Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

cheap mac software

Apr 22, 2008 3:36AM PDT

hi,

i'm going to buy a macbook in the near future and plan to buy some software for it, for example iWorks 08 and/or MS office 08. i've been checking out prices online and found this:

my country's online Apple store: iWorks 79 Euro = 126 USD; MS Office 139 Euro = 222 USD
(for example) buycheapsoftware.com: iWorks = 63 USD; MS Office = 137 USD

now, I do wonder where this huge price difference comes from. even including shipping fees from overseas (I live in Austria), the prices wouldn't even come close to comparable. can these offers from such websites be trusted (of course they do claim on their website that the products are original)? would there be compatibility problems if I use US software on a european-bought Apple? where do you preferably buy your mac-software?

thanks alot for your opinions
dan

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Why would I need Office?
Apr 22, 2008 3:45AM PDT

Why not Neo Office or other Office compatible solution? Those are free.

Software from the names do cost money and to port to other countries may add more cost. Why buy what you don't need?
Bob

- Collapse -
the magic word is compatibility
Apr 22, 2008 4:01AM PDT

trust me, i'd be the last person who is willing to pay for a program just like that. however, i'm working in research and collaborations & exchanges with other people around the globe (many of which unfortunately use Microsoft software) is essential. i know that these freeware office solutions such as NeoOffice can deal with MS office documents, but I'd bet a fortune that there will be some kind of conversion problem in every document I want to open (I have used NeoOffice on my iBook before and couldn't stand it). Not to mention that the quality of eg the presentation software (I forgot what the NeoOffice version was called) is not even close to being comparable to programs like Keynote or Powerpoint.

anyways, thanks for the tip. however, my decision to buy it (it will be the only piece of software I buy) is pretty firm.

- Collapse -
Maybe you didn't understand.
Apr 22, 2008 12:48PM PDT

I use Open Office and exchange .DOC files weekly. Why would I buy Office?

Please explain it to me.
Bob

- Collapse -
it's not the topic of this thread, but anyway ...
Apr 22, 2008 9:09PM PDT

i can imagine that if you only exchange simple .doc files with written text and the like, you won't have much problems. but do you seriously want to tell me that when i work with Word documents that include graphics, mathematical formulae and tracking changes there won't be any compatibility problems? i don't think so. don't even get me started on presentation software - I even had some minor conversion problems with MS & Mac Powerpoint, so I don't even want to know what OpenOffice does.

some things cost money and others don't, and there's a good reason for it. for the same reason I don't buy a cheap laptop and throw some opensource linux distribution on it, but rather buy a Mac. believe me I'm normally all about opensource - but in this case I'm willing to pay for software which will save me a lot of hassle and time.

anyway, this is not the topic of the thread. i'd be greatful for some opinions on what was originally posted.

- Collapse -
Our .doc's are not simple.
Apr 22, 2008 10:06PM PDT

We no longer use track changes in the Microsoft version due to the bugs.

-> I think you wanted to know why it costs more here or there. That's simple. Tariffs, fees, programming costs and more. Sometimes you find someone that things a product cost should be simply calculated at exchange rates. How would you explain it all to them? It's almost as bad as explaining cost of oil vs. gas. Maybe you want to ask that but how would that change the pricing?

Bob

- Collapse -
PS. How to change pricing.
Apr 22, 2008 10:07PM PDT

There is the Academic version that works just the same as the full version. You may qualify and get it cheap. You also can affect pricing by using Neo or Open Office.

- Collapse -
Exchange rates!
Apr 27, 2008 7:41PM PDT

The gist of the price difference is simple in my opinion!

The exchange rate of the dollar has dropped dramatically in relation to the euro, the last couple of years. This makes the dollar price (when converted from euros) seem high when compared to the price at sites which are dollar based. Prices are generally set for the North American market, in dollars, and when the dollar falls, the euro prices are generally not adjusted to reflect this (an easy profit!).

The solution is to buy your software from dollar based sites and have it shipped to you in Europe. You will have to pay VAT and sometimes an additional surcharge for customs inspection (as in NL) at delivery. If you add this amount to the original purchase price it is still generally cheaper than when bought at a euro based site!

Less expensive is just downloading the software if possible, thereby avoiding the customs surcharge. Sometimes the extra VAT is also skipped because technically you've bought the software at a company in the country offering the software. These companies generally have no fiscal accountability to foreign countries and if you don't declare the purchase yourself, your local Treasury will not know of the transaction and you won't get the VAT surcharge!

Good luck with your software purchase! By the way, buying both iWork and Office2008 for Mac is not very economical because both suites offer pretty much the same functionality. It's better to choose which fits your needs best. You can "test-drive" both iWork '06 and Office2004 (to date they still don't offer a test drive version of Office2008!) on all Macs (are part of the pre-installed software) for 30 days, so comparing is easy! NeoOffice can be tested for an indefinite period, will install free of charge and is handy to convert documents offered in ".odf" format to ".doc" format and back. So I would strongly recommend you trying NeoOffice too, to make an informed personal choice, geared to your own situation and demands! Who knows, it might save you some cash which you can then use for other interesting software!

Lots of luck
Hil