Mac Experts - Apple iWorks or MS Office

[Guest monkeyhumper]

Ah so I guess that's why the majority of the professional world uses MS Office products.

That doesn't mean they make quality products. A majority of corporate IT departments buy junk Dell skeletons that can barely run a screensaver. The mouth breathers that make these decisions are the very same that require Office. I often wonder if IT forces Office into the Corp workflow solely to ensure their cubicle farms of techs are busy troubleshooting. Job security, indeed.

[Guest nicemac]

That doesn't mean they make quality products. A majority of corporate IT departments buy junk Dell skeletons that can barely run a screensaver. The mouth breathers that make these decisions are the very same that require Office. I often wonder if IT forces Office into the Corp workflow solely to ensure their cubicle farms of techs are busy troubleshooting. Job security, indeed.

IT (in my company) does not exist to force anybody to use anything. We provide the services and software our users want and ned to do their jobs. I provide my users with whatever software package gets the job done. We happen to use Macs because in 1992 we did a side by side comparison and let our users decide which platform they wanted. It was unanimous amongst the testers–they all voted for the Mac. We use Office because it is still the best tool for some things (specifically, Excel).

[Lumber_Jack]

That doesn't mean they make quality products. A majority of corporate IT departments buy junk Dell skeletons that can barely run a screensaver. The mouth breathers that make these decisions are the very same that require Office. I often wonder if IT forces Office into the Corp workflow solely to ensure their cubicle farms of techs are busy troubleshooting. Job security, indeed.

Find a program as powerful as Excel not made by Microsoft and I'll use it, otherwise office wins.

[Guest nicemac]

Find a program as powerful as Excel not made by Microsoft and I'll use it, otherwise office wins.

Agreed.

[Guest monkeyhumper]

IT (in my company) does not exist to force anybody to use anything. We provide the services and software our users want and ned to do their jobs. I provide my users with whatever software package gets the job done. We happen to use Macs because in 1992 we did a side by side comparison and let our users decide which platform they wanted. It was unanimous amongst the testers–they all voted for the Mac. We use Office because it is still the best tool for some things (specifically, Excel).

Your company is the exception, not the rule. I use open office with very few issues, but that's because I threatened to curb my Mac tech if he didn't install it for me.

My other, only slightly off topic gripe, is that 99.9999999999999999994% of our corp users use Excel as a database program. Which, is not what it was designed to do. This drives me crazy.

[Guest monkeyhumper]

IT (in my company) does not exist to force anybody to use anything. We provide the services and software our users want and ned to do their jobs. I provide my users with whatever software package gets the job done. We happen to use Macs because in 1992 we did a side by side comparison and let our users decide which platform they wanted. It was unanimous amongst the testers–they all voted for the Mac. We use Office because it is still the best tool for some things (specifically, Excel).

Your company is the exception, not the rule. I use open office with very few issues, but that's because I threatened to curb my Mac tech if he didn't install it for me.

My other, only slightly off topic gripe, is that 99.9999999999999999994% of our corp users use Excel as a database program. Which, is not what it was designed to do. This drives me crazy.

[Guest monkeyhumper]

My other, only slighty off topic gripe, is that 100% of the time, when a website gives you an error, it double posts. Which, is exactly what it was designed to do. This drives me crazy.

[Guest UberDuper]

Your company is the exception, not the rule. I use open office with very few issues, but that's because I threatened to curb my Mac tech if he didn't install it for me.

My other, only slightly off topic gripe, is that 99.9999999999999999994% of our corp users use Excel as a database program. Which, is not what it was designed to do. This drives me crazy.

And this is why I don't deal with people and their desktops anymore. My servers are calm, generally polite and usually do what I ask them to without much fuss or ideological debate.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I use Open Office on Mac and PC but not because I think it is any better than Office. Maybe Open Office is better, dunno. It has been a few years since I ran Office.

I use Open Office a few times per month because it is free and it works good enough for what I need. If I ever hit a task which would cost me a few hundred dollars in productivity without Office, then I would buy Office rather than take a productivity hit. Hardly anything I do for profit is mission-critical depending on the Office or the Open Office toolset, and free is a pretty good selling point of Open Office as long as it gets the job done.

[Guest 73challenger]

I use Open Office on Mac and PC but not because I think it is any better than Office. Maybe Open Office is better, dunno. It has been a few years since I ran Office.

I use Open Office a few times per month because it is free and it works good enough for what I need. If I ever hit a task which would cost me a few hundred dollars in productivity without Office, then I would buy Office rather than take a productivity hit. Hardly anything I do for profit is mission-critical depending on the Office or the Open Office toolset, and free is a pretty good selling point of Open Office as long as it gets the job done.

I agree 100% with you. However I think grades are pretty mission critical. Some professors won't allow late work due to problems from using open office.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I agree 100% with you. However I think grades are pretty mission critical. Some professors won't allow late work due to problems from using open office.

Yes school is so expensive compared to the academic price of Office that it wouldn't take much inconvenience to justify the price of Office.

However in my situation where I would have to pay retail Office license for several Macs and PCs just for occasional use, it would have to be mission-critical to justify the cost.

Another example is MatLab. I'd love to have MatLab for occasional use. It would only come in handy a few times per year. MatLab makes retail Office look nearly free if you don't happen to be a student.

[Guest nicemac]

Yes school is so expensive compared to the academic price of Office that it wouldn't take much inconvenience to justify the price of Office.

However in my situation where I would have to pay retail Office license for several Macs and PCs just for occasional use, it would have to be mission-critical to justify the cost.

Another example is MatLab. I'd love to have MatLab for occasional use. It would only come in handy a few times per year. MatLab makes retail Office look nearly free if you don't happen to be a student.

M$ offers a Home & Student Family Pack. For three computers, it is only $132…

Amazon.com: Office for Mac 2011 Home & Student -Family Pack: Mac OS X: Software

[Guest nicemac]

Your company is the exception, not the rule. I use open office with very few issues, but that's because I threatened to curb my Mac tech if he didn't install it for me.

My other, only slightly off topic gripe, is that 99.9999999999999999994% of our corp users use Excel as a database program. Which, is not what it was designed to do. This drives me crazy.

Too many IT depts. try to run the business. IT exists for the same reason as the maintenance dept.–to support the business units so they can do what they need to do. Many IT managers now believe technology runs the business. IT DOES NOT. Technology is a tool to help business. When IT starts setting the direction, businesses fail.

Having said that, occasionally times IT has to look like the bad guy because employees want software "toys" that have no business value and can actually disrupt the (computer) environment.