Ms office 2011 for mac - do i need it?

[roc1]

The new mac is coming soon and just wondered if this software is worthwhile? I get sent various documents in word (.doc) format as well as excel, and just wanted to find out if these can be viewed on a mac without having office? I would also need to send invoices etc as .doc files.

Thanks!

 

[neil_g]

openoffice?

 

[Marc]

iWork will do what you need, including opening Word and Excel files but it's not much cheaper than Office which will make you more compatible going forward

 

[Marc]

openoffice?

I found openoffice a little limiting but then the excel spreadsheets I use are quite complex. It's free though so worth the punt.

 

[neil_g]

I found openoffice a little limiting but then the excel spreadsheets I use are quite complex. It's free though so worth the punt.

i havent used it for a while to be honest as i get office via works licencing but for a free solution i remember it being okay..

 

[Marc]

i havent used it for a while to be honest as i get office via works licencing but for a free solution i remember it being okay..

Yeah, I found it fine for Word stuff but I got increasingly frustrated using it for Excel but, as I said, I use some very complex spreadsheets. Will probably be fine for the OP.

 

[Scotty Pro]

Its an abomination as far as Mac software goes, especially Word. Never known a programme update the font menu when starting up like Word does. Its a real pitta

 

[Marc]

Its an abomination as far as Mac software goes, especially Word. Never known a programme update the font menu when starting up like Word does. Its a real pitta

I've not had any problems. What do you mean by updating the font menu?

 

[ding76uk]

iwork is good value esp as you can now buy it individually from the Mac store. Saves you money as you only buy the parts you need. I much prefer it to office on my mac and it works find with all MS files.

 

[Scotty Pro]

I've not had any problems. What do you mean by updating the font menu?

when you double click on a word doc to open it, just after the splash screen it comes up "updating font menu", I think it scans the document for used fonts and then does its thing :bang:

this is the only app that does this and its from Micro$oft, now there's a suprise

 

[neil_g]

this is the only app that does this and its from Micro$oft, now there's a suprise

shall we start listing the apple software that is a load of tosh in windows?

 

[Marc]

when you double click on a word doc to open it, just after the splash screen it comes up "updating font menu", I think it scans the document for used fonts and then does its thing :bang:

Doesn't do anything like that with me. :shrug:

this is the only app that does this and its from Micro$oft, now there's a suprise

None of that here please. :nono:

 

[lawrenceots]

iWork is a brilliant piece of software, use them all regularly. Pages also opens all windows stuff as well, obviously.

 

[m1pui]

You can pick up a copy of Office for Mac (Single Licence, Home/Student edition) for £77 if you reserve and collect from PC World so if you do go for it it's not a huge outlay, although it's still almost double the cost of getting the 3 iWork apps from the app store.

I went for the MS Office for Mac myself.

 

[wibbly]

I really dislike Office for Mac, it just doesn't have the same usability as it does on a Windows machine.

iWorks is fantastic. if I had the opportunity to only work in Mac software for presentations, spreadsheets and word documents, it would be my first choice every time.

Not sure if anyone is using Neoffice that's another alternative to look at.