Taking the Office to Mac
Network World

TOLLY ON TECHNOLOGY

While generalizations are usually dangerous, it is probably safe to say that for many of us Microsoft Office is the tool set we use most. So all contemplating saying adieu to Windows for Mac's OS X needs to find a way to replicate the same in their new environment. Fortunately, for the most part, it is relatively painless and there are several paths to take.

The easiest, but more costly, route is to purchase Microsoft's Office 2004 for the Mac. With this approach, you get Mac versions of Word, Excel, Project and most likely the highest level of compatibility with the Windows equivalents. Instead of Outlook as the e-mail client, you get Entourage (more about that later), and Access is notably absent. There isn't a Mac version or equivalent offered by Microsoft.

If all you require are basic functions of the main office trio - no Visual Basic for Applications functions or the like - you might find all you need with the "free" NeoOffice/J. This application suite is offered under the GNU public license and is essentially the Apple OS X version of the OpenOffice suite. It implements word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and drawing functions.

NeoOffice/J can open, edit, save and so forth in the native Microsoft file formats, which is convenient for documents that have to move between systems. It even has some handy features missing from Microsoft Office, such as exporting directly to Adobe PDF format.