iworks vs msoffice vs openoffice

[snakeeyes]

Hi, so ok I will be buying a new macbook this summer, I have used iworks once, msoffice loads of time and openoffice loads of times as well.

 

Since I will be starting uni soon any idea which package I should get.

 

Is iWorks equally good as Microsoft Office 2008? What about openoffice 3.0? I have heard it will get a native aqua port for version 3.0.

[roderick]

i would use microsoft office 2008 just because i'm used to it though.

[spainter]

Microsoft office 2008. thats what I would use.

[vaporATX]

If you are required to use office for work reasons use it. Otherwise there is no reason to put up with Office 2008... it is a horrid piece of buggy bloated overpriced garbage. iWork is more than any home user (and lots of business users) need, and is well written and a pleasure to use. Open Office falls somewhere in between.

[CLiDE FTW!!1]

Office 2007 > iWork

iWork > Office 2008

[X-Ray Mac]

Office works because of it being so universal... but its bloated.

 

I have iWork and Office 2008 and if it weren't for school I'd just stick with iWork.

[MiniBUU]

On my xp machine I cant see myself using anything other than Office 2003. On the mac I have installed Ofiice 2008 (because it was available) I dont really have a need for but since im using to having it on pc I installed it on my hack. Only looking at pictures, iwork looked a little foriegn to me. I used openoffice on pc and didnt notice any problem with it but never tried it for mac.

[vaporATX]

If I was forced to use Office Mac I'd take the slight rosetta speed hit and use 2004. I tried to migrate my wife to 2008 (she's writer by trade) and she lasted about a week with it. She found she just couldn't be productive with it and moved back to 2004. She told me too many things were changed or moved where she couldn't easily find them. Plus, if you don't use the new docx format large docs were becoming unstable and many folks she works with still use office 2000, or use Office XP and don't have all the updates, so they have to be converted for these folks. More steps and more docs to keep track of. It was a nightmare for her. People shouldn't have to relearn their freakin' software. Especially something as simple as a word processor. The thing that I hate the most about Micro$haft Mac apps is they just refuse to follow Mac interface guidelines, write their apps in Cocoa, and properly use the gui toolkit. They write garbage. Always have... always will. If you are going to switch to a Mac you're just shooting yourself in the foot using M$ software.

[Synaesthesia]

iWork really creates beautiful looking documents, presentations and spreadsheets. The downside is it's not as well supported as Office, and it works differently. Office Mac is OK, but slow and un-maclike.

[ChocolateJeff]

School? Office 08 its bad but very compatible.

Home, Fun, Artistic? iWork 08 esp their Keynote. great stuff but not really compatible.

 

Personally, I'd use iWork unless you need to use Excel, then stick with Office

[endafy]

Actually since Open Office 2.4.1 it has all the functionality of Office 2007/8 so OOo FTW. I have tried the 3.0 beta's and they are looking amazing. It is what made MS Office great but MS killed with that ugly ribbon BS.

[xiongguoy]

iWork.

 

Just the other day I needed to write a guide on something.

 

Well what the heck, I fired up iWorks '08 Pages and see how long I can last, using it for the first time.

 

It almosts seems natural. "is this it? hmmm, maybe this? Yupz" Nothing needed more then the second guess.

 

M$ Office.

 

2004 or 2008? which ever you feel comfortable with. File format issues? No problem, you can download the converter on thier website, which will convert 2008 format to 2004.

 

This is the "Open XML File Format Converter for Mac". I don have Office X so I am not sure if the converted file can be opened in Office X, but most likely it will.

 

OpenOffice

 

I never really used OpenOffice before honestly, though I have it on almost all my computers. I used to love StarOffice, so I am guessing OpenOffice couldn't be any worst.

 

Conclusion

 

Used what YOU think is best and suites YOU best, cause end of the day YOU are the one using it.

 

Play around with you available options, I actually have all 4 installed on my Hack (iWork '08, 2008, 2004, OpenOffice)

[MaaseyRacer]

If you are going to school use Microsoft Office. Everyone at school will be using Office on either their macs or pcs. This will give you maximum compatibility with your class mates and teachers. Your should may have a volume license or a good student buy.

[Ongeloof]

iWork. Its simply, good quality and Apple. 'nuff said.

 

 

Think Mark

[jmlope]

I was used to Office on Windows (2003, 2007) when switching to Mac. Once here, I feel that everything depends on everyone's needs. In my case, I use extense spreadsheet with a lot o pivot tables. iWork (iCalc, I believe) cannot make pivot tables. And Open Office does not include calculated fields in the pivot tables, which limits very, very much its functionability. Formatting pivot tables with Open Office is embarrasing and lacks of automatization.

As said, everything depends on one's needs.

Hope this helps.

[SDRacer48]

In terms of the best packaged and most universal, I would go with OpenOffice.

 

I love Microsoft Office 2007 for Windows, but Office 2008 for Mac just erks me. I don't like my menu's seperated all over the place for some reason. Plus, if I use office now, I want Ribbon style toolbars...

[Alessandro17]

OpenOffice is all I need for my modest needs. Sometimes I use AbiWord as well, very nice piece of software.

 

 

People shouldn't have to relearn their freakin' software.

 

Exactly. That is why so many people, including myself, hate KDE 4 and, to a lesser extent, Firefox 3.

[aduffbrew]

I do a lot of technical writing and oddly enough, I normally just use Pages. The interface seems the least intrusive of anything I've tried and I like that. Most of us don't use even a fraction of the features available in all these office suits. For what I use it for, iWorks offers the best balance of speed, size, ease of use, features, and price.

 

Open Source options are getting pretty dang good! I've used NeoOffice and been thoroughly impressed. Honestly, I like it much better than Microsoft's latest entry and it's free! It's my number one pick for a full blown office suite. It feels the most "Mac'ish" to me. If you're not familiar with it, you should check it out:

 

http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php

 

Office:Mac 2008 is fine too. Its interface is much more mac-like than its predecessor but it still feels a little foreign to me. It does do most everything as promised and it is still the de facto standard but it's a bit expensive and kind of a resource hog. I really regret buying into the whole "compatibility paranoia" and getting it. I NEVER USE IT! But that's just me. I know others who swear by it.

 

Format compatibility is rapidly becoming a moot point. With the availability of stand alone converters, third party plug ins, and the increasing expectation of native handling of UDF and other open source standards, I think it's silly to make compatibility the principle basis of your selection process.