Do I really need Office X ???? Apple Works okay???

[karavite]

ae has a good point, and if you are like me and can't type (or spell?) Casady and Green have Grammarian for OS X with Spell Checker OS X to follow - these are fantastic and low cost apps that serve as universal grammar/spell checkers that work with any and all open applications. With Tex Edit these apps can give most people everything they need in a word processor. In fact, I relied on Spell Checker when using Word in OS 9. I never realized how much MS's thesaurus sucked until I compared it with Spell Checkers. Grammarian is actually quite useful (has multiple settings for writing style and rules) and gives meaningful edits and suggestions - not just "excessive use of passive voice - consider rewriting..." - the most common Word grammar check message.

If only we could find a freeware version of an obnoxious animated assistant and an incredibly sloppy table/imaging handling capabilites... then Tex Edit could have the full capabilities of Word!

[Leonis]

Now I decide to stick with Word 98.....run it under Classic. I found out there will be couple of apps that I use will NEVER be ported to OSX....so Classic....I still have to stick with you.....

BTW...I will get AppleWorks 6 from my dad anyway. I can type my resume and such with it. And only will use Word 98 when someone send me complex word documents....

[Jim Paradise]

I've found AppleWorks 6.2.1 to have *many* hideous bugs that prevent it from being useable for me in X. And that's too bad because I *need* AppleWorks to work and I like it! Come on, Apple!! *grrr*
(Oh, and if you want to know what the bugs are... there's a forum in here where I posted the most serious bugs... *sigh*)

[Leonis]

Right....AppleWorks is evil

I would rather have Word 98 run under Classic than running AW natively....

[neutrino23]

Use whatever you like to make documents then save them as PDF files. If you get an ms document you can almost always find a translator. MacLink plus is cheaper than buying office. I refuse to send ms formatted documents unless the recipient absolutely requires it. I think it is wrong to use proprietary formats like that.

[edX]

I agree with the idea of buying maclinkplus before buying office. The way apple has cut back on translators over the years is saddening. Used to be macwrite pro came with a maclink setup that translated everything but the most recent versions of other wp's. Now appleworks doesn't even translate macwrite pro (of which I have hundreds of docs created in). I also agree with the idea of avoiding the most recent 6.2.1 version of appleworks. Use any version before that. The bugs are too much. Still praying I will wake up and find the update to fix them available.
But the idea of buying a M$ product to make things "nicer" or to "fit" with the rest of the "real" world is appalling to me!! Going along with the nazi's made things easier. Not speaking up against apartheid was a way to fit in. Buying M$ is just plain wrong. So long as we continue to support them they will continue to dictate to us what we can and cannot have. When people start demanding something better by casting their economic vote ($$$) then they will listen to us, rather than us to them. Are we mac users because we want to fit in? I would love to work in a place where that was true. Spend your money on other things than Bill Gates summer home.

[kcmac]

First and foremost, I would rather use a mac. To do this as seamlessly as possible in an all PC environment, I depend on Office. I have found it not worth the hassle to use 2 0r 3 apps to read, translate or convert documents from text, rtf, .doc, etc. just so I can "avoid" Microsoft. And don't get me started on pdf. I think it stinks. The interface is not friendly at all. Sure it is cross platform but come on! JMHO.

If I didn't work so much with the PC world would I use Office? Maybe, maybe not. I definitely wouldn't use Powerpoint. (I like iMovie and other slide show apps). Wouldn't use Excel. I would still use Entourage...in my opinion a very solid email app. And if it was up to me, I would use text or rtf format only. I love Text Edit and think Okito Composer has a lot of promise.

[brachiator]

I really like Office:mac, mostly using Word and Entourage. Good and solid.

But, that said I agree absolutely that proprietary formats suck and that MS and the rest of them should be forced to provide free readers. That would take care of the occasional recipient or other platform reader who, when she gets a .doc file, REALLY needs to read it. Adobe went the right way on this -- and look how many government site licenses they must have sold... .pdf is the defacto gov't standard (at least for the feds). I try to send out .pdfs as much as I can, so long as I don't need work back from the recipient. And any settlement to the MS suit that doesn't require free readers for all platforms is a joke (for other reasons too...)

Any university or prof who demands .docs should be ashamed, fired, and strung up (or at least have to buy laptops and Office and punitive damages to all students!) ;-)

Although, here in my dept. at Berkeley we are just starting a laptop final exam pilot program -- yes a *pilot* program, for god's sake, at Berkeley. Why this school is so backwards in IS and advanced in research is an administrative shame. Anyway, the pilot software runs only in windows -- and I think that it somehow won't run in an emulated environment... so my X and Linux pals are out of luck (although if we could get around it, we could run in emulated Windows and have access to all our notes! not that we would, but it would be great to have the capability..)

end digression, I guess. ;-)