Microsoft Office vs iWork

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I've picked my Macbook, my case for it, and the level of warranty and am almost ready to purchase but I can't decide between these two programs. iWork is compatible with Office files but I wasn't sure how easy it would be and as uni expects Office files should I just go for the Microsoft program.

There isn't a huge amount of money in it, but iWork is cheaper for me, I was just wondering what everyone's opinion on this was?

(and to the person who told me iLife wasn't anything like Office, I was getting it confused with iWork)
 

chscag

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Since MS Office will be updated to version 2011 before the end of this year, it might be a good idea to wait. For now you can download and use the free Open Office from Sun Microsystems. It provides good compatibility with Office files and the nice thing is it's free. :)

The iWork suite from Apple is good and it does provide compatibility with MS Office files. The iWork Pages application is very adept at doing layout and publishing documents (non professional) and is somewhat similar to MS Publisher for Windows.

Regards.
 
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Been done, but never hurts to ask. Like chscag pointed out, MS will be releasing a new version later this year. To be honest I had a lot of small issues with the old version and have totally removed it from my machine. I do use Word processors a lot for school and need something that is not going to be flakey. So, I decided on iWork and have been pleasantly surprised. I would imagine that they will be updating their release soon as well so you might hold off on either.

That being said, I would recommend iWork for a person that needs a solid program for office needs. Just to let you know, I have to export my files to .doc for my school teachers and have never had a problem.
 
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Thanks for the reply guys.

I did realise that another Microsoft Office would be coming soon but not quite that soon. Was starting to think I would stick with Open Office until I can make a decision for the meantime. I'll just wait and see I reckon.
 
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I think MS office is actually easier to use than iWork, but once you learn iWork it can do more for you.
 
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I used Office 08 (Student Edition) for college-related purposed (papers etc.) since it came out. Once I graduated, on a whim I decided to try out iWork. I love it, and wished I had used it all along. Ended up picking it up when I got SL.

I think you'll get a free trial of iWork with your machine so you can try it out before you buy. Might be cheaper to buy with the computer, though. Not sure.
 
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I bought my mac for school. I asked by brother, who is a devout mac user, if I needed to also purchase microsoft office. He told me no, that any document I create in iwork can be exported as a microsoft document. It worked just fine until I created a presentation in Keynote and had to export it as a Powerpoint. When I opened up the Powerpoint document, half of bullets had changed and all the fonts on one slide were bright pink. It was not a quick fix either, Powerpoint did not have the bullet I used in Keynote, so I had to change all of them and I could not figure out how to change the font color and had to redo that whole slide. I am glad I exported it the day before the presentation and then went over it before giving the presentation. That would have been embarrassing.

I am happy with iwork, but for sharing documents, especially for presentations, I have decided to purchase Microsoft office.
 
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I have both MS Office and iWork. I can only speak of Pages and Word since I only use those two as a publishing and word processing tool. They are both very good. Pages seems to be more streamline, do it, get it done type of controls over layouts, fonts, pictures, etc. Word seems to give you more control and preference to almost everything but you have to peel through layers of it to get what you want. When I want to tinker I prefer Word. When I want to get it done quick I use Pages.
 
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iWork seems to open excel files better in terms of exact colour than office for mac.
 
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I love iWork and would recommend it if you're primarily working on your own documents.

If you need to collaborate on documents a lot with other students, you'll probably need to pick up Office sooner or later though. Stupid things like bullets, numbering and dynamic elements (e.g. table of contents) will often break when being edited between the various versions of Office and iWork.

This week a student in my class was going to give a presentation created in Keynote. He had exported it in .ppt format and was opening it with Office 2003. The formatting was all over the place and the poor kid spent 10 minutes fixing colours and adjusting slides.

So: iWork great, Office a necessary evil at times and use your own MacBook for your presentations. :)
 
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Also check with your university you might get Microsoft office for free from the mdsn thing....I know i did at my school.
 

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