compare iWork/Office for Mac with Office Windows

Try google. I'm sure there are comparative reviews out there. This question has come up many times in the Pages '08 forum, so you might also browse those existing threads (although Pages '09 just narrowed the gap between it and Word substantially, at least for my needs).

Also, try searching these boards for the features you know you need, to see whether Pages supports them. There are many different ways of needing a sophisticated word processor, and really only you know which will work best for you.

WinWord 2007 does a lot of things that MacWord 2008 doesn't do, by the way.

Check out this post. http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=7768446#7768446. Also some followup comments. Pages09 seems an improvement over 08. Nothing dramatic. My main issue with MS Word for mac is that it is very clunky compared with windows Word. Apple Word has a formatting window that cannot be resized and is thus almost useless. Very annoying. It has a number of other rough edges that I find annoying. I would highly recommend that you test neo office (www.neooffice.org) as a very robust substitute for word if you need capabilities that pages doesn't offer. The primary difficulty with pages it that it is for everyday documents and documents with lots of design elements (brochures, newsletters, etc.). Its table of table of contents and bookmarking are rudimentary. Indexing a no go. That said, Pages is very elegant with a beautiful and highly useable interface. Once you get the hang of it is always my first choice now. If I need to do complex very long documents with multiple tables of content, indexes, then pages just isn't the ticket. Best bet for those may be to use windows word in a virtual machine if neo office doesn't do the trick for you.

I am going to buy a MacBook aswell, I was curious about the spell check part of pages, as I have terrible spelling I was curious as to how the spell check feature compares to word. I am a writer and write long books, so I was curious as how well pages works to word.

This will get you started:

http://www.macworld.com/article/132901-3/2008/04/office_word.html

If you are an expert PC MS Word user you will find MS Office for Mac somewhat comperable, and less able. You will absolutely hate iWorks. I'd like to say this is a personal opinion, but it is almost universally the sentiment of PC to Mac switchers.

That being said, I was an expert PC user, and switched to Mac about 6 years ago. I have never needed all of the features of Word, I don't need to do any numerical equations in word processing documents, and I love having ready made templates that make everything look pretty, and which is entirely mac-centric without any vestiges of Microsoft. For my purposes, I was finally able to get rid of MS OFfice on my mac when iWorks 09 came out, it has every feature I would ever use.

BUT -- if I needed 100% compatibility with the MS world, and wrote a lot of macros for my Word program on the PC, and I need the extensive Word features that iWorks does not have, then there is only one choice.

You can download the free trial and try it out for yourself. You can also download a free trial of MS Office for Mac 08 and try that out as well. Compare for yourself. Only you can make your own decision.

One caveat -- just about every power-user that I know in my office that uses a Mac portable has bypassed Mac word processors entirely and installed MS Office for Windows on their Boot Camp or Parallels drive, and use the PC version of the software.

THere simply isn't a 100% compatible Mac word processor.

Try Open Office and Neo Office they are both free and see how closely they match what you want.

You haven't really said what exactly it is you want and need from a Word Processor so it is hard to say if Pages or for that matter any other word processor is suitable.

I want a fast simple word processor that still gives me all the basics plus some DTP features and I absolutely love my choice, *iText Pro* ($US15) which has a free version *iText Express* . You'd be amazed what I use it for, it is permanently open on my machine, I even use it to manage my downloads.

Go to http://www.macupdate.com and search on word processors and see what meets your needs.

If you are also an expert MS Word user, then you will not like Pages '09 at all. I'm pretty adept at Word (having been happily using Office 2004 for Mac, problem-free, for 5 years) but wanted to move away from Microsoft because the programs still do stupid, unexpected and uncontrollable things when you move elements among the different Office programs (at least on Macs). I'm very disappointed to say that I've been using Pages '09 for less than a day and I have already found at least 10 deficiencies/really annoying behaviors - as well as 2 bugs. I think I am going to try Open Office next.

