BobbyC

Okay, so I thought I had fully decided on Mac, but now I have just one more question.

As I was ordering, you can get iWork '08 or afterwards you can get Microsoft Office '08 for Mac. Which one should I get? I'm leaning towards Microsoft Office '08, but does anyone disagree? Would this cause any problems?

NotreDame2012

get Microsoft Office. especially since you probably already know how to use it. and its completely compatible with pcs and stuff like that. i have a mac and i don't even think i have iWork and if i do i never use it

zfzxzzza

i think u should get office08
compared to iwork08, office08 is a bit incompatible with osx. however, considering the large number of people who are using office, and the fact u can not open a iwork08's document on a windows pc, office08 would be a good choice.
but i shall warn u that office08 documents are sometimes incompatible even with offce07(windows). several months before i opened a docx document with office08 for mac on osx and all i could see are undistinguishable codes, instead of my essay. i didn't made any adjustment. then i restarted, logged into vista and opened the document again with office07, and found my headlines had become those terrible codes.
in conclusion, one sentence. office08 would be a good choice for mac, but take care when u r opening office08 documents with office07(or the reverse)--office08 r still far from being perfect.

kevdude

Get iWork. Then make friends with someone in your hallway who got Office, along with the 3 registration keys to get Microsoft Word. Keynote is vastly more beautiful and easier than Powerpoint - its presentations have the ability to make audiences speechless.

Toclafane

I recommend Office. You're probably already familiar with Office, so it doesn't make sense to have to learn a new interface. iWork's interface is really quite different from Office (yes, the Mac version of Office does not have the same interface as the Windows version, but it's really quite similar. iWork is nothing like it). While iWork is relatively compatible with Office, I have never had a problem with compatibility between the Mac and Windows versions of Office. With iWork on the other hand, I have the occasional differences in formatting, fonts, etc.

Regarding PowerPoint and beauty: I would not say that Keynote creates more beautiful presentations (with the exception of more elegant and less cheesy transition effects). What iWork does have are different templates, which look more appealing because they haven't been overused like most of the templates in the Windows version of PowerPoint.

Here's something that kevdude did not mention: Excel. iWork has a new spreadsheet program called Numbers. I have not personally gotten a chance to play with Numbers (I have an older version of iWork), but from what I have read, it's great for basic usage. However, depending on your major, you may need a more advanced spreadsheet program or specific Excel features, in which case Excel is your best choice.

Finally cost. OIT offers Office for Mac for $45. iWork, with educational discount, is $71 from Apple (although, like Mac OS 10.5, you might be able to get it cheaper if you ask for it at the OIT store on campus).

In the end, it ultimately depends on what you need from your office suite and if learning your way around a new interface (which some say is ultimately easier to use than Office) is worth your time. The best to do this is to try both. When your Mac comes, it may (I don't know if they still do) come with a trial version of and iWork. I'm assuming you've used Office before, so you should already have some idea of how that works. Try out iWork, compare it to Office, and choose what's best for you.

If your Mac does not come with the trial, you can get a trial of iWork here:
Apple - iWork - Trial