02-17-2008, 11:48 AM

Which office suite (or software) do you use on your Mac?

I have iWork '08 and Office '08, but iWork (ie. Pages) is my daily driver.

02-17-2008, 11:55 AM

I seldom use Pages, but I use it for most documents that need to look good. I use Word for taking notes in class, because of it's excellent notebook layout with tabs and annotations etc.

I am a heavy LaTex user for my papers, theses and even short essays. Anything where text is important and is going to be thoroughly read - LaTex gives the most readable book-like output. And the Mac is a well-supported Latex platform.

02-17-2008, 01:08 PM

I don't use an office suite. I use Mellel for word processing, which works fabulously for my needs. I haven't any real need for other office apps at the moment, though if I did, I'm not sure I'd even use a suite. I'd rather just use whatever best suits my needs so long as I'm comfortable with its interface and price otherwise. Is there really a need/benefit to stick to a packaged suite these days?

02-17-2008, 01:14 PM

I almost never need to use anything for class, but when I do have to actually write a paper I use Office 08.

02-17-2008, 01:44 PM

Originally Posted by yogi

I seldom use Pages, but I use it for most documents that need to look good. I use Word for taking notes in class, because of it's excellent notebook layout with tabs and annotations etc.

I'm the same exact way, I use Word for notes and Pages for papers and other stuff. I don't really use Excel/Numbers and it depends if I'm doing a group presentation I'll use Powerpoint but sometimes I use Keynote if I'm working by myself.

02-17-2008, 02:03 PM

Currently on my macbook :

1. iWork '08
2. NeoOffice.
3. Office 2007 (via Parallels).

02-17-2008, 02:20 PM

I use word 04

I only use this because the whole university system uses word and I was worried about compatability when I first swapped to Mac.

I'd like to try iWork as I've been very impressed with mac software so far.

02-17-2008, 02:26 PM

AppleWorks for word processing.
iWork (Keynote) for presentations.
Office (Excel) 2004 for spreadsheets.

It may seem a little odd at first, but really, it makes sense.

AppleWorks is the simplest, most straightforward way to put words on paper. It's a little limited--I may switch to Pages soon--but it doesn't try to reformat your document to suit it's own ends.

Keynote makes the clearest and most attractive presentations. Presentations are a visual medium, and Keynote makes the best visuals.

Excel 2004 (not 2008) is the most powerful number-cruncher on the Mac. Numbers is pretty. AppleWorks is simple. Only NeoOffice/OpenOffice comes close in power.

02-17-2008, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by tmorgan1689

I'm the same exact way, I use Word for notes and Pages for papers and other stuff. I don't really use Excel/Numbers and it depends if I'm doing a group presentation I'll use Powerpoint but sometimes I use Keynote if I'm working by myself.

Woah, absolutely dito. Group presentations suck :-D .

I do use Numbers occasionally, for making tables where I know I don't need to do much data crunching, for which Excel is really a brilliant app and I have to give it to Microsoft for their Office suite.

I recently used Numbers to make a cleaning plan for my roommates at college. It was done quite quickly, which is what impressed me. I could make a pretty table fast, but actually doing advanced math in Numbers... well to be honest, I haven't really had anything to throw at it yet.

The problem with iWork is that as soon as you need to collaborate, you're totally lost.

02-17-2008, 02:43 PM

I use an office suite only for working on spreadsheets, any text related work I do on the command line using vi
What can I say, I am a Unix/Linux junkie!

Cheers

02-17-2008, 02:59 PM

I use neooffice havent needed any thing else yet I will probibly need to buy MS office begging of next school year (september) when I choose IT for my options

02-17-2008, 03:08 PM

1. iWork 08 (about 90%)
2. NeoOffice

02-17-2008, 03:09 PM

I have Office 04, Office 08 & iWork

I switch between Office 08 & iWork depending on what I'm doing.

I must say so far I'm pretty impressed with Office 08.

02-17-2008, 10:22 PM

I use iWork 08 because it's very simple to use, and it supports Arabic, which i need for one of my classes, unlike MS Office 08, and 04

02-17-2008, 10:47 PM

iWork 08 here for most basic work. I have Office 2004 on my Powermac and use it once in a while mostly for Excel and doing work for others. I have NeoOffice on my main iMac just in case.