01-21-2009, 11:24 PM

Ok In the next week I will be purchasing a new macbook. I have an online class at my college, and I will need to submit word documents, so I know I have a couple options.

1. My mom recently got a new hp laptop and also bought Microsoft Office, which was supposed to be only for one user, but I successfully installed it on my pc, just without tech support (who cares). My question is, using CrossOver Mac or any similar software, will I be able to use these discs to install office on my new MacBook? (doesn't matter to me if its legal or not)

2. I have noticed on the Apple website, Microsoft office for mac costs $149.95 and just Microsoft word costs a whopping $229.95, why is this? I only need word, and I just don't see the logic behind this pricing, what am I missing here?

Thanks.

01-22-2009, 01:14 AM

The mac version is very different than the PC version. They have the same features and can do the same things but the layout on the Mac takes awhile to get use to. Plus Mac users generally prefer other word processing software that are generally free. Hence the pricing on the Mac version.

01-22-2009, 06:20 AM

if you are willing to pay, Apple has iWork which comes cheaper with a new computer, but the compatibility isn't perfect as I've found out, but it is much easier to use and looks way better ... nevertheless, you can expert to .doc fine, if you don't mind skipping fancy formating which would be very specific

or, a good option is OpenOffice, or NeoOffice ... both free, just google ... you have probably heard of these and it's about as close you can get to the Microsoft version as you can get, again u can save into .doc

01-22-2009, 12:20 PM

I have used all 3 (NeoOffice, OpenOffice and Office for the Mac). Of the 3, I actually like MS Office the least. Not nearly as intuitive, and I can save/export and import .DOC files very easily (not quite as simple translating into or out of PPT files, however).

Having said that, this forum does not support discussions of software usage in violation of their licenses. If you must use Office, buy the Mac license (Student/Teacher edition can be had online pretty cheap) and go with that.

Cheers

01-22-2009, 08:08 PM

I see, well thanks for the info.

When you say I will lose my formatting, what exactly does that mean ?

So if I save something on a mac in open office or neo office as a .doc file, a
windows pc will have no problems opening and editing it ?

And I see that both neo and open are free, which one is better ?

thanks.

01-23-2009, 03:28 PM

Open and Neo will open the .DOCs, but when exporting .DOC files you need to know what version of Office will be opening them - you have various choices in which Word format to save your documents, that's where the real challenge lies. Older versions of Word have formats and macros that are not compatible with newer versions and vice versa. That's where the complexity comes in, IMO.

As far as Open vs. Neo they are essentially the same. Used to be that Neo was compiled directly for the Mac and Open wasn't but that's not the case anymore. There are a few stylistic differences and Neo asks for contributions (and has a few enhancements as a result), but it is itself based on OpenOffice. Try them both out and see what you like better.

Cheers