Talking Mac Episode 20: iWork '08 vs Microsoft Office 2008

Sponsored By:
Rhapsody Music Service 14 days Free (Click the link below)
http://www.dpbolvw.net/click-2868736-...

Buy.com get $10 dollars off any product in there store (Click the link below)
http://affiliate.buy.com/gateway.aspx...

Skype Out Call any number in the world from your computer no hassle (Click the link below)
http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-2868736-...

The Wall Street Journal. Get 8 weeks free (click link below)
http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-2868736-10481142

Which one will win, stay tuned to find out!
Donate to the Talking Mac Pdocast
http://thetechcheckblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/help-us-out.html

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• microsoft
• office
• 2008
• for
• mac
• macbook
• pro
• imac
• mini
• steve
• jobs
• apple
• windows
• leopard

[MarkPMus]

I love iWork! I miss MS Publisher but at work I have Pub 2003, at home I had Pub 2000. They were not compatible. Now I use iWork and Belight Publisher. I can make pdf's on my new home mac, and email them to the PCs at work. How many MS colleagues can do THAT! I'm not fussed about Numbers, but in the short time I've had a Mac I've made one Keynote presentation and found it very intuitive to use. I exported it to a Quicktime Movie- thus the wiggy effects were retained for Windoze viewers.

[talkingmac]

Thanks for sharing!

[yoshinatsu]

Excel may be better than Numbers, but Keynote really own Powerpoint.

As for Word vs Pages, I like both of them, you could use Pages for more formatting things, Word is a more familiar experience.

But that's why there are all those tutorial videos on Apple's website, if you learn how to use iWork efficiently, you can do better work with iWork.

[talkingmac]

Yeah I use Pages '08 for writing Books and Reports. And Word for everything else. I use Numbers for basic tracking and data.

Thanks for your comment!

Technofy Media Podcasts

[chrisreig]

I used to use Windows / Office combination for many years, and know everything inside and out regarding Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook. After buying a Vista premium machine that was buggy as hell, I got a refund and bought a Mac. I bought iWork 08 at the same time and have been using it since. The tutorials were very good, showed me how to do things.

What took me many years to learn with MS Office I have learnt in a matter of months with iWork. I highly recommend it for students.

[ubuntukid11]

I use both. Keynote is the boss for presentations (because you can personally configure them more). Excel is better than Numbers because people have been using Excel for a longer time (but Numbers has spell-check and a calculator instead of a formula bar). for Word vs Pages. Word is for essays and Pages is for newspapers and periodicals (magazines). I once made a periodical for Pages. And a story in Word. iWork is pro and Office is for average people and students. Ubuntukid11

[evilgnius]

hahahah open office beats everyone and its free

[MacPhantom]

I like Keynote much more than Powerpoint, even if it has almost the same features.

What I hate about Pages, is that it cannot handle references. But here again, the interface is much better!

For calculations, I clearly prefer Excel. It just can do more.

[MacOSXrulez]

I'm a Mac fan but Office wins. I'm a student and for me it's annoying that I can't save documents directly into the .doc format and I have to rather export each time I want to save. I like Words interface more and I think that it's easier to use. Keynote is better than PowerPoint but I also have to export which sucks and Excel OWNS Numbers, it's much more user friendly and has more features.

[kyutomusu]

I love KEYNOTE over Powerpoint, big time, NUMBERS are way easier and way friendlier in interface (and templates) and easier to use than Excel. I feel only PAGES and Work are equal. I am also very disappointed in Office 2008, so iWork seems the best for me. But it's a question of preferences and habits :)

[RhapsodyinPink3124]

numbers can do the basics. it just adds flare. its a new experience. if you get used to it, you can make really incredible stuff with iwork 08'