Do I have to buy MS Office for Mac?

I just switched and I am ELATED!!!!!!!!!!!

I want nothing else to do with Microsoft, but know I'll have to run somethings in Windows such as AutoCAD, and a few other things until I have the money to replace them.

I like the Text Editor in Mac very much, but it's not opening up my .docs as they were saved, even though the thumbnail shows the original .docs as I had made them.

Do I HAVE to buy MS Office for Mac (for spreadsheets as well) or is there a better Mac app to do this for me???????

Well, if you want free - take a look at Open Office or Neo Office (Neo Office is a modification of Open Office) They will open the many Office files (some with certain embedded macros may cause issues) and can save out to office files.

You might also find iWork does the job for you. It's not free but you can download a trial to see if you like it.

As Nethfel mentioned, OpenOffice is a good alternative if you really don't want/need Office. OpenOffice can save to and open .doc files, as well as .xls files for Excel spreadsheets.
I use TextEdit all the time, too

iwork works well
and you can get converts from iwork to Microsoft word

Yes, you must buy it. Bill Gates will track you down and force you to use Windows Vista if you don't.

Arielluria said:

I just switched and I am ELATED!!!!!!!!!!!

Do I HAVE to buy MS Office for Mac (for spreadsheets as well) or is there a better Mac app to do this for me???????

Click to expand...

You don't "have" to buy MS Office for Mac (there are other alternatives as you've been advised) but if you want 100% compatibility with your documents that you created using MS Office for Windows, Mac MS Office is best.

You can purchase the Home and Student version of MS Office 2008 from several web discounters. Amazon has it for $99.99. Includes Word, PP, Excel, Entourage, and can be installed on up to three machines - same household.

Regards.

Open office has a spread sheet function like excell and even power point like software of course the word equivelant.

Best of all it is free. OpenOffice.org - The Free and Open Productivity Suite
I agree, I want nothing MS on my mac.

I have to use open office at my pc at work when someone sends me a .docx (newest word extension) because it can even open that and save as a doc