Office vs ilife?

i know this may have been asked many times, but i cant find a definite answer, i have copy of both iwork09 and office 2008, i got them free trough school.. So im a electric eng major which one is better for writing school projects/papers?

 

I think you have iLife09 and iWork mixed up. iWork has the word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation software... but iLife has Garage Band, iMovie, iPhoto, iWeb and iDVD.

if your question is then which is more preferable between iWork and Office2008, my vote goes to Office. But that is probably because I'm not as fluent in iWork as I am with MS Office.

They can both accomplish the same thing though. If you have them both then install them both and decide which you prefer. Then just uninstall the one you don't want to keep

 

yes i ment iwork sorry

 

iWork is a very nice set of programs but is quite a bit different to use than Office and can have interoperability issues with Office documents.

So if you are just producing your own work and can give PDFs or hard copies out for review or grading iWork is worth trying.

Office has the vast majority of market share so if interoperability is a concern Office 2008 has fewer interoperability issues when collaborating.

 

Google Docs for the win.

 

how well does iwork open docx files? also i kinda hate the save feature of iwork, that you cant just hit save, you have to go back to the coducment and overwrite it :S

 

It depends on the features used in the file. Many common features translate flawlessly on an import or export and its a simple painless process. But PAGES and WORD handle many more advanced features differently and you can end up with a laundry list of exceptions on an import or export that can be a long tedious process to correct then will occur again when you translate the file again in the opposite direction.

I've found for many of the technical documents I process on a day to day basis encounter these exceptions so I can not use PAGES for collaboration. But I know folks that don't have this issue with the types of documents they use from day to day.

So your best bet may be to choose a sampling of simple to complex docs in your files and see how well the import/export in PAGES works for you.

 

If its for a person with little experience, I think iWork is easier to use. If you are used to Office you may may want to stick with it. I used Office for years and find iWork suits my needs quite nicely and for less money. Opinions vary..

 

I like to use Word for document processing and Keynote (iWorks alternate to Powerpoint) for presentations

 

Actually open-office/google docs are the best option as they are free. Open office also fully supports the Microsoft office file types. Office for mac is not worth it in my opinion because it is missing 90% of the features 2007 for pc has. iWork is ok, but why not just get open office for free?

 

Some people just have the money

 

Not sure I see how this is the case.

 

Office 2008 for mac is missing most of the advanced/integration features that 2007 supports. While the casual user may not use them, those features are what set office 2007 apart from free software like open-office, which include all of the basic features of Microsoft office. So IMO there is no point to buying office 2008 when open-office supports more features and is free. For example Exel 2008 for mac has no macro support, while open office does to a limited degree (can only run macros written for open-office). iWork essentially offers the same features of both, however is better optimized to run faster, but cost $80. Might as well just get open office for free. Then use Office 2007 for pc in a VM for any advanced features.

 

How does Office 2008 for Mac: "Business Edition" compare? It is $399. I have the "home/Student" edition which is $149. Is Open-Office/Google Docs still preferred? Does it handle MS Exchange server?

Thanks,

Ben

 

Considering the importance that school work holds I would probably go with Office to avoid any potential compatibility problems.

 

i'm currently downloading open office. we use it at uni. so, i'm quite used to its basic functions.

 

Can you tell me where to get iWork09 for free through school? I'm a student too and I only get free copies of MS products from MSDNaa program only . but not from Apple. Maybe you know some sources that I dont know

Thanks

 

After reading many forums I've come to the conclusion that Mac users should either get OpenOffice or NeoOffice for their word processing needs as iWork is less compatible with microsoft office for PC than these two and Microsoft office for Mac is lacking many functions.

So you might as well save yourself $49-$200 US and buy yourself some third party memory with those savings.

 

I suspect that it's going to be something your school either has or doesn't have.

My undergraduate school didn't have much in the way of software offerings, but my medical school does. (Not iWork, though.) Just the way it goes.