Technology Good software for Mac?

[diosa428]

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I'm planning on buying an iMac in a couple of months and was wondering if anyone has any recs for an office program. I've been reading reviews and it seems that a lot of people don't like Microsoft Office for Mac (2008). I was considering getting iWork (apple's version of office), which is half the price, but I'm not sure how well it works in terms of transferring word documents into Microsoft programs, etc. I have a PC laptop that has Microsoft Office 2003 installed, and it would be nice if I could get documents from one to the other without compatibility problems. Does anyone have any thoughts?

 

[TRKATK]

With pages you can export it as a .doc a .pdf text file etc. Therefore, there should be no problem going back and fourth with pc to mac documents.🙂

 

[Milamber]

Actually I would still get MS Office because while the iWork can open MS Office files it may not truly be compatible with some files. I just opened up a powerpoint file in Keynote and it was missing some info that is there when I open it up in powerpoint. I keep both Office and Word around for compatibility issues but I prefer working in the iWork suite.

Other good software, Cover sutra for iTunes, VMWare Fusion for windows, VLC for media that QuickTime can't open, 1Password for well passwords and form filling, Ascent for people who exercise with a GPS unit, Flow or Transmit for FTP, Journler for well journals, transmission for bit torrent, superduper for backups, Bookdog for sorting your bookmarks (I'm anal and like my browser bookmarks to be sorted)

I could keep going on but those are my most used apps. Hope this helps

 

[diosa428]

Actually I would still get MS Office because while the iWork can open MS Office files it may not truly be compatible with some files. I just opened up a powerpoint file in Keynote and it was missing some info that is there when I open it up in powerpoint. I keep both Office and Word around for compatibility issues but I prefer working in the iWork suite.

Other good software, Cover sutra for iTunes, VMWare Fusion for windows, VLC for media that QuickTime can't open, 1Password for well passwords and form filling, Ascent for people who exercise with a GPS unit, Flow or Transmit for FTP, Journler for well journals, transmission for bit torrent, superduper for backups, Bookdog for sorting your bookmarks (I'm anal and like my browser bookmarks to be sorted)

I could keep going on but those are my most used apps. Hope this helps

Thanks for the advice. So if you're using VMWare fusion, would you recommend getting the MS Office for mac, or for windows? Can you get the windows version and use it via that program?

 

[Milamber]

Thanks for the advice. So if you're using VMWare fusion, would you recommend getting the MS Office for mac, or for windows? Can you get the windows version and use it via that program?

I actually have MS office for both Mac and Windows, again mostly for compatibility since MS likes to skimp on the Office for Mac versions, I am neurotic so I like to keep all bases covered but I have yet to find a situation where I needed to use Office for windows. Mostly it takes up space.

For running windows on a mac you have three options two paid and one free. The free option is called boot camp and it comes built in with Mac OS X Leopard. This option gives you the best performance, however you have to actually boot up into windows and can't use OS X at the same time. The other two Parallels and VMWare Fusion virtualize Windows to run on top of OS X, so its basically making windows just another application on your mac and you can use mac programs side by side with what you are doing with windows. Each virtualization program has their supporters. I like VMWare over parallels because of its stability, options and future road map, not to mention the company making it has been around allot longer than parallels and has great customer support.

Please note that in order to run windows on a Mac in either of the options I gave you you'll need your own copy of Windows. Although I assume that the disc that came with your last PC can word just as well.

I love helping out new mac users, if you have more questions please PM me.

 

[MossPoh]

One of the glories of a mac is that you can go with A LOT less software it seems. I have put maybe 3 installation discs in mine since I got it. If you get a student discount then adobe acrobat professional is nice. If you don't, then don't bother. Its too expensive. I use it a lot though.

 

[tncekm]

I'd recommend Windows for your Mac (really).

I run OS X, but I still dual boot (and use parallels) b/c its really hard to go without using windows, especially considering Office 2008 (Mac) sucks, particularly Excel.

That said, I like "using" OS X better. It all flows so well.

 

[TMP-SMX]

Office 08 is fine. It is just different if you don't know where to find the toolbars. Though for some uses in excel they limited functionality. Doesn't matter to me though.

 

[diosa428]

My PC came loaded with Windows (I got it from my school), so I don't have the Windows disk. Do I have to buy this? I'm sure I can access a copy of the CD somehow, but I was just curious about whether or not you could buy it and how much it would cost.

 

[Milamber]

My PC came loaded with Windows (I got it from my school), so I don't have the Windows disk. Do I have to buy this? I'm sure I can access a copy of the CD somehow, but I was just curious about whether or not you could buy it and how much it would cost.

