New to Mac...Microsoft Office

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I am new to Mac ( my first one..:). I have looked at the reviews of iWork's and wanted to get feedback on choosing iWork's or microsoft office. The latest version I see for Microsoft Office is 2010.
 
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MS Office 2011 is the Mac version, but here's my recommendation. If you are a home user, just looking for software to create documents, manage spreadsheets and those sorts of things, get iWork. If you're a small business without a heavy investment into Microsoft products already, get iWork. If you're a corporate user with MS Office as the standard on all other systems, get Office. I like iWork because I can now pick and choose my apps. I NEVER do presentations. Why spend the $20 for Keynote if I'm not going to use it? If I need it, I'll get it later. With Office, you pay a substantial amount for all the apps, whether you're going to use them or not.
 
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Microsoft office

My office uses Microsoft office and I want to be able to use my office files on my mac and then be able to use the files again at work. Will iWork's allow you to do that? I read that you can not sort columns in iWork's, is that true?
 

chscag

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My office uses Microsoft office and I want to be able to use my office files on my mac and then be able to use the files again at work. Will iWork's allow you to do that? I read that you can not sort columns in iWork's, is that true?

There are various incompatibilities between the iWork applications and Microsoft Office. You state above that your office uses Microsoft Office. That's reason enough to purchase Microsoft Office 2011 and not iWork.

If you were going to use it for only your person and at home as EvenStranger indicate above, then I would buy the iWork applications separately for the $19.99 price at the App store. Otherwise, MS Office is what you should purchase.
 

vansmith

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MS Office 2011 is the Mac version, but here's my recommendation. If you are a home user, just looking for software to create documents, manage spreadsheets and those sorts of things, get iWork. If you're a small business without a heavy investment into Microsoft products already, get iWork. If you're a corporate user with MS Office as the standard on all other systems, get Office. I like iWork because I can now pick and choose my apps. I NEVER do presentations. Why spend the $20 for Keynote if I'm not going to use it? If I need it, I'll get it later. With Office, you pay a substantial amount for all the apps, whether you're going to use them or not.
I'd like to add student to that list as well especially if you're expected to hand in assignments digitally. It's part of the reason that I got Office over iWork.

There are various incompatibilities between the iWork applications and Microsoft Office. You state above that your office uses Microsoft Office. That's reason enough to purchase Microsoft Office 2011 and not iWork.
Couldn't agree more. When compatibility is a concern, go with the product that best supports it. In this case, get Office and take concerns over compatibility out of the equation (for the most part - there are slight incompatibilities between the Mac/Windows version).
 
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I will note that OpenOffice does support (in terms of importing and exporting) files in Office format. Because it's free from Sun, it might be worth a try to see if it is compatible with the stuff you do at the office. If not, of course, Office 2011 will work (and I bought it myself).

Cheers
 
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Go with Office 2011. With the freebies you get what you pay for!
 

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