Pages and like apple office apps

Hi,I have a question.My teachers at my university are all using Windows.So,If I make a "Pages" document would they be able to view it properly or would I have any problems?

burak434 said:

Hi,I have a question.My teachers at my university are all using Windows.So,If I make a "Pages" document would they be able to view it properly or would I have any problems?

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Pages can export in Word and RTF, plus PDF formats.

As said above, Pages can export to Word, RTS, and PDF. However, I have found that if you open a .doc file say, and edit it, it will revert the file to the .pages format, making you export it back to the .doc if you intend to share it with someone using Word. This is most annoying and tedious, so if you plan to be doing it a lot I really suggest the Open Source NeoOffice or LibreOffice.

And which one would you suggest?Pages or Word?

burak434 said:

And which one would you suggest?Pages or Word?

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You haven't given us anywhere near enough information to make a blanket recommendation like that.
Every choice has its pluses and minuses and without knowing what those are to you there is no way for us to decide for you.

Having said that, I can reccomend LibreOffice (successor to OpenOffice) as a free open source MS Office alternative, as was mentioned above.

There are very good reasons to choose any of the packages mentioned, but no way for us to know if they apply in your situation.

Well,I will be mostly using it for writing essays or stuff like that.

burak434 said:

Well,I will be mostly using it for writing essays or stuff like that.

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You can write an essay in any of the packages mentioned, and should be able to share it with your professors without issue.

Things to consider in a choice (which we don't know about you):

1) What is your long-term usage? Will you be graduating to a job that will require you to continue to use Office Products (MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc.)? If so, you would almost certainly be better off going with MS Office (even though it costs more) because of the skills and experience you will gain.

2) Will you be collaborating on projects, requiring you to jointly work on documents with others? Again, in this instance, MS Office is probably a better choice.

3) Will you be more interested in Grapically based document creation, potentially moving up to Adobe CS? In this instance, not sure what I would reccomend, though I might lean toward Pages

4) Is your usage strictly for completion of assigned tasks and your educational goals are other than as described above? In that case I would probably go with LibreOffice (or one of the other open source packages). Though, again, Pages or MS Office would also serve just as well here

HTH
Razormac

I love pages and very much prefer it to Word. However: I'm only using it for basic writing (e.g Resume, essays, ...). Friends of mine who have to use formulas and formula editors unfortunately had to get Word as Pages support isn't too good on that side.

iWork is quite a bit cheaper thought - I wonder if you can just get Pages for your day y to day work and try a free, more Word like version for things Pages doesn't do. One of those forinstance could be NeoOffice.

Cheers!

I'm one who prefers Word given that I can't take a risk with format compatibility and conversion. I have nothing against Pages but if, like me, compatibility is a must, Word is the way to go.

If you go the Office route, you may be able to get a cheaper copy through your school - ask your IT people or the people at the bookstore if this is the case.

I'm one who prefers Word given that I can't take a risk with format compatibility and conversion. I have nothing against Pages but if, like me, compatibility is a must, Word is the way to go.

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+1. I'm the same way. However, since Pages (latest for Lion) can be obtained from the App store for only $19.95 it doesn't hurt to have a copy on hand. Pages does also does layout work if you're into things like bulletins and flyers.