You can always buy a copy or there are places on the net you can download an illegal copy but in order to run windows you must have a copy. Check with your school you may be able to get a discounted copy through them, although there is an option to image the HD of your current computer for use under VMWare. You would have to look at the documentation for that tho

 

[184013]

I've progressed through the mac classic to dos, win 3.1,95,98,me,xp and now to Mac OS 10 - i've been very impressed with the mac and don't plan on going back.
My recommendation:
1. The mac and mac version of office is a good way to go - gives you full mac use and compatible to the office suite, perfect if those are the docs you import/export to work/school.

2. If you don't want to shell out the money to buy the office suite... i'd question your budgeting! It's so worth it - do you really need a mac now? If you want a mac and seldom need to use office i'd buy the apple suite and deal with refinements and compatibility as needed. I also use the online google documents to edit and store docs and excel files online...

3. Worst case scenario you have software you NEED to run on in windows - the mac has a boot loader that you can have your computer (mac) boot up and run windows and then run your program... takes a bit more work to set up and isn't as user friendly..but capability is still there... same goes for a software windows emulator but this slows down processing...

-I think the mac is a reasonable price. I now also have an imac and mac desktop. I have not any issues using the office to commute docs/xls/ppt to and fro pc land. good luck!

 

[diosa428]

2. If you don't want to shell out the money to buy the office suite... i'd question your budgeting! It's so worth it - do you really need a mac now? If you want a mac and seldom need to use office i'd buy the apple suite and deal with refinements and compatibility as needed. I also use the online google documents to edit and store docs and excel files online...

It's not the money that I'm concerned about... it's the reviews that MS office 2008 for mac sucks. I'm more trying to figure out if I should get that anyway, buy the apple suite instead, or get MS office for Windows and just use windows when I need word processing, etc.

 

[deleted87716]

Milamber: Love the avatar! 😀

 

[Milamber]

Milamber: Love the avatar! 😀

The classic mac... can't go wrong with that. 🙂

 

[tncekm]

It's not the money that I'm concerned about... it's the reviews that MS office 2008 for mac sucks. I'm more trying to figure out if I should get that anyway, buy the apple suite instead, or get MS office for Windows and just use windows when I need word processing, etc.

Its basic functionality is fine, but its definitely lacking features and I find MS Office 2008 for Mac is much less user friendly/intuitive than MS Office 2007 for Windows.

I deal with this by dual booting, and having Parallels Desktop operate off of my Windows drive when I don't feel like actually rebooting into windows. Works wonderfully.

Ohhhh, and speaking of "needing windows". I can't get a copy of my AMCAS application to load up with either Firefox or Safari in OS X. I have to get into Windows.

 

[Chuck's Right Foot]

Its basic functionality is fine, but its definitely lacking features and I find MS Office 2008 for Mac is much less user friendly/intuitive than MS Office 2007 for Windows.

I deal with this by dual booting, and having Parallels Desktop operate off of my Windows drive when I don't feel like actually rebooting into windows. Works wonderfully.

Ohhhh, and speaking of "needing windows". I can't get a copy of my AMCAS application to load up with either Firefox or Safari in OS X. I have to get into Windows.

save it to disk and open the .cfm with preview.

 

[tncekm]

save it to disk and open the .cfm with preview.

Oh, ha! I just tried to open it up w/ browsers b/c .cfm is a web-junk file. My preview won't let me open it as a .cfm, but if i rename to .pdf that does the trick 👍

 

[Chuck's Right Foot]

Oh, ha! I just tried to open it up w/ browsers b/c .cfm is a web-junk file. My preview won't let me open it as a .cfm, but if i rename to .pdf that does the trick 👍

Are you running leopard? Right click on the .cfm (or command click) and use open with.....

 

[tncekm]

Are you running leopard? Right click on the .cfm (or command click) and use open with.....

Yeah, I did that. But, amazingly it doesn't work for me that way. I had to rename it. And yeah, I'm running the Leopard w/ all updates.

 

[Turnerjo13]

I run neooffice on my macbook. It is the mac native version of openoffice.org. It is completely free and functions very similar to microsoft office. It can even save and convert documents to the microsoft standard types. I suggest you check it out.

 

[DrJeff66]

I highly second the recommendation for NeoOffice. I have tried out Office 08 on my MacBook and it doesn't suck too much, just buggy like most Windoze apps.

NeoOffice is very stable and does most of what you probably need to do for word processing, spreadsheets, etc. Unless you're a graphic designer, publisher, etc. you probably don't need Word. I have been using NeoOffice for both PPC and Intel machines and I can't say enough about it. Especially the price!

 

[Dirt]

Mac questions incoming.

First of all, I wanted to load windows, so I partitioned my HD with boot camp. I then realized that the free version of XP I get through school is an upgrade, and according to boot camp instructions, I can't use an upgrade disk. So, is there any way I can un-partition that section of hard drive? (I also just discovered Parallels and would rather use that anyway)

Also, there is a good amount of other free software available to me that I am unfamiliar with, does anyone have any experience/would recommend any of the following (especially for med school)

Cisco_VPN
EndNote
Fetch
Impatica
Macvpn.dmg
Maple
Matlab
MDL CrossFire Commander70
Norton AntiVirus
QCad
SciFinder
SPSS

 

[Milamber]

Mac questions incoming.

