View Full Version : College computer software
bmdbaseball
2007-07-10, 18:04
Im going to get my macbook pro this weekened and was wondering if anyone had any advice on software. Im majoring in sports managment and minoring in marketing and business administration. I was going to get office for students, iworks, toast 8, and some kind of anti-virus software. Is there any other software that might be good to have?
First off, dont get any anti-virus software. from what i heard, it does more harm than good.
Second, why get both Office and iWork? I'd only get one and my preference is Office. I would wait though because a lot of schools sell it a lot cheaper at the school bookstore. I got my copy for like $30.
bmdbaseball
2007-07-10, 18:21
Im getting both because I like the more professional looking templates of pages and keynote. Also Keynote dose a much better job than powerpoint.
julesstoop
2007-07-10, 18:29
Yep. Keynote is pretty amazing
What more do you expect to be using it for, besides the usual digital citizen stuff?
bmdbaseball
2007-07-10, 18:33
What ever is need for school and i do some video prodution on the side. But I all ready have final cut express and photoshop.
RowdyScot
2007-07-10, 18:35
The only reason to get an anti-virus is if you plan to dual-boot with OS X and Windows, or if you are worried about forwarding an infected file to someone else that you had yourself received from a Windows user. If neither is the case, I wouldn't worry about it. The college or university may have its own requirements about anti-virus software before you register on their network, and in such a case they will provide one free of charge.
I also use both Office and iWork, and for the same reasons. I heavily prefer Keynote for presentations, but I need Excel for all of my labs. I have no preference between Word or Pages.
For what you are going into, Office and iWork should pretty much cover it. You can always find freeware that may relate more closely with your specific fields. Version Tracker is a great place to start searching for some, if you are so inclined. For other business-related software, you should search for some of the older threads. I know questions regarding such have come up in the past and been answered to satisfaction, so those might help you.
Honestly you should be fine going as is. You don't really need any special software for college. And if you do, normally its a piece of freeware like Spice.
First off, dont get any anti-virus software. from what i heard, it does more harm than good.
The Norton/McAfee/Symantec style AV suites are *HORRIBLE*, and yes, frequently cause more damage than they prevent.
ClamXav (http://www.clamxav.com/), however, is a free open source anti-virus package that, while it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the commercial packages, also doesn't f*** things up the way they do, either. It gets the job done.
Now, whether you *need* an anti-virus package at all is a matter of some debate. :)
The Norton/McAfee/Symantec style AV suites are *HORRIBLE*, and yes, frequently cause more damage than they prevent.
ClamXav (http://www.clamxav.com/), however, is a free open source anti-virus package that, while it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the commercial packages, also doesn't f*** things up the way they do, either. It gets the job done.
Now, whether you *need* an anti-virus package at all is a matter of some debate. :)
Even if you run windows you don't need anti-virus. What you do need is common sense. All that anti-virus ballyhoo and Windows Firewall, etc just cause more problems than they solve. I don't run any of that.
Honestly you should be fine going as is. You don't really need any special software for college. And if you do, normally its a piece of freeware like Spice.
Agreed. You might need Office, but I'd wait until you do. There's no need to spend a big wad of money for a bunch of software you'll never use (or could have used a free alternative). The Mac free software ecosystem is really good... You can give Open Office a try before buying the MS version, too.
No reason to hurry with the software purchases. I'd wait till the new versions come out. The next version of Office:mac should be out in fall and is Intel native whereas the current one isn't. There's no knowing what new stuff iWork will get and when it'll be out. The missing spreadsheet application is an obvious possibility. If you have to buy one now, I suggest iWork.
How much do you do work with spreadsheets? Do you receive complicated spreadsheets from others so that you need perfect Excel compatibility?
What about presentations?
Also, have you tried OpenOffice.org or the Macified version called NeoOffice? It's a bit clunky but free and has plenty features. If you only need simple spreadsheets now and then, for instance, you could skip Office:mac entirely and do your spreadsheeting on NeoOffice while the bulk of your work is through iWork. In my engineering studies, I don't use any other office software. (I just need word processing and a couple spreadsheets a year. Don't even think about using it for crafting a presentation or presenting.)
autodata
2007-07-12, 20:31
Before buying toast make sure burn (http://burn-osx.sourceforge.net/) doesn't float your boat
Even if you run windows you don't need anti-virus. What you do need is common sense. All that anti-virus ballyhoo and Windows Firewall, etc just cause more problems than they solve. I don't run any of that.
It's not an option in some situations. Work, for example, demands av on every machine, Windows, Mac, or Linux. They offer Norton for free, but I grabbed ClamXav, and they were happy with that. They just wanted *something* on each machine that could do the task. ClamXav is by far the least intrusive of the options.
jattila4
2007-07-13, 05:55
I have office, Adobe CS2, Toast 7
neiltc13
2007-07-13, 11:01
I would wait before buying anything except Office software. None of the other stuff can really be predicted before you get to your course so just be patient and don't risk wasting money.
And don't buy Office until you get to campus. My alma mater had an MS deal, where you could get Office (the full one, not the Students package) for $10. They may have other software deals as well.
And just to make it even *more* confusing... if you sign up for the Apple Developer Connection Student Account, for $99 per year (but you only *have* to buy one year), you get once-ever hardware discount of about 15-20%, depending on model. If you think you'll only buy one machine for your entire academic career, it's not a bad option. On top of *that* you get Leopard for free when it comes out. (While the academic price of previous OSs has been, IIRC, $79, the $20 gets you that sweet sweet hardware discount.) You have to show proof of student status to get the developer account.
Kick: But if I bought my iMac through the ADC Student Account, I wouldn't get the free iPod, right?
So "that $20" (really it's $30 - OS X is $69 for students) - would save me maybe $50 more than a regular student discount (so far: up $20) - but it would cost me the free iPod...
EDIT: Anyway, back on topic. I honestly don't see why anyone spends hundreds of dollars on Microsoft Office when NeoOffice is almost the same thing (except, y'know, free). If you can get it for $10 from your university, go for it. But otherwise, I think you'll be fine with NeoOffice (and maybe iWork).
Er... correct. No iPod. :)
lowcountry
2007-07-16, 08:28
definitely get the ipod...
definitely get the ipod...
That's my plan. The ADC dealie might be a better value the other eight months of the year, but during Cram & Jam/Student Union/Major in Mac/whatever, free iPods rule all.
I'll probably give that iPod away, too. But maybe not. I do want a nano...
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