iCloud > Lion $29.99 > MS Office 2004 not supported > $$$

MS Office 2008 is supported in Lion.

With so many better alternatives today you don't really need MS Office. If you really want to dump another $100 or whatever MS bloatware goes for today you can, but life is good without it.

OpenOffice and NeoOffice are both free. Pages is $20. They all open and save MS Word documents.

...and my iphone won't sync without iCloud, right?

Your iPhone does not require iCloud.

If you want to sync "wirelessly", yes. However, that method is not without its risks... if for example you accidentally delete a contact (or all your contacts) on one device, guess what happens to all the others.

I like having redundant backups that I can control, but this is ultimately a subjective decision.

Is there a free download to upgrade 2008 up to 2011?

No

Office 2004 is 8 year old software developed at a time when Apple didn't use Intel processors. Don't you think an upgrade is more than justified?

Apple provided a free solution, Rosetta, that lasted up to Lion's release in Aug 2011.

In theory, Microsoft could have provided a free upgrade to support Intel processors in the Mac, but they chose not to do so. They chose to offer Office 2008, a profit making upgrade.

No. Office 2008 or 2011 are paid upgrades.

..... enough for home use (write letters, hardly use excel & pp).

The free alternatives can do that.

John Galt wrote:

If you want to sync "wirelessly", yes. However, that method is not without its risks... if for example you accidentally delete a contact (or all your contacts) on one device, guess what happens to all the others.

I like having redundant backups that I can control, but this is ultimately a subjective decision.

Regardless of how or even if you 'sync' backups are a necessity, unless you don't care much for your data.

You really should follow John's advice about Pages. Not only is it a very cheap alternative (much cheaper than MS), but this also will get your documents to synch with iCloud.

HACKINT0SH wrote:

You really should follow John's advice about Pages. Not only is it a very cheap alternative (much cheaper than MS), but this also will get your documents to synch with iCloud.

Also I believe that either Entourage or Outlook, not sure which one, is only included in the most expensive copy of MS Office for Mac, if one of those is a program you use. Try Googling.

Pete

If a word processor alone is enough take a look at Bean

I personally use Pages, Numbers, and Keynote... When Mountain Lion comes later this year, the iCloud syncing of the iWork apps will be invaluable...

zanyface wrote:

Will MS Office 2008 be enough for home use (write letters, hardly use excel & pp). Is 2011 better?

I moved to 2011 from 2008 because I got a good deal on it through work. I think 2011 is a better product (likely the best version they've released since Word 5).

However, I'll add to the recommendation to give Pages a try. It is a little different than Word, so it will take a little getting used to its idiosyncracies, but I like using it much better than Word. If you need to, you can export your files as Word documents to send to people using Word (and you can import Word docs the same).