Gosh, it's on!

[pandorasblog]

I'd misunderstood the LJ mail and thought it was going off now, but turns out it'll be 8.00am Pacific, not Eastern time, which means 4pm GMT rather than 1pm. And since it's 1pm now and I have a bitch of a computer crisis and need advice, that is a very, very good thing.

Comments

[dfordoom]

I'd understood from Rem that Macs had software of their own which could open and edit Word and Excel files

They do. My Mac is a totally Microsoft-free zone, and I have no problems at all with Word or Excel files. I bought an incredibly cheap Mac software package called iWorks. It cost the equivalent of about forty quid.

I burnt all my files onto a blank DVD, then transferred them from the DVD onto the Mac. It took no time at all, and was no trouble at all.

Transferring my internet connection to the Mac took a few seconds. Literally. And I'm so computer illiterate I don't know what a USB stick is!

[pandorasblog]

I must say that's very reassuring! Later I'll go through the programs on the Mac and see what else is in there. I do know there's another text editor; maybe it's just a question of finding one of those "what do you want to open with this?" lists...

[dfordoom]

iWorks has a word processor called Pages, and a spreadsheet called Numbers. They open Word and Excel files without problem. They're a bit basic, but then they cost a tiny fraction of what MS Office costs. I find them quite good enough for my purposes. I loathe and detest Word! I'm so happy to be MS-free.

There might be something in System Preferences, in the Apple menu.

[pandorasblog]

Thanks! *adds that to the list of stuff to check for*

[dfordoom]

Although iWorks should just automatically be able to open Word and Excel files. Anyway, if it's not on your Mac, it is fairly cheap, and it works.