iwork = microsoft office? Any comments/reviews?

[Isaiah]

I'm currently purchasing a macbook online and considering adding the iwork suite. Is it worth it for $71?

I am very interested to know if the files can be saved in the same formats as word/excel/ppt files for compatibility purposes?

[ZorroAMG]

They are pretty much compatible and pages and numbers load WAY faster than word and excel.

[Isaiah]

So can I save the files in xcl/doc/ppt formats?

[badatusrnames]

Originally posted by ZorroAMG
They are pretty much compatible and pages and numbers load WAY faster than word and excel.

Office 2008 isn't near as bad as 2004 now that its been released in universal binary instead of being emulated on intel mac like 2004 was...

NeoOffice is a decent free alternative...

[bball2]

I have Office 2008, some of the new features are buggy (notebook view with word docs), but overall it's great, a lot like 2007 for Windows.
I'd go for 2008 for your macbook, or just completely go open source: http://www.openoffice.org/

[kaput]

.

[dragonone]

ever try out zoho or openoffice?

[ajooo]

i figure if your comfortable with office, then go for office.
you're best bet, is to go try it out, like what kaput said.

[Isaiah]

Thanks for the tips fellas. I'll try it at futureshop as suggested.

[tacsniper]

i use MS Word and Excel, but when it comes to Powerpoint... Keynote in iWorks rules!

[szw]

I've just switched to iWork. I've been formatting my resume in Pages and will check the formatting in MSWord on a work PC tomorrow.

So far Pages is nice (I don't really work with documents much) but holy shit.....no fucking autosave? I lost a few hours work when my laptop ran out of power (yeah I got the message but I was too lazy to grab my plug...)

I turn my macbook back on and Pages isn't open. I find out there is no autosave and there is no auto backup anywhere. WTF? Is this 1990 on my word processor? fucking unbelievable!

Yeah, I know "always save your work"...but come on...Apple products are usually always very intuitive, but now I have to hit command-S every few sentences?

I found some articles comparing iWork to Office 08 online. I only read the excel one and MS came out a little ahead in terms of usability and Numbers put together prettier presentations. I didn't check out any other comparisons but there are probably tons online.

EDIT: I just switched from Office 04 for the Mac. Slow as hell and shitty interface but worked fine for me, though the Excel (Office 04) seemed limited.

[szw]

I've abandoned iWork and gone to Microsoft Office 08 for Mac. The apps are fine for iWork, but if you have to send files to other people, they want MS word versions and you can't just 'save as', you have to 'export' it. pain in the ass.

Another thing...the dock icons for numbers and keynote are way cooler than the MS Office equivalents!