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Mac OS X: Newbie to Mac
Newbie to Mac
by zurple07 - 3/9/06 11:44 AMAfter many years with the PC (Commodore 64, Amiga 1000 and 3000, then on to windows), I'm finally giving up Microsoft OS and coming over to Mac. The only reason I have waited this long has been the software I have gotten over the years, Photoshop CS2! I can't wait to get my hands on the Adobe Lightroom Beta program. I have also worked with MS Office and would like to know what would be the best programs to replace Word and Excel on the Mac??
As soon as I get my computer I'm sure I'll have many questions to ask. I stop with the above questions for now.
-Thanks, JB
BTW - I'm getting the IMAC 20" Intel CoreDuo 2 GB ram
Save a buck or two.
by R. Proffitt
- 3/9/06 11:51 AM
In reply to: Newbie to Mac by zurple07
Be sure to see if Open Office (http://www.openoffice.org) is ready for you and if you can use it (I do) we have The GIMP (google.com)
Of course if you can't live without the Microsoft Office, there is a version for the Mac.
Bob
I can live without MS Office
by zurple07 - 3/9/06 12:01 PM In reply to: Save a buck or two. by R. Proffitt
They are as buggy and crash like all the other programs! Thanks, I'll look into Open Office.
JB
Sorry. That doesn't happen to me.
by R. Proffitt - 3/9/06 12:06 PM
In reply to: I can live without MS Office by zurple07
I can't write such happens to me. The versions starting at Office 97 have been quite good for us.
-> What I was offering was an alternative to soften the budget blow of the move.
Bob
Ref: Sorry-
by zurple07 - 3/9/06 12:13 PM In reply to: Sorry. That doesn't happen to me. by R. Proffitt
Well Excel isn't too bad but Word 2000 on my XP machine seems to crash a lot. I've used them both so long.
Running them on a Mac would they still be subjected to virus attacks?
JB
Do read about that in this forum.
by R. Proffitt - 3/9/06 12:21 PM
In reply to: Ref: Sorry- by zurple07
The issue of virus on the Mac is well covered so I won't write more about it.
-> As to Word 2000 on your PC, do try that old trick of deleting the normal.dot file and if your drivers are out of date... I know that song and dance well enough that we don't have that issue. But then again not everyone has the sledge hammer to fix this.
Bob
Mac getting Word viruses
by boya84 - 3/10/06 8:18 AM In reply to: Ref: Sorry- by zurple07It isn't that the Mac OS becomes vulnerable to the MS Word or Excel macro viruses - but that if you get an infected document from a Wintel MS Word (or Excel) user and pass that document on, it remains infected - your Mac wouldn't get any symptoms (or problems) from the infected file, but you *could* infect another Wintel MS Word (or Excel) user. If you open the document in NeoOffice or iWork and "save as" Word or Excel, the macro virus code *should* be rendered useless when you send it on.
Elsewhere in the thread - in response to your original question: Microsoft Office X (Word, Excel PowerPoint) has more capabilities that the Wintel counterpart (so if you are developing for Wintel users, stay basic as it is possible their machine might puke on some of the features - no, I don;t have a list, sorry). NeoOffice is free and fully compatible with MS Office docs. iWork from Apple is pretty good for most needs. It depends if you will be the originator of the documents or using docs created by others... If you don't need to get really fancy with macros in Excel or Word, then either NeoOffice or iWork will be more than enough.
As a former IT Manager of a 13 office network with ~500 Wintel machines and ~500 Macs... well, lets just say that my house is full of Apple gear and the only Wintel machine at home is the one my company issues to me now. Yes, XP is much better, but at 400+ new infections monthly (according to SANS.org), I just don't have to worry about that using OSX and I don't need to play "tech support" for may family when I walk in the door.
You *should* get an anti-virus program, too... especially if you are expecting to receive files from others - not so much to protect your Mac, but more to keep from propagating any infections.
I have successfully transferred and used files cross-platform (Word, Excel, QuickTime, JPEG, GIF, PowerPoint, among others) between my home Macs and XP machine through the ethernet network at home using File Sharing, CDs and USB drives. The biggest issue I had (more on the Wintel than Mac) was my remembering to add the extension(.doc, .xls, .mov, .jpg, .gif, .ppt, etc.) to the files.
