As a expatriate of the PC world, I'm trying to figure out which Mac software is best for standard word processing and spreadsheeting.

I've read the pros and cons of commercial software like Microsoft Office for Mac (ive read for example that MacOffice Excel can be notoriously slow) as well as free, open source software such as Open Office (OoO seems to have a lot of bugs), Neo OfficeJ and inexpensive software such as ThinkFree Office (seems just "okay").

Apple's own iWork program seems to have a lot of mixed reactions amongst users as well.

This is getting to be quite confusing. Like everyone else, I'd like a software that is first and foremost stable with cross platform (with industry standard MS Office for PC) compatibility.

Any comments? Suggestions?

Thanks.

[PowerBookG4]

If you want gaurenteed compatibility with pcs then microsoft office for mac is the best way to do it. If you want a smooth running piece of software that will allow you to do all you want, then iWork is the best way to do it, and you can save files from iWork to be used on a pc.