Apple, the computer, not the label.

[Chuck Nessa]

I have Office for Mac and use it every day.

[Shawn]

allright, still enjoying my Mac;

so - what's the consensus for Word Processing? Word for Mac?

Either "Openoffice" (free) or Apple's iWork program ($70 instead of $140 for Microsoft's suite). Both programs can save files in Windows format so they are totally cross compatible.

Edited October 28, 2010 by Shawn

[Christiern]

I have Word and Open Office (the latter is free), but I use Mariner Write, which is also totally compatible with Word. Microsoft has just released a new Office (incl. Word) for Mac and early reviews are good, some of the clunkiness having been fixed.

[DukeCity]

Seems like Office for Mac has been getting bloated over the last few versions. If some of the clunkiness has been alleviated, and it's a little more sleek, that would be a welcome development!

Re: viruses, I've never thought that Macs were necessarily virus-proof. I always just assumed that hackers/virus writers just weren't interested because Mac represents such a small percentage of the computer world. Much more havoc-wreaking potential in writing something that will mess up PCs.

[papsrus]

Seems like Office for Mac has been getting bloated over the last few versions. If some of the clunkiness has been alleviated, and it's a little more sleek, that would be a welcome development!

Re: viruses, I've never thought that Macs were necessarily virus-proof. I always just assumed that hackers/virus writers just weren't interested because Mac represents such a small percentage of the computer world. Much more havoc-wreaking potential in writing something that will mess up PCs.

As far as viruses go, I think the people who write them are more interested in polluting networks -- business networks and the like. So PCs are the natural target there.

[mjzee]

I use Office for Mac and think it's fine. It's really the lingua franca these days, especially Excel, so why fight it? I tried the first version of the Apple office suite (iWork) and found it not ready for prime time. I also use OpenOffice when I need to open a WordPerfect file.

[.:.impossible]

TextEdit. .txt

InDesign. .indd, .pdf, etc.

Haven't opened Microsoft Word, other than to read a .doc in years.

TextEdit is perfect for simple word processing. Perfect. Included in the OS.

*revised (notepad:textedit)

Edited October 29, 2010 by .:.impossible

[AllenLowe]

thanks, gang. Just downloaded Open Office last night, to save money for now. We'll see how it works out.

[medjuck]

I have Office for the Mac and I hate "Word". Going to try out some of the alternates you guys have suggested.

[Jim Alfredson]

We've already been through this before: This debate is old and tired.

I've also already shared my Mac story before, which is that I bought a Macbook for my wife's birthday a few years ago and had nothing but troubles with it. It's currently sitting in the closet, un-bootable. Went through two power supplies, a logic board, and a CD-ROM drive and the damn thing still doesn't work. Meanwhile my office PC, which I built myself over 10 years ago, is still running like a top. In those 10 years, I've only had to replace a burned out video card. That's it. I used it to design the last four Big O CD releases in Illustrator and Photoshop.

In my home studio is another desktop I built for recording music in 2006. Spent a whopping $600 on it. I recorded "Groovadelphia", my solo disc, and Greg Nagy's solo disc with that computer, mixed "Alive & Kickin'" with it, and I'm currently working on two other projects. Never had a problem with it until just recently two sticks of RAM went bad. $70 later and I upgraded to 4GB of RAM instead of 2GB. Whoopee. With software, I probably have about $1000 invested in that machine (that includes the latest version of Cubase). That's a good investment, methinks.

I will never buy another Mac because when they break, you cannot fix them. You have to take them to an Apple Store and then they absolutely REAM you to fix it. I can fix any of the four PCs in my house myself for cheap.

I like my iPhone, but the latest OS slowed it down considerably and just now in the van it locked up while browsing. Apple products do have issues (especially the shitty power supplies they had on that generation of Macbook, which they should've recalled but they didn't).

[Christiern]

Jim, your case it the exception rather than the rule. The last time I had to take a Mac in for repair was about ten years ago. I have many, many Mac-owning friends who share my good experience with the product.

This is not really a debate, nor is it "old and tired" to ask a question re running the Windows platform. It may well be a question that has been asked before, but the technology is ever evolving and new software/hardware often takes the subject into a new ballgame.

[rostasi]

Yeah, not a debate. Great that your PCs work for you.

I had a friend who became convinced to buy a Mac (laptop, I think)

'cause he was forever having problems with his PCs.

Afterwards, he would tell me all of the problems that he was having

with this new Mac crashing (?!) and I would ask him,

"Barry, man, what are you doing to your computers?!"

Anyway, he took it in to Apple and it was a major flaw -

I think a logic board or some-such thing was gone.

Never have known anyone else to have anything close to this happening before on a Mac.

A trade was done and all was well. So, yes, there'll be the odd screwup.

I've gone thru a lot of iPods - somehow, I'm pretty hard on them

and they always go out when I'm 5000 miles away from home.

An Apple employee would always go to somewhere in the back of the store and

come out in 5 minutes with a new replacement in a box - no charge: no weird restocking fees, etc.

