iWork '08 Family Pack (DVD-ROM)

ok if you only work on a MAC I have to switch between my MAC at home and Win PC at work. Documents and spread sheets formatted in one would not correct format in the other. So I have bought Word for the MAC. iWork is great if you stick to your MAC, but it does have less funtionality than Word & excel which can now be bought for only about £80, I would consider this first.

Work became cool I bought this just before Christmas, a) it looked good and b) I didn't want to pay a fortune for MS office for Mac. I have not been disappointed! Pages- A fantastic word processor with pro looking templates. I use this all the time for school stuff now, it exports easily to MS office without images, can be a bit tricky with but on the whole is fine. For those who enjoy creating newsletters & posters but are sick of slow & boring MS Publisher, Pages will serve up a treat. Keynote- 'Suddenly everyone looked up'. This is where iWork beats the rival. Keynote gives stunning presentations with a ton of cool extras to give presentations that 'cool' look. Numbers- I'm still getting used to this one but so far I'm finding it easier to use than Excel and the graphs are far more mature and better looking! Overall I'm scoring this great piece of software for Mac with a five because even though exports may not be perfect between this and Office, this has much more of a creative and simple edge to it. Gone are the days of feeling bored and intimidated by the crowded interfaces of the Office apps. My recommendation is to properly learn how to use each program before being critical because like anything it takes a while before you do get used to it, but don't sit on the Office bench, get to Work!

worth getting used to This is a very reasonably priced take on three essential software functions. Apart from the hassle of unlearning new ways, Pages is a joy to use. Similarly, Numbers has been excellent so far. I'm looking forward to my first presentations that aren't just imported PowerPoints.

Problem migrating from MS Office iWork is visually attractive and looks quite easy to use. At the price, it is an obvious choice for Mac users. However, there is a problem that might put off users with existing PC files. I have four lengthy MSWord documents (schemes of work for secondary school science). Each has hundreds of hyperlinks and cross-references to enable the user to move about the document and call up resources at will. I opened them in iWork 08 and all the links were stripped out (a warning came up to say so). The tables were also removed and their contents moved about. Putting all this right would take ages and then what would happen if the document was saved back to MSWord format and opened in MSOffice (as I would have to do for work)? On the other hand, Open Office for Mac(which is free) faithfully shows all the formatting and linking correctly. Such a shame, because I really like the look of iWork 08 but I cannot rely on it when moving between Mac and PC platforms.

At last, something even I can use! Having just upgraded from a PC to an iMac I have found myself a bit short on useful software. I've always struggled to use the Microsoft Office suite. It isn't intuitive and as I'm not someone who needs it everyday I've always found the programs very difficult to remember how to use. Without regular use and practice Excel is just too daunting, but also Word, if it's not technology you've grown up with, can be tricky to master. I started a college course last year and having to be able to use these programs is just about mandatory. Not being too good at them is a real disadvantage. As an alternative there is the Open Office program which is free of charge and downloadable and appears to be identical to the Microsoft product and therefore doesn't solve my big headache which is that I hate to use it!!! iWork and MS Office came as 30 day free trial products on the iMac. After a couple of weeks of using the trial MS I was distraught as it costs a fortune and I thought I was going to have to buy it (Open Office being very slow and clumsy on my machine). It was then that I decided to try the iWork word-processing program called 'Pages', and blow me if I hadn't picked it up within a very short while and felt completely at peace with it. It's a lovely tool to use and it comes naturally. I've taken a look at the 'Numbers' program and it appears to be elegant and usable too, not as powerful as Excel, but I never needed most of what Excel can do. Numbers is a breeze, to the point of being fun, yes fun! As for the 'Keynote' presentation program.....It is a joy to use. I had to make my first Powerpoint presentation last year (on the agronomy of the pea if you're interested) and it was a nightmare to do. This year I have to do another (on grassland management for invertebrates) and I'm almost excited at what I will be able to do. People who know how I react to techy stuff will shocked to see these words written by me. I'm usually a Luddite, but perhaps that's just because I'd not had to work with Apple products before. At £55 it's a real bargain and shames Microsoft who charge hundreds of pounds for their monster........ Now, onto that assignment...