# Alternatives to office for mac



## fccabs (Jul 31, 2006)

My 60 day trial period has expired on the preinstalled office for mac so im looking for advice on what i should do for a word processor and spreadsheet program/package. Should i pay for the student /teacher version of office or go for the full program (does anyone know what the difference between the two is??) or can anyone receommend an alternative cheaper option. thanks in advance


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## 1002richards (Jan 29, 2006)

Hi,
Have you considered the well regarded free Open Office suite, which I believe is compatible with Macs:

http://www.openoffice.org/

Check out the "components" on that link I think they might interest you.

I hope this helps?
Richard


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## fccabs (Jul 31, 2006)

Thanks Richard


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## Pensacola Tiger (Apr 23, 2006)

fccabs said:


> My 60 day trial period has expired on the preinstalled office for mac so im looking for advice on what i should do for a word processor and spreadsheet program/package. Should i pay for the student /teacher version of office or go for the full program (does anyone know what the difference between the two is??) or can anyone receommend an alternative cheaper option. thanks in advance


The only difference between the full version and the Student/Teacher version is the cost. Oh, and the fact that you can install the Student/Teacher version on three Macs.


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## Serge_N_Gin (Sep 7, 2004)

I use NeoOffice and it is almost the exact same as Openoffice.org but doesn't require X11 to run.

NeoOffice download page


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## ferrija1 (Apr 11, 2006)

I recommend Open Office, too.


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## rgh1tsg (Sep 23, 2006)

The NeoOffice alternative is just about perfect. I never could seem to get the X11 Services and OpenOffice to cooperate. I am sure it was user error but since NeoOffice ran seamlessly I shelved the debug of the problem and got on with life.


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## shellback (Feb 15, 2007)

I have used NeoOffice too. I have been happy with it. Hard to beat the price - free. Comes with a drawing program too, something we use to see with AppleWorks.


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## ferrija1 (Apr 11, 2006)

I believe NeoOffice is based off of OpenOffice.


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## shellback (Feb 15, 2007)

Yes, it is based on OpenOffice. The nice thing about it is that it runs like all other applications designed for the Mac. You do not have to use X11.

Just noticed that you are in Pittsburgh. I was born there and lived in Pleasant Hills. Moved South a loooooooong time ago when my dad was transferred to SC.


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## Farmgirl22 (Jun 12, 2006)

NeoOffice is good, especially for free. However, you should have gotten a test version of Keynote and Pages (essentially Word and PowerPoint Mac style) I paid for the version the other day and it was only $50 (w/an education discount)...takes a bit of getting used to, but you can save in the Microsoft formats using those programs. I don't know how much the Microsoft Office suite costs for hte student edition, since I'm only interested in the Business version because I use Access and Publisher a lot...however, I think the student edition of Office only contains Word, Excel, and maybe PowerPoint...
If you are looking to buy a program, play around with your version of Keynote and Pages...once you discover the "inspector" (a blue circle with the letter "i" inside of it) the program is pretty easy to use. See if you like it, you can save in the Microsoft formats as I said, it's pretty cheap, and easy to use. Maybe someone else will mention this program and give their opinion on it, to give you a more advanced perspective since I've only had the program for a week if that.


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