<p>O.K. - now I am hearing that in addition to Microsoft Office for Mac, I will also need to download and configure something called Parallels - does that make sense?</p>
<p>I have Microsoft Office for Mac. No clue what Parallels is. Everything works out fine when I email attachments to PC folks. When you get Word (Office) just do what I said earlier in “preferences” so that you automatically save your files as .doc rather than .docx</p>
<p>Brilliant - that’s exactly what I will do, I will get Office, download it, use it, and I will stop overthinking this. Thanks.</p>
<p>parallels is one of the options to run Windows software on Macs
( as if 
)
[MacWindows:</a> Running Windows on Intel Macs](<a href=“http://www.macwindows.com/winintelmac.html]MacWindows:”>macwindows.com)</p>
<p>Microsoft Office ( for mac) will run on any mac
If you wanted to run an application that was only written for Windows, you would need one of the emulators or the Intel processor on the newer Macs</p>
<p>Emeraldkity, I am rapidly losing patience with this. LOL. Are you telling me that I cannot simply download Mac for Windows, and go - as momof2inca suggests? </p>
<p>I don’t want to learn how to build a clock, I just want to know what time it is…</p>
<p>no no no- I am sorry I didn’t think I was confusing.
Office for macs is like any other mac program.
Just install it & you are fine.</p>
<p>All the windows/parallel/et.al. crap is ONLY if you want to run different program that is only available for Windows.
Not OFFICE but something else.</p>
<p>( I think you mean [Office</a> for Mac - Easy Access to Downloads and Updates | Mactopia](<a href=“http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx]Office”>http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx) not mac for windows 
)</p>
<p>Whew - thanks! It doesn’t take much to confuse me…</p>
<p>LTS, just download Office for Mac. </p>
<p>Do not download anything for Windows.</p>
<p>Re Parallels:</p>
<p>I also have a new MacBook, on which one can use either or both the Mac OS and/or the Windows OS.</p>
<p>With Parallels, you can run both your Mac OS and Windows “side by side” simultaneously.</p>
<p>With Bootcamp (free download, I don’t believe Parallels is free), you can run your MacBook <em>either</em> as a Mac <em>or</em> as a Windows PC. But not simultaneously. You just restart whenever you want to change from one to the other.</p>
<p>I use Bootcamp, but not Parallels. Partly because it is free and partly because someone told me that if my Windows OS gets a virus, it would contaminate my Mac if I were running both simultaneously. I can’t vouch for this, but I have heard it from several people.</p>
<p>Note that this has NOTHING to do with running Microsoft Office for Mac on your MacBook. You can buy and download that program just for your Mac. You will find that it works exactly as you are used to it on your PC in terms of all the features and commands you are already familiar with.</p>
<p>I don’t know if my above post was clear, so <em>trying</em> to clarify. :)</p>
<p>The new MacBooks (or any Mac) can now be like owning two computers in one - a Mac and a PC. </p>
<p>You can run “two computers in one” simultaneously using Parallels - like having a Windows PC open and a Mac open on your lap all at once.</p>
<p>You can run “two computers in one” using bootcamp, but not simultaneously - open it and use it as a Mac when you want to; open it and use it as a PC when you want to.</p>
<p>But you can run Microsoft Office for Mac on your Mac without having anything to do with either Parallels or Bootcamp.</p>
<p>In the past, you could <em>supposedly</em> run Windows on Macs using Virtual PC or other software - but they didn’t work very well. The new Bootcamp and Parallels work great, imo.</p>
<p>Let’s keep this simple for her. Just install Office for Mac on your new Mac computer. Then,
- Go to the top of the page, click on Word, scroll down to Preferences and click.</p>
<ol>
<li> Click on the SAVE icon (in the OUTPUT and SHARING section)</li>
<li>On this menu, you’ll see “Save word documents as…”</li>
<li>Click the arrow next to these words and choose “Word 97-2004”–.doc</li>
<li>Click OK</li>
</ol>
<p>Now, You’re all set. Your documents will automatically save in the .doc format
which you were previously using on your old pc. Now, your documents are compatible with windows pc’s. Hooray!!!</p>
<p>Simple is exactly what I need - thanks!!!</p>
<p>lol. I should have mentioned–(after program is installed)–Open the Word program and then do the steps that I mentioned.</p>
<p>O.K. - this is my last attempt, and, if I cannot make this work, I’m going to go buy myself a normal laptop tomorrow (assuming I can avoid Vista), and either get my money back for this Mac or give it away. </p>
<p>I purchased Office for Mac, put the disc in the drive, and, it won’t load, and I now cannot even eject the disc, no matter what I do or where I try. </p>
<p>Does anyone have any ideas?</p>
<p>Well since there isn’t a place for a paper clip 
restart the computer and hold down the eject button when restarting.
What system software are you running?
Have you tried NeoOffice?
You might send them an email- Bill used to do it all the time.
<a href=“http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx[/url]”>http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx</a></p>
<p>Thanks E, that didn’t work either. </p>
<p>I have been on the phone to support a few times this past week; each time the experience was not satisfactory and did not solve my problem or answer my question. </p>
<p>I sense that this is the exception that proves the rule as everyone I know who has a Mac loves it and doesn’t have any problems. </p>
<p>Ridiculously I cannot seem to accomplish just the simplest thing - getting Office loaded on this laptop. This is simply way too frustrating and I have work to do. </p>
<p>So I think I will go buy an HP or a Sony tomorrow, hopefully Vista isn’t too horrible. I just don’t have the patience for this.</p>
<p>LTS
I’m writing on my “new” Mac. I took my S’s “old” one to replace my deceased laptop. He set up the Mac in Windows programming, and all my documents transferred successfully, as well as Money program. I don’t have to deal with Vista, which wouldn’t accommodate some of my billing programs. I think its best solution.</p>
<p>At some point, I will venture into the Apple programming. For now, I’m happy.</p>
<p>latetoschool, if you’re having such frustrations, it’s probably worth going back to a windows machine. Maybe you got a defective Mac or something. I also went through a “frustration period” when I went from pc to mac recently. Luckily, I had a cd/dvd drive that worked and the Office for Mac installation went smoothly. Even though I have a new Mac, I’ll never completely convert. I’ll always have a backup windows machine just in case I can’t get something to work on the Mac. Don’t worry or have concerns about VISTA. We have pc’s and have never had a problem with VISTA. I guess the main thing with Vista is to buy a laptop with adequate power and memory. Make sure you buy at least a 3 gig with the biggest hard drive you can afford. We’ve always had Dells and despite what others say, we’ve never had a problem with them. One son has an old Inspiron and it still works. Other son has the newer XPS 13" laptop (with Vista Business) and it’s runs smoothly. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.</p>
<p>That sounds really frustrating.
I will admit that my current ( less than a year old ) macbook pro has had the optical drive replaced twice. This is very unusual in my history of owning macs ( 20 years) and I have heard about more problems since they started with the Intel processor.</p>
<p>Now personally, if you didnt have problems installing anything else, I would attribute it to the Office dvd- but I would also wonder if you got one of the bad optical drives</p>
<p>[Apple</a> - Support - Discussions - Optical Drive and your MacBook Pro](<a href=“http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1154]Apple”>http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1154)</p>
<p>nysmile, you’re right, I just returned from buying myself the new HP Pavilion with swivel screen. Got it all set up - it feels a lot better. Gave the Mac to my daughter, she can have it. She is on her way to the Apple store now to make them fix it all for her.</p>
<p>I have Dells in the office - have never had a problem with them, but, for my personal laptop, I like something a little nicer…</p>