Due to certain things I needed to do online, I needed an upgrade. My regular workhorses are from 2011 and 2012. While they will continue to be used, of course-I had to get this M3 MacBook Pro. 18 gigs of RAM, 1 TB SSD.

However, I absolutely refused to get the cloud versions of MS Office & Photoshop. I bought a copy of Affinity Pro instead. Now, I need to find something akin to MS Word, as I'm a writer. It's a nice machine.

LibreOffice

and retro for your clamshell
LIbreOffice for PPC

Or.... you could run something like Basilisk II or Sheepshaver, and a pleasant MacOS 7 variant, then you could use Word 5.1 or 6 - files are directly readable in LibreOffice. You could even use DOSBox-x and put Word 5.5 for DOS on there! No hint of cloud nonsense in either of those!

A buddy recommended this, and it WORKED. I write fiction, and I have to be able to work across newer and older platforms.

Comparison of LibreOffice vs FreeOffice

My bad; I should have clarified. LibreOffice gave me problems when I tried creating documents on the M3 and then attempting to view them on the 2011 iMac. I'm using older versions of Word there, and I couldn't open up documents I made on the M3 in LibreOffice. However, FreeOffice easily solved that problem. :)

In LibreOffice, there is "save as" (the default LibreOffice document is .odt) and you can choose which compatibility you require (including .docx).

>> phunguss said:

In LibreOffice, there is "save as" (the default LibreOffice document is .odt) and you can choose which compatibility you require (including .docx). View attachment 17152 Click to expand...

I tried that. When I tried to save documents the way you indicated, I'd get the following. I saved in that fashion anyway. But then, I wasn't able to view this document on the iMac.

What version of Word are you running on your iMac (and what OS version)?

>> phunguss said:

What version of Word are you running on your iMac (and what OS version)? Click to expand...

The iMac is using Yosemite. Versions of Word on my iMac I use are: MS Word 15.13.3, & MS Word 14.0.

FYI, it is still possible to get MS Office 2021 for Mac as a one-time purchase of $150. Although I also totally support using alternatives.

>> mac27 said:

FYI, it is still possible to get MS Office 2021 for Mac as a one-time purchase of $150 . Although I also totally support using alternatives. Click to expand...

The bottom line is to avoid cloud-based solutions at ALL costs. I saw the writing on the wall quite a while back, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I was forced to go the direction of getting a new machine. I absolutely WILL NOT use Adobe Photoshop on this M3 or MS Word. The older versions of those are being used on the older Macs, and they suit me just fine.

>> 2112st said:

The bottom line is to avoid cloud-based solutions at ALL costs. I saw the writing on the wall quite a while back, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I was forced to go the direction of getting a new machine. I absolutely WILL NOT use Adobe Photoshop on this M3 or MS Word. The older versions of those are being used on the older Macs, and they suit me just fine. Click to expand...

Right, that's what I am saying. The one-time purchase option for Office 2021 is not cloud-based. It's just a one-time purchase that you download and install; you can use it offline and there is no subscription fee or cloud nonsense.

Unlike Photoshop (and other Adobe CC stuff) which forces the cloud and subscriptions.

>> mac27 said:

Right, that's what I am saying. The one-time purchase option for Office 2021 is not cloud-based. It's just a one-time purchase that you download and install; you can use it offline and there is no subscription fee or cloud nonsense. Unlike Photoshop (and other Adobe CC stuff) which forces the cloud and subscriptions. Click to expand...

A side note, and something that I've thought about on occasion...I'm actually a bit surprised that companies like Adobe and Microsoft aren't sending "cease and desist" letters to eBay, where they are allowing the sale of older versions of this very software. Given the forced obsolescence model, I'm sure that companies like Adobe & Microsoft want to force users to get newer software. If they can't? Too bad. They don't want the poor, unwashed masses-only people with REAL money to spend. [face-with-stuck-out-]

>> mac27 said:

Right, that's what I am saying. The one-time purchase option for Office 2021 is not cloud-based. It's just a one-time purchase that you download and install; you can use it offline and there is no subscription fee or cloud nonsense. Unlike Photoshop (and other Adobe CC stuff) which forces the cloud and subscriptions. Click to expand...

These locally installed, non-subscription, non-cloud based versions of MS Office can sometimes be found for $50 or so through Cult of Mac, Stacksocial, and other sources.

Lots of opportunity existed in the past for the HUP (Home Use Program) as well, where you could get a copy of office for $10 to use at home if you used it as an employee of certain agencies. Nowadays, it's only 30% off.

>> phunguss said:

Lots of opportunity existed in the past for the HUP (Home Use Program) as well, where you could get a copy of office for $10 to use at home if you used it as an employee of certain agencies. Nowadays, it's only 30% off. Click to expand...

I purchased some MS office software this way through an old employer for like $20 bucks. At the time it was the only way I could afford MS office for my 08 macbook. Still have it of course. :)

@2112st congrats on your M3 MBP. I really am enjoying my M2 16" MBP quite a bit. My wife thinks it's too heavy and I guess if I had to hike uphill in the snow both ways with it, I might agree but as a around town portable running current macos that fits in my messenger bag perfectly, it has been a great tool and I am happy with it.

Interestingly, as of late, I have been using Apple pages/KN/Numbers alot.

Why not Pages? Numbers is a bad joke, but Pages and Keynote are solid propositions.
As a writer, though, I'd consider more specific applicatios, such as iA Writer (https://ia.net/writer).