getting word

[fred]

I have never used apple computers before, but after getting mine had a
"30 day trial" for the word processor. Does this mean my computer did
not just come with a word processor???? I have never heard of such a
thing. Is there a word processor elsewhere on my computer or do I have
to purchase one additionally?

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi Fred,

A basic word processor called Text Edit comes with your computer. It's
quite capable and is good for letters, etc.

There is a wide variety of Word Processors available for the Mac. Some
are free. Some are not free.

Head to http://www.versiontracker.com/ and search for Word Processor.
You'll find many available.

Microsoft Word is the most full featured product and is the one I
recommend if you are going to be using a Word Processor often. But it is
certainly not the only one.

The 30 day free trial gives you a chance to do just that - try it out.
Microsoft hopes you will like it enough to purchase it. But you are not
without other options if you decide otherwise.

-Jim

 

[Elliott Roper]

I have never used apple computers before, but after getting mine had a
"30 day trial" for the word processor. Does this mean my computer did
not just come with a word processor???? I have never heard of such a
thing. Is there a word processor elsewhere on my computer or do I have
to purchase one additionally?

Depends how good you want it to be and for what purpose.
TextEdit comes with the machine, and does a good job for simple
documents. It will read and write documents that are compatible with
Word, as long as you don't want too many fancy features. Think of it as
Wordpad with nice manners. (I hate TextEdit, dunno why. It just gets up
my nose. If a piece of software can be smug and self-satisfied, while
still being hopeless, TextEdit is that software.)

There are a number of text editors that come with the unix
underpinnings of OS X. (vi vim pico emacs ....)
You could use one of those with open source LaTex to produce anything
up the most beautifully typeset books. Expect a steep learning curve.

....or if, like nearly everyone here, you have to deal with the
corporate world, then you gotta cough up for Microsoft Office.

There are free open source work-alikes like Open Office or Neo Office,
but for many of us, there are not enough hours in the day to get them
working well enough.

In the middle (i.e. cheap, not free, is Apple's own Pages, part of the
iWork suite, which may come free with some Macs. It appears to be
excellent for small page layout jobs like newsletters

You might also consider Nisus Writer and Mellel.

If you are interested, I use a combination of Word, Latex (with emacs)
and InDesign to get my kind of work out the door.

Welcome. If you do decide to go with Word, you have come to the right
place to get your questions answered.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Fred -

I'm not sure why you posted here about this as Microsoft has nothing to do
with what Apple chooses to include with OS X or what a dealer chooses to
include in the computer "bundles" they sell. FWIW, however...

OS X *does* include a program by the name of TextEdit, which is a very
capable application for basic word processing requirements. It is directly
comparable to the WordPad application that is included with the Window OS.

If you need more professional features, then *yes*, you will have to obtain
something more powerful. Purchasing MS Word is one option, but there are
certainly other choices available, including some very capable programs that
are free, such as OpenOffice.

Good Luck |:>)

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Hi Fred:

Welcome to the world of Mac Like yourself, I was a late starter on the
Mac, although I am an expert at PC Word.

The others have given you a good view of what's available out there. My
suggestion is that you give that Test Drive version of Word a good solid
work-out and decide whether you like it.

If you do, you should be starting to see some discounts appearing in the
marketplace in a few months, because there's a new version due around
2007-ish.

On either platform, "Word" is the most powerful and full-featured word
processor out there. But it's by no means the ONLY choice, particularly if
you do not need the high-end abilities it has.

I use it for very long (> 1,000 pages) documents and very complex work, and
for that it has no peer. Others like it for its ability to integrate with
Excel and PowerPoint and its industrial-strength data merging abilities. As
others have mentioned, if you're going to buy Word, buy the whole of
Microsoft Office: that way it is likely you will have everything you are
likely to ever need.

Word on the Mac has some extras that are not available on the PC --
Outlining, Combined Projects, Audio Notes, Powerful AppleScript. And some
limitations: no right-to-left text, patchy Unicode support, weak VBA.

But as Elliott says, if you have to correspond with the corporate world,
it's by far the better choice, because it uses the exact same file formats
as the PC version.

Cheers

I have never used apple computers before, but after getting mine had a
"30 day trial" for the word processor. Does this mean my computer did
not just come with a word processor???? I have never heard of such a
thing. Is there a word processor elsewhere on my computer or do I have
to purchase one additionally?

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410