Doing MSOffice stuff on Mac


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i120D

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Jan 12, 2005
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hi, I am a bit confuse here, is VMWare Fusion similar (or equivalent application) to Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac(bootcamp) or is it an add-on to the MSOffice ?

If I only need to buy one of them to start using MS Office document on Mac, which to get?

Thank you.
 

hi, I am a bit confuse here, is VMWare Fusion similar (or equivalent application) to Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac(bootcamp) or is it an add-on to the MSOffice ?

If I only need to buy one of them to start using MS Office document on Mac, which to get?

Thank you.

vmware fusion (like parallels desktop) creates a virtual machine environment on mac os x. you can then install windows or linux in the virtual machine. bootcamp is an apple utility to allow you to dual boot both mac os x and windows on the same mac. both products have no relation to ms office 2008 for mac which is an office productivity package.

so in your case, please just buy ms office 2008 for mac. thats all you need.
 

Thank you Ortega and Madmacs for the advise and clarification. Will get the office for mac to do MSoffice stuff then.

in that case, just a thought, with the VMWare fsion, does that mean I can run my current adobe photoshop (already has some plug-ins but only for Wins) ?
 

Thank you Ortega and Madmacs for the advise and clarification. Will get the office for mac to do MSoffice stuff then.

in that case, just a thought, with the VMWare fsion, does that mean I can run my current adobe photoshop (already has some plug-ins but only for Wins) ?

From my own experience, both VMWare & parallel are slow and buggy. Best to avoidl

If you have to run photoshop win version on Mac, dual boot in bootcamp may be the way to go.

cocoa
 

Thank you Ortega and Madmacs for the advise and clarification. Will get the office for mac to do MSoffice stuff then.

in that case, just a thought, with the VMWare fsion, does that mean I can run my current adobe photoshop (already has some plug-ins but only for Wins) ?

Using VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop, you need a copy of Windows to run Windows applications, so everything should work. However, if you're changing platforms permanently, you might ask Adobe about a licence transfer.
 

Thank you Ortega and Madmacs for the advise and clarification. Will get the office for mac to do MSoffice stuff then.

in that case, just a thought, with the VMWare fsion, does that mean I can run my current adobe photoshop (already has some plug-ins but only for Wins) ?

with vmware fusion you have windows running together with mac apps. you can install photoshop for windows within a vmware fusion virtual machine and it will work, but slower than if you use bootcamp. photoshop performance will depend on how much memory you allocate to the virtual machine. if you have 4gig installed in your macbook with 2gig allocated to the virtual machine, you might be able to get some decent performance from photoshop. cpu speed is also another factor.
 

Here's a quick summary:

1. Bootcamp
What it is: A dual-boot solution that give Windows full control of your Mac
Pros: Photoshop will run at full speed
Cons1: You need to reboot
Cons2: You need to install the whole Windows operating system

2. Parallels
What it is: A virtual machine solution, where Windows runs inside the Parallels virtual machine on top of Mac OS X
Pros1: Looks cool, seems convenient
Pros2: Except for Bootcamp, the arguably the fastest Mac virtual machine solution to date
Pros3: Can run Windows apps in a window mode side by side with mac apps without having to see the whole Windows desktop
Cons1: Photoshop will run slower, actually much slower due to virtualization
Cons2: You need to install the whole Windows operating system

3. VMWare
What it is: A virtual machine solution, where Windows runs inside the VMWare virtual machine on top of Mac OS X
Pros1: Like Parallels, you don't need to reboot
Pros2: I would argue that VMWare's greatest value is for corporate users, and not individuals. The use case is that, your company can have "pre-packaged" and "pre-tuned" VMWare images for different purposes. There are many corporate applications (e.g., SAP, Oracle, Peoplesoft etc) that are quite daunting for the mere mortal to configure and need far too many bits and pieces to be installed. So the neighborly corporate IT dept will "pre-package" whatever is needed in a VMWare image. And all you have to do is to load it and use it. In short, you can have the EXACT work environment sitting on top of your Mac or whatever machine you're using at home... a very powerful proposition... erm, not to you, but for your bosses, haha!
Cons: Same as Parallels, but a little slower

Hope this serves for a sobering Sunday morning read ;)
 

Here's a quick summary:

1. Bootcamp
What it is: A dual-boot solution that give Windows full control of your Mac
Pros: Photoshop will run at full speed
Cons1: You need to reboot
Cons2: You need to install the whole Windows operating system

2. Parallels
What it is: A virtual machine solution, where Windows runs inside the Parallels virtual machine on top of Mac OS X
Pros1: Looks cool, seems convenient
Pros2: Except for Bootcamp, the arguably the fastest Mac virtual machine solution to date
Pros3: Can run Windows apps in a window mode side by side with mac apps without having to see the whole Windows desktop
Cons1: Photoshop will run slower, actually much slower due to virtualization
Cons2: You need to install the whole Windows operating system

3. VMWare
What it is: A virtual machine solution, where Windows runs inside the VMWare virtual machine on top of Mac OS X
Pros1: Like Parallels, you don't need to reboot
Pros2: I would argue that VMWare's greatest value is for corporate users, and not individuals. The use case is that, your company can have "pre-packaged" and "pre-tuned" VMWare images for different purposes. There are many corporate applications (e.g., SAP, Oracle, Peoplesoft etc) that are quite daunting for the mere mortal to configure and need far too many bits and pieces to be installed. So the neighborly corporate IT dept will "pre-package" whatever is needed in a VMWare image. And all you have to do is to load it and use it. In short, you can have the EXACT work environment sitting on top of your Mac or whatever machine you're using at home... a very powerful proposition... erm, not to you, but for your bosses, haha!
Cons: Same as Parallels, but a little slower

Hope this serves for a sobering Sunday morning read ;)


:thumbsup:

thank you for the short summary, very useful for a quick glance.

the common con i can see: need to install WinOS.....

(if possible, better to use MacOS with a Mac :bsmilie:)
 

:thumbsup:

thank you for the short summary, very useful for a quick glance.

the common con i can see: need to install WinOS.....

(if possible, better to use MacOS with a Mac :bsmilie:)

lol..of cos lah. thats why we told you that you just need microsoft office 2008 for mac :bsmilie:
 

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