[V12]

okay, orginally i was told (at the mac store) that appleworks came pre-loaded on my new PB, however after lookin through my apps, its not there. Now i am contempating weather to get appleworks for $80 or office student edition for $150.

what are the main differences between the 2 (i know that appleworks offers both word processing and spreadsheets)

am i gaining/losing anything valualbe by going with one or the other?

any info will be apprichiated

THANKS!

[moonmonkey]

Originally posted by V12:
okay, orginally i was told (at the mac store) that appleworks came pre-loaded on my new PB, however after lookin through my apps, its not there. Now i am contempating weather to get appleworks for $80 or office student edition for $150.

what are the main differences between the 2 (i know that appleworks offers both word processing and spreadsheets)

am i gaining/losing anything valualbe by going with one or the other?

any info will be apprichiated

THANKS!

Get office, Appleworks doesn't even come close.

[MacGorilla]

AppleWork is just OKay, even at its best, but Apple has neglected it bad and it isn't worth it anymore.

[Millennium]

AppleWorks will get the job done, and it's certainly cheaper than Office. However, be warned: you'll be getting what you pay for.

On OS9, AppleWorks (nee ClarisWorks) was one of the great productivity packages. However, it has been badly neglected by Apple ever since the original release of CW6. So badly, in fact, that it was quite literally the original Bad Carbon Port, one of two apps were was so poorly written that they stained Carbon's reputation to this day (the other app being the OSX Finder itself, as seen in OSX 10.0, but this was actually written for OSX rather than being ported).

For the record, I use AppleWorks myself, and it breaks my heart to see what Apple has done -or more to the point, what Apple hasn't done- to it. I continue to use it, in large part because I have so much data left over that it will be very hard to convert. However, I've been taking a long, hard look at other packages recently.

[V12]

so go with ms office (even if it is the student edition?)

i guess it will be easier for me to use to as i am coming from a pc

me=new mac user

[brettcamp]

I agree with the above posts about AppleWorks not being updated, and the good price/value on the student edition of Office (which by the way gives you almost everything that the standard edition has). Nevertheless, it's hard to get over the idea of sending money to the greatest monopolist and innovation-killer of our time. Maybe you should tell us what you plan to do with Office and we can advise you better.

I know lots of people who happily use AppleWorks for all their word processing, spreadsheet, and database needs, plus it has presentation and drawing components. Most of them got it free with their iMac or iBook. It reads and writes Word and Excel files. It lacks important features (auto spell check, for example, and some advanced editing functions) and is, as everyone has said, a bad port ... but for most people, it's still all they need, and has a clean interface that's easy to use.

A serious overhaul update has long been rumored, and maybe Apple would offer a cheap upgrade path if you buy it now and it's upgraded soon. Sure, it's not nearly as powerful as Office, but it also lacks Microsoft quirks and drawbacks, and if it does everything you need, what does that matter?

[mindwaves]

Get Office unfortuntaely. AppleWorks has not received a major update since I believe January 2000.

[DigitalEl]

I thought it odd no one here mentioned compatibility issues. The Office suite will let you exchange files with anyone, even Windows users, with no hassle. AppleWorks will not.

Or am I full of it?

[SSharon]

I would lean towards Office. I have been using Office v.X and now 2004 and its just what everyone uses with all the features people have come to expect. Personally I think it still has some stability issues but rarely. Also before you buy anything contact your school and see what they offer. For example, my school has unlimited user licenses on many things and will sell you that software at 10 dollars a disk, so I got panther for $30 and Office for $10. So see what they have but be warned if your school is like mine only some software is available to students while much more is for full time staff.

Final word, (really just repeating everyone else) Apple works hasn't been updated so just got Office.

Aside: I really miss claris works 3 that I have on my old 7100/66. great app and it fit on a floppy!

[Gerrit Vanoppen]

Office 2004 for mac doesn't have a database application, so I'm using AppleWorks' database solution (low end FileMaker) for correspondence.