You know you can do a free 30-day trial of BOTH iWorks as well as MS Office for Mac 08...try them both and decide which you like the best

Can you post a link to where someone may download the trail MS Office for Mac?

(I've already google'd this without luck, including perusing the Mactopia site.)

-D

You are correct, sir....

The link to the free trial is gone -- it used to be at the bottom of the sales page on Mactopia...

Note that a phone call to Microsoft will probably provide you with a trial disc they can mail you, especially if you tell them you can't decide between iWorks and MS OFfice....

IT looks like they dropped the free trial link when they dropped the prices on all the packages...

BobInIndy1 wrote:
I am an expert PC user switching to mac...

I, too, was a Windows vet until I switched in '03. My fiance has been on Mac since college--her Powerbook Duo (w/ OS 7.5) still works.

I am moving toward google apps, but their doc program is not nearly as robust as MS WORD (windows). So, I need a sophisticated word processor...

Ditto. Google Apps are probably another year or two behind what desktop apps offer.

I have iWork 09 (bought it with the computer) and am considering buying MS Office for mac. I would prefer to use iWork (that is, an apple program), but don't want to go through the learning curve to find out it too is not powerful enough.

I think that is what has made Office the standard for so long (and Wordperfect before it)--people don't like change...they like upgrades and enhancements, but not dramatic change. The learning curve for iWork

Is there a web that reviews/compares iWork/Office for Mac with Office Windows? Or does anyone have any personal experience on how they compare? This would help me make the decision by learning only the one I will ultimately use.

Speaking as someone who owns Office 2008, I can tell you that Word '08 is dramatically slower than Pages; it is nothing like Office '07 (or earlier) for Windows. Word '07 demands a fraction of the RAM that Word '08 for Mac does, which may or may not be releated to the legacy support for older formats that Office '08 includes.

Word does include a decent grammar checker, equation editor, and APA/MLA citation tool; however, Apple went a different route and made Pages instantly compatible with Mathtype and Endnote. My fiance is a math professor that teaches calculus, so she is no-doubt used to having to include mathematical equations and tricky text arrangements for exams, quizzes, and lesson plans; she used to use Word, but last year switched to Pages ('08) and loves it. When we downloaded the demo for iWork '09 and saw how well Mathtype integrated, she's a happy camper.

I haven't been all that impressed with Office '08, at least not as much as I was with Office '07 for Windows. I never thought I'd say it but I think money is better spent on iWork '09, and later getting Endnote or Mathtype (if needed), than purchasing Office '08. That's my take on it, and I've been using Word/Office since 6.0 on Windows 3.1.

I have all three office suites on my MacBook Pro (iWork '08, Office 2004 for Mac, and Office 2007 for Windows). I use iWork for all documents in which I am the only user. For work involving collaboration with others, I use Office for Windows.

I am a Mechanical Engineering student and worked as an Environmental Scientist for 17 years. I have attempted using iWork, Office 2004 for Mac, and the free (but very good) NeoOffice to share documents with others. In short, the only time I've not had file-conversion headaches is when using Office for Windows.

I really enjoy some of the features exclusive to iWork and will continue to buy newer versions. I greatly dislike Office 2004 for Mac and find Office 2008 only a small improvement (No VBA support a big negative though). I'm no fan of Microsoft, but have to admit I really like Office 2007 for Windows for its capability and ease of use.

I'm glad I switched to using a Mac. The hardware alone is reason enough to switch. However, if you have the means, I think it's great to have the Windows version of Office available on your Mac.

When Office 2004 was all there was I hated it and would use iWork. I have found that for me Office 2008 works best although I am still trying iWork 09. I like them both but for school and work Office wins hands down. For work because we use office at work (I know I can convert to a .doc file). For school because for papers I have to cite alot of materials. In Pages, I have to buy an expensive citation engine, where it comes for free with Office 2008. For personal correspondence I like Pages, much more comfortable to write in. Keynote blows PPT out of the water. Numbers is good for basic spreadsheets but if you need macros then excel is better.