General Mac software discussions forum: MS Office for mac or run Office from Windows on mac?

I use the PC Open Office version but here's the link.

http://www.neooffice.org/

Bob

But since it's free I haven't complained. Also it doesn't crash as often as that other product.

Bob

does not necessarily answer your question. Neither will mine.

I will go with the presumption that you are somehow locked into using Microsoft office - regardless of operating system. (I use NeoOffice.)

What Operating System do you plan to be your "primary" OS?

While you consider that response: Does it matter to you that the malware associated with the Windows versions can likely cause issues for you if you use the Windows version of MS Office... whereas, the MacOSX MS Office would not be infected by those malware files? You could receive the malware from the Windows versions into your Mac MS Office and pass that malware on to Windows users, but your MacOSX files would not actually be impacted by them. At least, not now, anyway...

Is Microsoft Office the only reason you would be using Windows on your Mac?

I actually like MS Office for Mac more than the MS Office on my PC. The interface is nice, it has some very usefull features (from large ones like voice/note recording to small ones like: _________ = a smooth line).

Either way I use Office 2004 for Mac, and I make very aesthetic documents for essays and thesises in school, plus you wont have to open XP (which will wear at your System Memory RAM).

Hope this helps
Alex

Even from office to home we run into too much trouble since Access isn't compatible from version to version. In this case I'd just get the PC and match the same version of Access from the office.

Bob

but if you set the default to Blank Document, the fancy stuff takes a back seat.

Give me a blank, I'll make it fancy once I've written it!

P

I think so too. Probably iWork 07 the way its takin so long to get out.

Just upgrading Appleworks would surpass MS Office, cause the only reason its not better is because they stop updating it years ago

Alex

Hi there Alex,
I appreciate this was a long time ago, but I read your comment on MS Office on a mac and wondered whether you can help. I have ten years of history with excel and powerpoint and word, being very efficient with shortcut keys and the like. Recently I bought a mac so I can be one of the cool people, but I deeply regret this as iWorks is just not the same and most seriously a lot of the pictures etc in previous ppt presentations haven't gone across. I am therefore thinking of buying MS Office for mac, but, is it just like using it on a PC? Specifically, can I use the same keyboard shortcuts, will it recognise fully my ppt files?
Thank you for your help,
Lina

I understand the idea of using Microsoft Office because of familiarity and skills built over the years. I move back and forth between Office for Windows at work and Office for Mac at home with very little trouble. You mention that you use Office for school work. There is a Student/Teacher edition of MS Office for Mac, which is available at a very reasonable price. In fact, the version that I have can be installed on three Macs. The Student/Teacher edition can be used by a student, a teacher or the parent of an eligible student.

This seems like a simpler approach than installing Windows on your new Mac.

Overall MS Office for the Mac is just like MS Office for Windows, with a couple of caveats.

Look and feel can be a bit different, but no more so than between versions of Office for Windows. I.e., just because they've working for another platform, doesn't mean MS is going to leave menus the same place.

One annoyance is EPS/PDF graphics, you can't import with previews very well on the Mac. This is a know issue with Microsoft blaming Apple, and Apple blaming MS. As this was true on the PC prior to version 2004, it's not surprising (despite EPS being a very common format for years before then), and I'm inclined to continue blaming MS. That said, my impression was that this was still an issue for the Open Office suite too. (I tried them, but was not happy).

Other than that, I've been using MS Office on the Mac for a year happily. Track changes works well across platforms too. I haven't tried iWork yet, but am thinking of doing so mostly for presentations, where the graphics problems of MS apps gets more problematic. Most postings I've read suggest Keynote (part of iWork) is a great replacement for PowerPoint, but that Pages is sub-par relative to MS Word, unless you are student just writing class papers, then it is fine. MS Word is where I am also more locked in by sharing with others as well.

Can Mcrosoft Office xp be installed on Mac OS 9.2.2 operating system ?

MS Office XP was/is a Windows based application that will not run on a Mac running System 9.2.x


P

First the thread you are answering is two years old.

Second, you are totally incorrect in your assessment.

The only points where one would need to run Office on Windows is for the applications that have no counter-point on the Mac side, like Access. As for features, both the Mac versions of Office and the Windows version of Office share the same feature sets in Power Point, Word, and Excel.

And to be fair, Word did start as a DOS program. However, it was developed in GUI form for the Mac and THEN ported to Windows. I believe that Excel started first on the Mac side and was then ported to Windows.