MS Office compatibility

[Rex]

Hi,

I'm really tempted to switch to mac from PC which I've sworn to for years.

My concern is whether all MS Office applications are 100% compatible.

I went to Microsoft's homepage to look it up - and to my horror, I saw that mac-Office has a small programme which shows you what your file will look like in a PC-version of Office?!

My logic tells me that if this program is necessary then the Office versions are NOT 100% compatible.

1. Can some of you tell me of your experience switching with specific regards to Excel docs, advanced Word docs, adv. ppt. presentations, Outlook, etc.

2. I saw on a PC-forum that WIndows Vista might be able to run on both Mac and PC machines. If this is the case, does it make sense to wait for a Vista-machine?

Thanks
Rex

 

[jhelm007]

Hi,

I'm really tempted to switch to mac from PC which I've sworn to for years.

My concern is whether all MS Office applications are 100% compatible.

I went to Microsoft's homepage to look it up - and to my horror, I saw that mac-Office has a small programme which shows you what your file will look like in a PC-version of Office?!

My logic tells me that if this program is necessary then the Office versions are NOT 100% compatible.

1. Can some of you tell me of your experience switching with specific regards to Excel docs, advanced Word docs, adv. ppt. presentations, Outlook, etc.

2. I saw on a PC-forum that WIndows Vista might be able to run on both Mac and PC machines. If this is the case, does it make sense to wait for a Vista-machine?

Thanks
Rex

In my experience excel is 100% compatible even with relatively complex macros running. Of course my kind of spreadsheets certainly don't cover everything. Word, likewise, is essentially cmpletely compatible (word was first developed for the mac platform anyway before windows existed... thats how they got the Mac source code that allowed them to write win95, but I digress). Powerpoint unfortunately has some minor issues. Usually it is a matter of import or copy/paste formats. The mac version in my experience can open anything made on a PC, but the PC version chokes on some basic image formats(JPEGs, TIFFs you name it. Its an MS bug NOT a compatibility issue IMHO). My solution has been to run every presentation on a PC at work before I have to travel with it to make sure that everything translates OK. I don;t know if that helps or not.

The new intel macs should be able to run windows vista when it comes out (unless MS decides to prevent it by including 'trusted hardware' code or something like that).

 

[Murlyn]

Yeah so far they have made the intel macs incompatible with Vista or any window OS so that's out at this point. Although there is a contest going on that is offering a couple thousand dollars to anyone that can get Windows running on the new Intel Mac's

I have the same experience that all my files transfer over quite easily, back and forth, and actually OpenOffice does a really great job at opening and saving MS Office files.

 

[MadRhino23]

I have been using MSOffice on MAC for about 4 years... Never had any problems... you also have the option to save your files for an earlier PC Ofice Verions....

Not bad! :headphone :headphone

The only thing I do not understand and this pertains to Power Point on the MAC, is that it will not let you import FLASH files... have no clue why!

maybe somebody knows a work around!

:headphone :headphone :headphone

 

[Ex_PC_Puke]

Its pretty much understood that cross platform compatibility of files like Word - Excel - etc. can never be 100% garanteed ---- things like PDF or Jpeg are platform independant. So MS Office for Mac makes some disclaimers to that effect as does NeoOffice.

However, as mentioned in the thread most users have no issues - I've used both MS Office for the Mac and NeoOffice to create Word docs - Excel SS - Power Point slides that were sent in as homework to a class requiring the use of Office on PCs ---- never heard a peep from the instructor.

Bottom line is if you are going to create standard documents - no problem

If you're planning on creating very complex meadia rich docs - you may see some issues

 

[baggss]

Yeah so far they have made the intel macs incompatible with Vista or any window OS so that's out at this point.

Since Vista is only in Beta right now, saying that it is incompatible is misleading. Reportedly Vista will support EFI, but as of right now we don't know for sure what the final product will support in relation to the Intel Macs.