[GATTACA]

Hello.

I'm a long time user of Micro$oft Office. I've recently heard great things about iWorks'05. I'm interested in getting it but from all I've read on-line I don't think it comes with a spreadsheet application like EXCEL.

Does anyone have experience with iWorks? Does it include a spreadsheet program?

Thanks.

[SWFan]

Currently it does not incude a spreadsheet application. Simply contains Keynote 2 (presentation program) and Pages (page layout/word processing program).

[cpac]

Exactly. No spreadsheet (though you can do tables, and you can enter tabular data to create graphs and charts).

That said, if you've been using Excel for a long time, go ahead and stick with it. It's the one MS product that has always been one of, if not the, best in its class.

[GATTACA]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Is there a good spreadsheet app out there that plays well with Mac OS X?

[cpac]

Originally posted by GATTACA:
Is there a good spreadsheet app out there that plays well with Mac OS X?

That would be Excel.

[HOMBRESINIESTRO]

Originally posted by GATTACA:
Thanks for the quick reply.

Is there a good spreadsheet app out there that plays well with Mac OS X?

Try Mesa if you want something that resembles Pages or Keynote in a way:
http://www.plsys.co.uk/mesa.htm
(There's a test version available)

or
Mariner Calc
http://www.marinersoftware.com/sitepage.php?page=14

or the Spreadsheet modul of AppleWorks

or
ThinkFree Calc
http://www.thinkfree.com/products/pd_calc.jsp

Last not least there is the 99,9% Excel compatible Spreadsheet modul of NeoOffice/J:
http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/en/

You see, you have choices, and they're all much cheaper than Excel.

[brettcamp]

Don't forget the spreadsheet component in AppleWorks, which is bundled with all consumer Macs (i.e. iMac, iBook, mini, eMac).

[PurpleGiant]

Originally posted by GATTACA:
Is there a good spreadsheet app out there that plays well with Mac OS X?

Can't go past Excel if you use a lot of functions. If you have simple requirements you could use the free options listed above.

[pimephalis]

If you're not terminal-averse, you can install gnumeric using fink. It's a pretty robust and powerful spreadsheet app.

gnumeric's website

[wilsonng]

I'm waiting for iWork '06 to come around. Pages is certainly a good start but I'd like to see it mature into version 2 before I get it. Hopefully iWork '06 will have the spreadsheet by that time.

From what I hear, Pages' tables has simple calculations in it. Haven't seen it myself but that's what my friend says. It will do sums, multiplication, division, etc. But don't expect Excel type formulas in Pages' table feature.

As a rule, I'd like to keep an arsenal of tools. I still use AppleWorks for most of my word processing needs. I use Word when I need more function than AppleWorks' word processing can offer me or if I need better compatibility with my Windoze office-mates.

For now, AppleWorks' spreadsheet is decent enough for single sheet documents. When I need more complex multi-sheet worksheets, I'll turn to Excel.

[HOMBRESINIESTRO]

Originally posted by wilsonng:
I'm waiting for iWork '06 to come around. Pages is certainly a good start but I'd like to see it mature into version 2 before I get it. Hopefully iWork '06 will have the spreadsheet by that time.

The funny thing is Mesa, although it has awful icons, "feels" just like an iWork app. I guess this is due to its NeXT roots.

It would be nice if they would release Mesa as open source and we could find some people to pilish it up a bit. That would be great. Even if they don't release it as open source, they could polish it up by themselves...