Microsoft Office? or iWork?

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Here is a little poll to help everyone. Choose your preference of software and explain why you like it compared to the other.

Topics to touch on:

-word processing

-spreadsheet

-presentations
 
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I say office because of spreadsheets. If you want to do any thing else stick with iWork..
 
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I WANT iWork, but I have Office X because my school gave it to me (they switched over from macs to Dells (EWW) about seven years ago, so they have a bunch of software lying around, plus they still have a few macs). iWork runs a lot smoother than Office, probably because it was designed by apple for apples. I honestly don't care about a spreadsheet app, iWork gets what I would need done (if I had it that is).
 
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I chose office, I like it because its what I am use to.. It has all the programs I need while I am starting my business..
 
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If you have no objections to what you use, I would go for iWork as the Keynote has some amazing transistions between slides and you can build some very good presentations compared to that of PowerPoint.

What most people don't realise is, Pages has a built in spreadsheet taht does everything Excel does. I've found it easier to get on with than Office, especially coming from a MS background.
 

dtravis7


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I voted Office because you included Spreadsheet in the mix. IWork does not as yet have a Spreadsheet, I hear one is coming but till it does, that is missing if you need a spreadsheet application.

That said, Keynote is an outstanding presentation program and pages is a very good Word Processor, But if you need 100% compatibility all the time with the world, Office is the way to go. For a lot of people though, Pages is great and very compatible with most Word documents.

So if you need absolutely 100% compatibility or need a Spreadsheet in the mix also, then Office is the way to go.

There are free alternatives which are quite good like NeoOffice and OpenOffice also but I feel they are not 100% perfect if you are in the business world and can't have any compatibility problems at all.
 
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Where's the 'other' option? I use OpenOffice (and will switch to NeoOffice once the Intel version is released) because it doesn't have the massive expense of MS Office but does everything I need to do.
 
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I prefer MS Office as well. I've been using the iWork demo and just don't like Pages. There isn't enough customisation for me, I'm pretty particular as the bulk of my personal work is done on Word. Keynote leaves Powerpoint for dead but I rarely use it so I have to stick with MS on this one.
 
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I got office but I am hoping to move to IWork later in the year.

I just want to use Office because everyone else I know has Windows/Office
 
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lilhonder

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Hi all. I just joined the forum as a new Mac user (just purchased Macbook). I am having the same dilemma but I think in reading these posts I will go ahead and purchase the MS office. I am a college student and am constantly sharing files and downloading from my professors online, who primarily use PowerPoint. I do have to say that Keynote is awesome (not a big fan of Pages) but when I download from my professors will it automatically convert into Keynote or will I have to manually select an application to use? I didn't get a chance to test drive this b/c I was always using my MS test drive that was available. Now my iwork test drive is up and I forgot to experiment with it. I'm pretty sure that I will purchase the MS office but for future reference I was wondering about iwork and converting the MS files I download to this. Thanks.
 
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With office you know where you are - nobody is surprised when Office is being a bit odd... Pages fills you with expectation and gets that creativity going, and then you slam into a brick wall every so often - here's hoping for iWork 07!

I use both: Word for standard letters and stuff, pages for the visual/creative stuff.
 

dtravis7


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Yeah same here, I use both, for my everyday stuff though, I like Pages. If I need something to be used by others I will use Office. Another vote hoping for IWork 07 soon!
 
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I agree with Cazabam - I use NeoOffice although they have not perfected the database portion of it yet. Cost: $0.00
 
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I have recently downloaded NeoOffice and I love it. It uses a lot of resources; thank God I opted for 1GB of RAM.
 
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sursuciofla

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Office...both are good but Office is just familiar to everyone. iWorks is great too though.
 

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