First of all, I wanted to load windows, so I partitioned my HD with boot camp. I then realized that the free version of XP I get through school is an upgrade, and according to boot camp instructions, I can't use an upgrade disk. So, is there any way I can un-partition that section of hard drive? (I also just discovered Parallels and would rather use that anyway)

Also, there is a good amount of other free software available to me that I am unfamiliar with, does anyone have any experience/would recommend any of the following (especially for med school)

Cisco_VPN
EndNote
Fetch
Impatica
Macvpn.dmg
Maple
Matlab
MDL CrossFire Commander70
Norton AntiVirus
QCad
SciFinder
SPSS

Don't know how to unpartition the drive, check the apple support forums.

Won't need Antivirus, Fetch is available for mac as well (Prefer transmit tho) Maple, MatLab won't be needed in MedSchool because they are mathematics programs. Cisco VPN makes a client for OSX (OSX has a built in VPN client (Cisco VPN)

The rest I can't help you, but I would recommend VMWare Fusion over Parallels and you could always run those apps in windows when you run windows on your mac. Hope this helps

 

[southerndoc]

EndNote is available for Mac and the latest version is compatible with Office:mac 2008. It's useful if you do a lot of manuscript writing or will be part of a research project where someone else will be using it for their manuscript.

Haven't used SPSS. I'm a Stata guy, but it can be difficult to use compared to the others.

Symantec makes Norton Antivirus for the Mac. Currently there are no wild viruses on Mac OS X, but there will be some in the future as Macs gain more popularity.

 

[TheRealMD]

Mac questions incoming.

First of all, I wanted to load windows, so I partitioned my HD with boot camp. I then realized that the free version of XP I get through school is an upgrade, and according to boot camp instructions, I can't use an upgrade disk. So, is there any way I can un-partition that section of hard drive? (I also just discovered Parallels and would rather use that anyway)

Also, there is a good amount of other free software available to me that I am unfamiliar with, does anyone have any experience/would recommend any of the following (especially for med school)

Cisco_VPN
EndNote
Fetch
Impatica
Macvpn.dmg
Maple
Matlab
MDL CrossFire Commander70
Norton AntiVirus
QCad
SciFinder
SPSS

Run the Boot Camp Assistant again (search for it with Spotlight), then it will give you an option of removing your Boot Camp Partition. Do be aware that sometimes OS X goes wonky and won't let you create a new Boot Camp partition if needed, and the only likely course then is reinstalling Leopard after a hard drive reformat.

I don't really have any familiarity with the programs you've listed with the exception of Norton AntiVirus. That program is crap on Windows (sucks up resources) and absolutely unnecessary on a Mac. If you're computer gets a virus of some sort, I guarantee you Apple will be in touch with you to figure out how you did it (there are no reported Mac OS X viruses in the wild).

 

[Dirt]

If you're computer gets a virus of some sort, I guarantee you Apple will be in touch with you to figure out how you did it (there are no reported Mac OS X viruses in the wild).

Well I took my mac on safari in africa, and let's just say that me and a couple of monkeys got a little frisky...next thing I knew my mac had HIV.

 

[deleted59964]

I run neooffice on my macbook. It is the mac native version of openoffice.org. It is completely free and functions very similar to microsoft office. It can even save and convert documents to the microsoft standard types. I suggest you check it out.

does neooffice have an autosave function?

i'm still amazed that pages (iWorks version of Word) doesnt automatically save your work. i've been caught out TWICE and lost a couple of hours work each time😡

 

[TMP-SMX]

does neooffice have an autosave function?

i'm still amazed that pages (iWorks version of Word) doesnt automatically save your work. i've been caught out TWICE and lost a couple of hours work each time😡

Saving is a good habit to have.

 

[juiceman311]

I have had my macbook since July 2007 and have never once needed Windows nor MS Office. I am an MS2. Yea, some of the textbooks (that I rarely touch anyways) come with potentially useful CDs that require Windows, but whatever. I have Parallels, still unopened in its original box. I planned on installling it last summer when I would need windows.

As for MS Office, why?? You can get NeoOffice for FREE and it is honestly identical/faster than MS Office. I have never needed MS Office. I had to do a powerpoint last year, and I did it in NeoOffice's Presentation program. I have never once had compatibility issues and they're constantly upgrading it. It is completely freeware and works great. I highly recommend this route. And I'm not saying this because I'm cheap. Our IT department offers MS Office 2008 for Macs for free to students.

 

[diosa428]

Has anyone been able to convert the powerpoint templates from microsoft office to neooffice without actually owning microsoft office on their computer?

 

[nachoDoc]

good source for sw

🙂