Stick with Microsoft Office?

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Migrating from Windows 7 to a Mac Mini. I have MS Office on my Windows PC and have many Word and Excell documents to copy over. Should I continue with MS Office or get something like iWork? I know that I can convert documents and spreadsheets in iWork to a reasonably compatible Office format, but i'm thinking more from a practical and performance point of view.
 
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chas_m

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Though I love Pages and Keynote dearly, if you're comfortable with MS Office and know it well (and can adjust to the minor accommodations for the Mac) then you're best off with that.

OTOH, if you've been aching to make your documents look INSANELY better but never had the time to dig into Office enough to find out how (if even possible) to do that ... the iWork suite will blow the doors off your colleagues' MS documents every time when it comes to good-looking!

Every time (without fail!) that I do a Keynote presentation for a crowd that is mostly Windows users, the first question is ALWAYS "how in the name of sweet baby Jesus did you DO THAT??!"
 

chscag

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Without all the fluff and opinions as to which we love and blah, blah, stick with Office if you're comfortable with that. MS Office is the de facto standard for business and education - enough said.

However, the iWork applications (Pages, Keynote, Numbers) are done very well and worth trying out at least. Also, if you're in the market to purchase Office, I would hold off a bit as Microsoft will soon launch Office 2013. I'm not certain if you should buy Office 2011 right now that you would be eligible for a free upgrade.
 
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It looks like Office 2013 has released. (At least in the US)
Office - Office.com
Office 2011 - isn't bad - and the new licensing seems to want to push you to a $100 USD subscription/year - vs $150 for 3 computers for Office home use.
 

chscag

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The version of Office 2013 you linked to is not for the Mac - yet. See the following MacLife article: LINK

I expect we'll see it sometime soon though. Mac Office is too big a cash cow for Microsoft not to include a Mac version.
 

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It's also rumoured that the MBU generates $500 million in business which, although arguably insubstantial in relation to total revenues, is still significant.

As with most releases, the Mac version will likely be released a year after this one so expect 2014 at the end of the year. I just hope that they don't go full on with the suscription model. I may have access to the internet 98% of the time but I don't want to be tied to a cloud product for something so instrumental in my daily routine.
 
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Aye - it looks like even with 365 you get 2011 for now. But since it is always up to date - if you sign up for it you will get the upgrade to 2013.

That being said - my point was - it seems that they are changing the licensing scheme for boxed software. If you look at the 2013 PC - everything is for 1 PC now. If you want a household license you'll need to subscribe - so waiting may not be what you want. The 2011 home does still have a 3 Computer (1 household) license - vs $99/year for 5 computers - that is being offered by Office 365.
Compare Microsoft Office Products & Subscription Plans - Office.com
 

chscag

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I hear you. I currently have the 3 license version of Office 2011 for the Mac since at the time I purchased it, I had two Macs. However, I can live with a single license of Office for future use as long as there is a viable version for mobile devices. (iPad, iPhone)
 

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Ah, good point. As someone who never installs it on multiple machines, I hadn't really considered that. Thanks for pointing that out.

Ok, so for $8.33/mo, you get Office (all apps), 20GB of SkyDrive space, synced settings across machines, streamed Office and 60 minutes of Skype call time/mo? Breaking it down, that's actually not all that bad. Sure, it's more expensive in the long run (Office 2010 was released in June of 2010 so there was 19 months between them for $190) but for only a $50 difference, you do get quite a bit.
 
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Yeah - what I am afraid of - is if you want a mobile device version - Microsoft is going to push you to the Office 365 subscription. If you read the description - this is what is being hinted at.

Office 365 Home Premium Online | Monthly Subscription - Office.com
From the Office 365 Description
Office on more devices
Install Office applications on your PC, Mac, Windows tablet, and other select devices.
Office supports PCs running Windows 7 or higher, and Macs with Mac OS X 10.5.8 or higher. Office Mobile supports Windows Phone devices running Windows Phone OS 7.5 and higher.
View system requirements
 

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I suppose the mobile part doesn't bother me because I can't see myself using it on either my iPod Touch, Android phone or Nexus 7. Worst case - I use a free suite to make quick edits or viewings.
 
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If you are always upgrading then - a subscription based model will probably work out in your favor. That being said - I had been using Office 2007 - since it's release - on my work PCs. Just one of those things - I may not upgrade to the next version. For my home - I tend to upgrade so I may go with the subscription. But at work - for example - we are on Office 2007 for PC.

I guess we should also point out that iWork is $20/app - Keynote/Pages/Numbers - so $60 USD for 5 installs.
 

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iWork would work for I (haha) if I didn't need 100% compatibility and multiple installs mattered (I live on my own).

I'm not sure I'm going to go with the subscription model if it's made available for the Mac. If it is, I think I'll buy it outright. There's something to be said about not being beholden to a cloud service to do my work.
 

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I've never really been a fan of software that is subscription based. For sure...folks that upgrade often may save in the long run. I just hate that you always "owe the man" year after year...whether you want/need to upgrade to the latest version or not...or just to keep your subscription active.

Many professional/workplace statistical software titles that I use (and have used for many years as far back as the 1990's) have been subscription based. Either the annual subscription is based on software upgrades, the number of users using the software, or the numbers of "cpu's" the software is installed on. These are software titles like Minitab, SAS, etc.).

So it would seem that Microsoft is trying to "migrate" what has been in the business/professional environment for years (at least for some software titles) to home users.

Personally when my current Office 2011 becomes obsolete...and if Microsoft Office at that time is subscription only...I think that I will be much more motivated to switch to iWork, OpenOffice, or NeoOffice.:)

- Nick
 

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I just hate that you always "owe the man" year after year...whether you want/need to upgrade to the latest version or not...or just to keep your subscription active.
This is the one of my primary dislikes of the subscription model. It's not so much the cost but the fact that it's recurring. Add to that the fact that you need a constant connection to a server (hooray, let's add a layer of complexity between me and Office) and I lose interest. However, if the price is right, I might be interested. Perhaps I'll take it for a spin tonight with the trial in my VM.
 

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True and as much as I love open source software, OpenOffice/LIbreOffice is great if you can't afford iWork or Office. If you can, don't use OpenOffice/LibreOffice.
 
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I use and really like iWork '09
 
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I'm an old Office user - mostly Word - and we have Office 2010 for Windows on our big enterprise network at work so I purchased Office for Mac 2011 when I converted all my personal computers to Mac. It works fine. The one thing that personally I wish MS would do is to make the latest release of the Mac version of Office look and feel exactly the same as the latest Windows version. It is good as is - but it would be better in my opinion if the two had the same interface. It would make life easier to learn just one interface instead of two.
 

chscag

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Most users of Office are probably not aware that Microsoft first made Word and Excel available for the Mac before deploying it to Windows. While Office has become a big cash cow for Microsoft on both platforms, it's really not possible to give them both the same exact look and feel even with a common interface. I still personally prefer the look and feel of Office 2010 over that of 2011, but I'm satisfied with the compatibility between versions.
 

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