MacBook: Where's the Word Processor?

Amie

Amie

Mac Convert for Life
Why did Apple remove the lovely AppleWorks program from the new iBooks (MacBooks)? My parents just bought a new MacBook and they're asking me, "Where's the word processor to do business records and filing?" I took a look at it and felt like a fool after ranting and raving about "how great Apple computers are." I said, "Duh ... I dunno ... looks like they didn't include a word processor when they switched to Intel." Or maybe it's the OS or the model (MacBook), I really have no idea. All I know is that I have an iBook G4 and it has AppleWorks, which is a really swell app (word processor, spreadsheet, and more all wrapped up in one).

Soooo ... what are my parents supposed to do? Just use TextEdit as their word processor? Ugh.
 
Well, there's always NeoOffice. If you're not using AppleWorks, you could always give them your copy (don't know how legal this might be, but there it is...please don't kill me, fryke/ScottW/bobw/any-other-moderator! :eek:).
 
Apple wants to sell iWork, so they don't include AppleWorks anymore. :( Personally, I think it's ridiculous. We get DVD mastering software for free, but not a word processor?! That just doesn't make sense to me.

TextEdit can actually serve as a decent word processor, but it doesn't have "the Apple touch" as far as ease of use goes.
 
nixgeek said:
Well, there's always NeoOffice. If you're not using AppleWorks, you could always give them your copy (don't know how legal this might be, but there it is...please don't kill me, fryke/ScottW/bobw/any-other-moderator! :eek:).
Click to expand...

I apologize for this dumb-sounding question, but I've never done it before, so I really am clueless: How would I do that?
 
Mikuro said:
Apple wants to sell iWork, so they don't include AppleWorks anymore. :( Personally, I think it's ridiculous. We get DVD mastering software for free, but not a word processor?! That just doesn't make sense to me.

TextEdit can actually serve as a decent word processor, but it doesn't have "the Apple touch" as far as ease of use goes.
Click to expand...

I totally agree. And I have a feeling that Apple will be changing things in the near future. I think a lot of people are complaining about it, and I'll just bet that Apple will decide to re-include it in the software bundle.
 
Amie said:
I totally agree. And I have a feeling that Apple will be changing things in the near future. I think a lot of people are complaining about it, and I'll just bet that Apple will decide to re-include it in the software bundle.
Click to expand...
Re-include iWorks? Apple never included iWorks with the Mac except as a demo.
 
i think she means bundle a word processor/spreadsheet app. if it's a completed iWork, so be it. those that don't have it can pay $80 like iLife, but buy a new mac and it should come included.

in fact sod iWeb and garageband and give us word processing out of the box. i';m sick of having to pay £300 for Excel and the rest of office. it;s not that good anyway. and it's either that or shareware. and no, NeoOffice is not a mac app. if i wanted home-brew i'd have built myself a £200 linux box.

[/rant]


EDIT: sorry Amie, you got there first!
 
I just got my macbook and I loved it until I couldn't find appleworks. I am so furious that I just spent $1600 on a computer and I can't even make a spreadsheet for a school project without spending another $80.
 
RockerChick said:
I just got my macbook and I loved it until I couldn't find appleworks. I am so furious that I just spent $1600 on a computer and I can't even make a spreadsheet for a school project without spending another $80.
Click to expand...

I know. I sympathize with you. :(
 
The only thing is that OpenOffice.org requires X11 and the interface is very clunky (like they tried to fit a Windows application onto a Mac environment). NeoOffice is a little better since it doesn't require X11, but if you ask some people here they will say that even that one isn't a good Mac application as some others because of the way they designed it ("not a true Mac application if the look and feel are subpar"). However, I've used them both and I don't have any problems with either of them (although I would recommend NeoOffice over OpenOffice until they can seriously work on the interface). So, along with some of the other suggestions that were made, choose your poison. :)
 
nixgeek said:
NeoOffice is a little better since it doesn't require X11, but if you ask some people here they will say that even that one isn't a good Mac application as some others because of the way they designed it ("not a true Mac application if the look and feel are subpar").
Click to expand...

I used to say it wasn't a "true" Mac app myself, but I feel it has graduated from "cheap port" to "solid, if unpolished, Mac OS X program" (kind of like AppleWorks!). There's a huge difference there, at least to me. For a while NeoOffice looked like it was running in a Windows emulator. The menus were embedded in the document windows instead of in the menu bar, the scroll bars looked just like in Windows (except possibly uglier?), etc. It was just not a proper Mac program. Better than X11, but just barely.

But that is no longer the case! They now use standard menus, and they're even using Aqua interface elements now. The only problem I have with it is that the interface is not as elegant as it might be (again, this is also true of AppleWorks, which hasn't really been updated since the days of OS 8), and it's slow to launch.

All things considered, I give it the thumbs-up now. I install it on friends' computers when I set them up, and I use it myself when I need something more heavy-duty than TextEdit. It's powerful, and has great support for Microsoft Office files.

Kudos to the NeoOffice team. They've made great progress in Mac-ifying it. It's not perfect, but it keeps getting better.
 
So let's just bring this together.

There's a couple of free options including NeoOffice and OpenOffice.org - and then there's Microsoft Office (with obvious pros and contras) and iWork '06 (of which a new version will probably come out in 2007 without cheap upgrade pricing, so I'd wait for that and use TextEdit 'til then...).
 
Mikuro said:
I used to say it wasn't a "true" Mac app myself, but I feel it has graduated from "cheap port" to "solid, if unpolished, Mac OS X program" (kind of like AppleWorks!). There's a huge difference there, at least to me. For a while NeoOffice looked like it was running in a Windows emulator. The menus were embedded in the document windows instead of in the menu bar, the scroll bars looked just like in Windows (except possibly uglier?), etc. It was just not a proper Mac program. Better than X11, but just barely.

But that is no longer the case! They now use standard menus, and they're even using Aqua interface elements now. The only problem I have with it is that the interface is not as elegant as it might be (again, this is also true of AppleWorks, which hasn't really been updated since the days of OS 8), and it's slow to launch.

All things considered, I give it the thumbs-up now. I install it on friends' computers when I set them up, and I use it myself when I need something more heavy-duty than TextEdit. It's powerful, and has great support for Microsoft Office files.

Kudos to the NeoOffice team. They've made great progress in Mac-ifying it. It's not perfect, but it keeps getting better.
Click to expand...

When I finally tried NeoOffice they had already Mac-ified it. Had I tried NeoOffice before this, I would have just downloaded OpenOffice.org and used that as OpenOffice.org still has that clunky interface you just mentioned. Looks just like it was lifted from either Windows or Linux without any modification whatsoever. The menu is embedded in the window itself and not on the menubar and if you want to exit properly you have to go to that window menu and select File-->Exit (I don't think any Macintosh app has ever used the word "exit" when you wanted to "quit" the application). I still use it because I'm a masochist (well, mainly because it's newer in versions than NeoOffice), but NeoOffice definitely beats OpenOffice.org hands down when it comes to interface looks. OpenOffice is going in that direction (probably to combine both projects, but I don't know), but not for a while.
 
Aw you guys are so crazy and technical. Maybe I'll try this neo program though. I was just in a jam yesterday and open was the first thing I found. The interface seems fine to me. It's mostly icons. What does neo look like that makes it so much better?

Hey if it does what I want it to do...it works in my book. ::ha::

Now SolarSeek, there's an interface I don't understand! I miss SoulSeek on my Dell desperately. I can't figure out how to delete anything.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top