OfficeX
by taboma - 3/9/06 8:55 PM In reply to: Save a buck or two. by R. Proffitt
Bob, OfficeX is for the Mac OSX10. I use it.
Mostly for Word. Do not know how to run anything else there. My wife on the other hand does and is available to her (the smart one.)
-Kevin
There's iWork, too
by tbegonja - 3/10/06 1:40 AM In reply to: Save a buck or two. by R. Proffitt
There's the Pages application in iWork -- kind of a MacOSX replacement for the venerable MacWritePro. AppleWorks also has a spreadsheet component (if you don't need strict compatibility w/Excel). Pages works pretty well. It's a pity Apple won't port the Claris Resolve spreadsheet to MacOSX.
iWork
by alistaire - 3/10/06 3:04 PM In reply to: There's iWork, too by tbegonjaiWork is a really nice looking and functioning suite, that I would recommend. Pages, while definitely being more usable than Word, is not quite as powerful, but I still use it almost exclusively (I do have MS Office, too). Keynote is supposed to be far superior to Powerpoint; I have not used it that much.
Spreadsheet-wise, I think Excel is still the reigning champion, because if you are using spreadsheets, you are probably more concerned with features than interface.
I'd recommend iWork, but sometimes it is nice to have Office as an alternative.
Office X vs. OpenOffice vs. NeoOffice
by captain_gary - 3/10/06 8:43 AM In reply to: Save a buck or two. by R. Proffitt
I've used Office X on the Mac as well as OpenOffice and NeoOffice and just some notes based on my experience.
Office X would probably produce the most PC-compatible versions of all your Word, Excel and Powerpoint files. In general OpenOffice and NeoOffice would produce relatively compatible files - sometimes the formatting goes a bit off.
Two good things about NeoOffice compared to OpenOffice:
- it runs natively in Mac OS X. With OpenOffice you need to have X11 on your Mac. And it sometimes can get confusing switching from Ctrl to Cmd and vice versa in OpenOffice.
- you can use all the fonts that come natively with your system in NeoOffice.
Why I like OpenOffice though, is that it supports the OpenDocument format.
Best of luck with your new mac
NeoOffice is Open Office + Aqua interface = Better!
by Bronzit - 3/10/06 9:04 AM In reply to: Save a buck or two. by R. Proffitt
Try out Neooffice (http://www.neooffice.org/). It's free, has the Mac Aqua interface (no X11 start-up is needed), but they will gladly accept donations to The Cause:
1 February 2006: NeoOffice 1.2 is released. This release now includes all of the features in the NeoOffice 1.2 Beta release plus fixes for many of the bugs found by users. Like the NeoOffice 1.2 Alpha and Beta releases, this release uses Apple's Java 1.4.x release and is based on the OpenOffice 1.1.5 code which gives NeoOffice the ability to import Open Document files. NeoOffice 1.2 can be downloaded here (http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/download.php). If you already have NeoOffice 1.2 Alpha or Beta installed, you can download a small upgrade patch here (http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/patch.php).
NeoOffice has all of the features of MS Office & is fully comaptible with (not only) it (but) & also Star Office, etc.
ThinkFree Office 3
by Bronzit - 3/10/06 9:13 AM In reply to: Save a buck or two. by R. Proffitt
...is a set of programs fully compatible with MS Office, for $49.95. Go to: http://www.thinkfree.com/purchase/index.jsp . It is also available in an online version for $20 less (no downlod needed).
Mac?
by twwardo - 3/10/06 1:10 AM In reply to: Newbie to Mac by zurple07They still make those?? hehe
Neo Office
by Robert Cavanaugh - 3/10/06 2:31 AM In reply to: Newbie to Mac by zurple07Try Neo Office, http://www.neooffice.org/
Based on Open Office. Compatable with MS Office files.
You also might want to try Gimpshop, http://www.plasticbugs.com/
Based on Gimp with a GUI that will be quite familiar to a Photoshop user.
These open source software projects are quite good, and FREE.
IH
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