a few reservations..

[becrazed]

Hey guys, i been thinking about switching to the wonderful world of macs for quite a while now. I've been a bit reluctant to make the change, adopting the narrow minded view that no software that i use isnt going to be compatable.. Im after a macbook and the only real software i use at the moment is microsoft office 2007. I've got a fear that in the future i ll need to use a certain type of software and it wont be compatible leaving my purchase rather redunant. I supose im here for some reassurance as i've never owned a mac before so havent really got a clue whether there are any compatability issues.

Cheers

 

[Alexis]

You can always install Windows on another partition and choose whether to use OS X or Windows when you start up.

 

[bmcgonag]

Also, they make MS Office for Mac, currently 2004, but 2008 should be out in the near future, if not already out. There is also NeoOffice, a free suite similar to MS Office, and able to create the same document formats to move between MS Office and NeoOffice.

I'm not sure if NeoOffice will do the new MS Office formats, but definitely .doc, .rtf, .xls, etc.

And as stated previously, if you need too, you can run Windows on your mac, either virtually with something like Parallels, or on a separate partition booting it natively using Bootcamp (free from apple).

Best,

Brian

 

[flilow06]

I supose im here for some reassurance as i've never owned a mac before so havent really got a clue whether there are any compatability issues.

At this point, compatibility issues are a thing of the past. Boot Camp (search for it and you'll find plenty more info) is a free program that allows you to easily run Windows XP or Vista on your Mac as a partition. At boot up, you choose which OS you would like to run... thus allowing you to use any software you'd like.

 

[BlackCivic]

Another option is parrallels which you can use windows while running OS X simultaneously..

 

[smurfy]

i dont think you'll need Windows at all - the only thing Windows has more of is games, which may bother you. I don't care, I was never much of a PC Gamer.

 

[Willem]

Seriously. I do my gaming on consoles so I don't need Windows for a single thing. Mac 100%.

 

[iKitten]

It doesn't sound as if you'd have compatibility issues. I've had my macbook for three weeks and have had none. The only time I've turned on my PC since has been to transfer files!

 

[core20]

yea, on my medical campus the internet mail servers are IBM based, and when the menu stating that my computer is not optimized for this software pops-up i still click okay, and all my mail is visible and perfectly coherent. So even with some compatiblity issues, tiger still manages to find a way... no serious issues for compatibility.