BTW, AFAIK AppleWorks comes free with the iBook only.

[iluvmypowerbook]

Office 2004 is way better than it's Window$ equivalent. Get it for sure.

At College I have to use peecee with Window$ office version so I take my pBook with me and use Office 2004 instead. It is far easier and a lot more useful.

[storer]

Appleworks don't come installed on anything.. you will need to load it off your system cds... it will be under the applications and somthing or other installer.

[pliny]

Appleworks on OS 9 was very good, as mentioned; then somebody "upgraded" it to version 6 and its looks went to pot, and we have been bitching here ever since.

But if it's on your systems cds it will save you from buying Office, which is in fact a very good suite of applications, more refined and elegant than Appleworks.

[V12]

i dont know ill have to find out, i have the new PB 12inch 1.33ghz

im leaning towards office right now, i am a student so word will get used the most, and excel in second. Do they sell strictly MS Word for mac, if so i may be better off with that (although i can get MS office for student for $120)

[storer]

i would never type anything in AppleWorks. I have only used it on an eMac because couldn't afford to buy word just to transfer documents from another system

[Love Calm Quiet]

It's weird how LITTLE apple has put into AW. I think it's now under the FileMaker corp (an apple subsid?). Compared to all the other develoment (hw & sw) that apple does, they could at least upgrade it to a half-a$$ed app. As it is, it's like the corporation walking around with its fly unbuttoned (knowingly) - it's an embarrassment. Presumably they don't feel confident that they can produce a complete REPLACEMENT for MS Office -- so they don't dare provide competition for it, lest MS abandon the Mac platform?

I think (given apple's track record) the release of a decent AW upgrade would leave me more speechless than would the announcement of a 5GHz DP PowerBook.

[MacGorilla]

Originally posted by storer:
i would never type anything in AppleWorks. I have only used it on an eMac because couldn't afford to buy word just to transfer documents from another system

I actually wrote my frist novel entirely in AppleWorks on OS 9.It was nice to use. Too bad it gone so bad,

[the_glassman]

Try Open Office it's free!

[Old Toad]

I've used AppleWorks, Open Office, ThinkFree and a number of others and the MS Office:mac v.X beats the all hands down. It's well worth the price. Check Amazon.com because it has is cheaper occasionally, like $119.

[brettcamp]

Originally posted by DigitalEl:
I thought it odd no one here mentioned compatibility issues. The Office suite will let you exchange files with anyone, even Windows users, with no hassle. AppleWorks will not.

Or am I full of it?

AppleWorks will let you exchange files with Windows users, as it allows you to read Word and Excel files, and save your files in word/excel for windows formats.

Yes, you can buy Word separately from the rest of Office.

[Parky]

The Student Edition of Office 2004 is identical to the 'full price' version.

You also get 3 licences so you can install it legally on 3 machines.

If you buy it from Amazon they don't check you are a student / teacher either.

I got it because my partner is a teacher, so we are legal.
We have it on the iMac and PowerBook at home, and the eMac at school.

Ian

[JKT]

Originally posted by the_glassman:
Try Open Office it's free!

Not to be dismissive of the OOo efforts (especially as it makes the following possible), but people are generally much better off using NeoOffice/J these days. FWIW, NeoOffice/J is based upon OOo, but it runs natively in OS X rather than needing the X11 environment.

Edit: IMO, Appleworks would be a total waste of money - it is a real stinker of an app in OS X. If you can't afford, or would rather not buy Office, then OOo or NeoOffice/J are your best bet (as they are very powerful and free), and they offer the best compatibility with all MS Office document formats outside of Office itself - not perfect, but far, far better than AW or TextEdit.

[Gerrit Vanoppen]

So, does anyone knows an alternative for the AppleWorks database module, besides the obvious FileMaker ?

[tooki]

I have fond memories of AppleWorks, but it's become basically useless in any situation where you may need to send Word and Excel files. Yes, it can convert, but conversion is problematic.

(I was forced to abandon WordPerfect for that reason.)

tooki