# Mac spreadsheets anyone?



## frizzle (Jun 12, 2006)

About to venture into Mac land as my macbook should arrive pretty shortly. Wanted a laptop and as I intend to use it for photos, music and internet browsing I thought I'd live a little so went for the mac. Trouble is, I do like a spreadsheet so wondered if anyone knew of any spreadsheet software for the mac that would allow me to continue to enjoy spreadsheeting and would be Excel compatible (why do I get the feeling suddenly that there is Excel for Macs somewhere...) but not cost £200+ ??

Thoughts, advice appreciated.

Frizzle


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## ferrija1 (Apr 11, 2006)

I believe Appleworks is Excel compatible and it is only $80. Plus, it is not just a spreadsheet application, it's a whole office suite.

http://www.apple.com/appleworks/


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## frizzle (Jun 12, 2006)

Cheers chum, I'll check it out. 

Frizzle


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## MSM Hobbes (Apr 23, 2004)

Why not just acquire a student version of MS Office - has word, excel, powerpoint, etc.?
True, the cost is maybe tad higher than what you want to pay, but,,, you get opportunity to install it on 3 computers [hint: spread the love and cost between two friends ], and you get a very rock-solid true Excel program.


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## ferrija1 (Apr 11, 2006)

I've been searching MS's site and I can't find any information on the student version.....


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## MSM Hobbes (Apr 23, 2004)

Try these [ummmmm,,, can you spell g-o-o-g-l-e?  j/k ]:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/office2004/office2004.aspx?pid=office2004
http://www.apple.com/macosx/applications/office/
http://www.macmall.com/macmall/sear...googlesearch&gclid=CKGz98WGyIkCFQ30JAodhkNqUA


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## sarei (Dec 13, 2006)

There's always Open Office. I used it for a while before I could save up the money for the real thing. It's available for Mac and PC.

http://www.openoffice.org/


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## Cal UK (Jan 10, 2007)

I'd go with Hobbes and get the student office for Mac. Sarei whats that open office like I'm considering downloading it? Is it basically microsoft office but free? Can you download word documents onto your Mac and open them in open office?


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## ferrija1 (Apr 11, 2006)

Cal UK said:


> I'd go with Hobbes and get the student office for Mac. Sarei whats that open office like I'm considering downloading it? Is it basically microsoft office but free? Can you download word documents onto your Mac and open them in open office?


You are correct, it is basically the core office suite programs but for free. They can open MS files.


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## Cal UK (Jan 10, 2007)

ferrija1 said:


> You are correct, it is basically the core office suite programs but for free. They can open MS files.


*High fives* I've just downloaded it but when I double click the icon it only comes up with a word document how do I get the other software; spreadsheets etc.?


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## sarei (Dec 13, 2006)

Cal UK,

When I used it I had to use a special mac version called "NeoOffice" (http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/en/download.php). But it looks like they updated the OpenOffice version itself since then (they were linking directly to NeoOffice from OpenOffice's web site). Anyway, I had to go into the program itself and then click or highlight "New" from the file menu - then select what I wanted to start on (spreadsheet, word document, presentation, drawing, etc). I would assume the OpenOffice works the same way.

Of course, I could also just be making an *** out of myself


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## Cal UK (Jan 10, 2007)

Ah I see you were correct Sarei. Cheers mate you've made my week and saved me lots of money thanks.


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## sarei (Dec 13, 2006)

No problem  It's a sweet little program.

Also, just as a side note to anyone who actually wants MS Office, I purchased it as an OEM, which basically meant that I didn't get packaging or an instruction manual with it, and I also don't get any support from the place I bought it from. You have to be VERY careful when purchasing software this way because you could get something with limited abilities (you just have to read descriptions very carefully), but if you find what you are looking for it is a LOT cheaper. For instance, I only paid about 150$ for my copy of Office Pro and I know you can get it cheaper than that (I've seen Standard versions for under $100). I got it from royaldiscount.com. I believe that with OEM's though, it is usually limited stock, so you probably would want to do a search for it on Google.

And right now Apple has a sale on Office to get up to 25% back via mail-in rebate. So standard would cost $299 instead of $399. You can also get the Student Edition for $135 with the $15 rebate they are offering on it. Link


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## MSM Hobbes (Apr 23, 2004)

BTW, MS has also announced that MS Office:Mac 2008 will be out later part of this year:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/jan07/01-09MacworldPR.mspx

sarei :up: - had forgot about that application, guess was somewhat leery of not having more support.


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## exegete (Oct 26, 2005)

Also, Open Office requires X11, whereas NeoOffice is installed like any OS X application.

And OpenOffice recently announced that VBA support is coming. Will be interesting to see what happens with that, since now MS is moving away from VBA (even on Windows side) to VB.net. Sadly Mac Office 2008 will have NO VBA support at all and nothing planned for VB.net.


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## exegete (Oct 26, 2005)

If you want high-end capability in spreadsheet/database, consider the following:

Gigawiz

Quantrix (cross-platform)

Or at the other end:

Mesa Spreadsheet


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