Many people, I think, don't have the time, interest or ability to build from scratch.

When I had more time, I used to like building my own sound and visual making devices,

but I'm thankful for the (nearly) complete well-built goodies available today.

I will say that for those of you considering iLife 11,

wait until they fix the problem with the iPhoto upgrade that's included.

Yup, their software gets funky on the rare occasion too.

®

---

Now playing: Sonny Sharrock - Fear of a Ghost Planet

[Chuck Nessa]

Can't imagine Jim's problem. My iMac keyboard had a problem a few weeks ago (the "j" would not work) and I took it to the closest Apple store (Grand Rapids, MI) and they gave me a new one.

[Jim Alfredson]

I realize my situation isn't the norm, but it does illustrate that the products do have issues and are not the end-all be-all. The first power supply on my wife's Macbook literally started on fire. The logic board failure, which rendered a battery unchargeable, was a known hardware defect that Apple should've recalled, but they didn't. Lots of people were affected by it (I read a lot about it at the time).

I think they are beautiful designs and the software is great. I used Macs when I was doing video post work in Ann Arbor, they are cool computers. But I don't like having a computer that I cannot fix. And I personally think they are overpriced for the power you get. But then again, I like to tinker with things.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

I was one of the buyers of last year's iMac screen probs that came with a majority of the then new I-5s (unheard of when mine arrived and the first early adoption for me).

Scrimped and saved, backed up all and cleared the studio for the new machine.

Powered up and was met with the front window of the Millenium Falcon, then chartreuse bands, then crazy light show flickering and a huge x-ray of the cursor's pixel layout floating on screen.

Had to send it back and was told I'd wait a month for the replacement.

The $15.00 iTunes gift card! from customer svc didn't sit well so I pressed for next day delivery of a new machine and a $60 dollar credit.

I received this machine within three days.

and yes those power cord malfunctions on the older macbooks should have been an instant recall or replaced for anyone who purchased them as they eventually would fail. Apple never even made a new one under $100! and after market attempts were faulty as well the battery fires should have gone class action - then we'd all get a .15 cent iTunes gift card!!

[Christiern]

The iPhoto problem some people encountered using iLife was fixed by Apple yesterday—check Apple.com.

Jim, I have been using Macs since 1984, when they were introduced (and Apple ][s and ///s before that), and I regularly upgrade to a newer model, but I have never had to discard a Mac because it ceased to function, only because it became outdated.

As for customer service—last year I spilled coffee on my keyboard and rendered 2 or 3 keys useless. I took it to an Apple store, hoping it could be fixed but expecting to purchase a new one. The man took it, disappeared for a few minutes and returned with a new one and a receipt for me to sign. The cost: $0.

I have friends who love their Toyotas.

[AllenLowe]

well, about 2 years ago I was assaulted by my Mac - seems it's an Ahmad Jamal fan - and I called customer service and they agreed that

1) Jamal is not very good

2) that the Mac was in the wrong, both ethically and musically, and that

3) in the future I should only listen to George Shearing.

Edited October 30, 2010 by AllenLowe

[papsrus]

Well, after expressing satisfaction with my switch to a MacBook (and I still am), the CDR function just crapped out the other day. Can't read the disc, spits it out. (I've tried a couple of different kinds of discs. Same thing with each.)

It'll play discs fine, but that's not something I use the computer for at all. It will also import to iTunes fine. Just won't write.

Not a big deal, cause I don't burn very many CDs in the course of things anyways, but I'll take it down to my local Mac repair shop and see what they have to say.

The computer is old enough now that if they want to charge me too much for a fix, I'll probably do without for a year or so until I upgrade.

[Noj]

Having used both platforms I know for certain both can be seriously amazing machines.

I buy Mac because I'm lazy and I find Mac more user-friendly. I'm also not a computer geek and I wouldn't know how to build a bad ass computer from the ground up. Plug and go is more my style. I don't repair my car myself, either, outside replacing windshield wipers.

Someone like Jim (who is more of a do-it-yourself type, who can repair something as complex as a piano or an organ, who is probably savvy under the hood of a car too) has the where-with-all to build a PC for less money which can perform as well as a Mac. Believe it. The platforms aren't all that different, and it can be done.

[AllenLowe]

I've had a couple of computers assembled for me by good techs; sometimes, it seems, you're at the mercy of the quality of the components; my most stable and reliable machine is a Windows 2000 built for me 10 years ago that has never had so much as a glitch; I back up all my music projects onto it.

[AllenLowe]

question du jour - just found out that I cannot download my free version of CA anti-virus on my Mac - any suggestions for a good program?

[Christiern]

Never use the stuff!

[Chuck Nessa]

Me either.

[mjzee]

Nor I. That was the first eye-opening moment when I went to the Apple store with questions, before I bought my first iMac. I asked "Which anti-virus program should I use?" The Apple guy looked at me quizzically and said "Why would you use one? I don't use one, and I don't know anyone who does."

[AllenLowe]

oooh- I like this. Kinda like not using the raincoat.