it works great. It even opens Office 2007 docs which Office:mac can not.

Mac Office 2008 is being released on Jan 14/15 (MacWorld) -- this version will support the Office 2007 formats...I would assume that MS will eventually release a converter for Mac Office 2004

[sclitheroe]

$53 for iWork08 at the UofC Micro Store, for students. Also, you can download a free trial from Apple to see if you like it.

Personally, I find that it's good enough, especially now, with version 08, that I uninstalled Office.

[Jay Random]

I don't use iWork myself, as my work requires me to submit stuff in MS Word formats and conversion from other word processors is always apt to foul up the formatting to some degree. But if exact formatting isn't critical, Pages can generally get the job done.

The only serious issue I've heard of is that it uses a seriously nonstandard method of calculating line-spacing, incompatible not only with Word but with every DTP program on the market. That's a deal-breaker for me, but probably wouldn't be for most people.