Extra Software?

I am buying a new 20" Intel iMAC other than all the software that it comes with would you guys reccomend? I am thinking of maybe iWORK, iMAC, Microsoft Office, FileMaker Pro 8, AppleWorks Education 6.2.9.

I have a couple questions the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Test Drive is this a trial or what, does it just not have as many features as the full version.

The FileMaker Pro is this worth the extra money and what exactly does it do?

AppleWorks is this like iWORK, should I just get one or the other, and which ones better out of the two?

I don't really think you need 3 office suites, but if you want...

I would just stick with Microsoft Office, there is a reason it is still around on OS X even with all the other options.

If you have to ask what File Maker Pro does, then you definantly don't need it.

If you are getting Office, you might want to wait for the intel native version though.

ok so are appleworks and iWORK both office suites are there any advantages to them over Microsoft Office. The only reason i was considering Microsoft Office is cause of the 50% off deal they have going. Are all programs affected by the Intel processor, meaning that an intel native version will work better or are only some affected?

All older software will require Rosetta to run, which won't be as fast as an intel native version. iWork 06 is universal, so it'll run great on an intel processor system.

I like Microsoft Office because it is pretty close to a standard, everybody uses it. You can always try the 30-day trial version(Test Drive). Office might run fine since it isn't very processor intensive.

Personally, I'm a fan of iWork over Office. I think the iLife integration, coupled with the ease of use and fact that it uses pretty much every file format ever created put it above and beyond for me.

ok ya i think im going to just get the standard software that comes with the iMAC and will try both iwork and Microsoft office through the trials and then will see which one i like more. Am i correct in my understanding that iWORK is an Office suite like Microsoft Office, so then is AppleWorks Education 6.2.9 also an office suite. Has anyone tried AppleWorks?
What Office Suite comes standard and is it worth the upgrading to either Microsoft or iWORK?

AppleWorks will come with your iMac. It is kind of dated, but might be enough to you by. What exactly do you need it to do?

well actually were only using it for school and work stuff nothing big, but i say a box for iWORK and the documents they had looked very professional so i think i will go with that because its quite a bit cheaper than Office Suite.

appleworks is garbage, and should be trashed by apple!

AppleWorks is crap. It's very old, and is the OS X equivalent of NotePad. iWork is simply Apple's answer to Office. It has some features Office doesn't, and vice versa. I personally like Office better, because it has Excel, and because Word has Notebook layout, which is GREAT for taking notes in lecture classes, because it consolidates them all into one file neatly. iWork is still an excellent product, though, and is improving significantly each year. Maybe when I run out of licenses on Office (it comes with three), iWork will have a spreadsheet app and I'll switch to it. Until then, I highly recommend Office 2004. Yes, Test Drive is a 30 day trial. By 'iMAC,' did you mean .Mac? .Mac isn't really software. It's just a membership program set up by Apple at Mac.com that gives you a mail server, an iDisk (online storage system that mounts on your computer like a hard drive, I use it in lieu of a flash drive), web hosting, and some other 'member benefits,' such as free Apple loops, formerly free antivirus support, and other random things now and then. I like it a lot personally, but it's by no means necessary if you're happy with your existing mail and web hosting.

tk26 said:

school and work stuff .

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But what does that mean exactly? What level of schooling? Does your school use Microsoft Office? Would you ever be expected to turn in a digital copy of a paper in Word format? Similar questions would be appropriate when determining if iWork would be suitable for your work needs.