Aahh! wife's new MacBook Air can't run WordPerfect

[STW]

Yes, she still uses WordPerfect for her publishing and is required by editors at some presses.

How can she use WordPerfect on her new MacBook Air 13 ?
What's the best and simplest way (or only way?) to run WordPerfect for Windows on Mac OS 10.6?

I was the one encouraging her to move to a Mac when she replaced her laptop this week. I did most of the research for her but her one task was to make sure WordPerfect was available for Mac. Woops. She loves the MB Air though.

I haven't had a Mac since OS 8.6, miss it, and not familiar with current power using. A quick look around shows that dual booting with something like Boot Camp might allow her to run WordPerfect. She's not a power user and I worry about her trying to run a dual boot unless it's really simple.

[r0k]

Yes, she still uses WordPerfect for her publishing and is required by editors at some presses.

How can she use WordPerfect on her new MacBook Air 13 ?
What's the best and simplest way (or only way?) to run WordPerfect for Windows on Mac OS 10.6?

I was the one encouraging her to move to a Mac when she replaced her laptop this week. I did most of the research for her but her one task was to make sure WordPerfect was available for Mac. Woops. She loves the MB Air though.

I haven't had a Mac since OS 8.6, miss it, and not familiar with current power using. A quick look around shows that dual booting with something like Boot Camp might allow her to run WordPerfect. She's not a power user and I worry about her trying to run a dual boot unless it's really simple.

I suggest you take a look at Crossover. If you only need one or two Windows programs, if they are fully supported by Crossover, it makes a much more seamless experience. For instance, Office 97 is fully supported by Crossover.

[Guest]

In my opinion, your best option would be to find a comparable Mac program that can import WordPerfect files.

[Varjak]

The problem is that WordPerfect is still sort of the standard for some industries (like the legal profession in many cases).

I don't know how powerful the newest Airs are; but they should be able to run things like Bootcamp, VM Ware Fusion, and Parallels (all things that let you run Windows, and thus WP).

[r0k]

I checked over at Corel and they don't offer a Linux or OS X port of Wordperfect. So then I checked over at Crossover and the latest version of WP Office they have tested is two versions ago, X3. X4 shows untested and X5 shows known not to work.

I've been thinking of installing Windows or Linux now that I've got a massive 500 GB drive. I would really like it to run out of a disk image rather than deal with any partitioning.

[rkevwill]

Install parallels, install Windows 7, Install wordperfect, then Type.

However, one of my best friends is an attorney in Boston, and he was complaining the other day, that he was having some issues with his oldest WP files on Windows 7. He was chewing my ear off, griping about his firm upgrading from NT (go figure) to Win 7.

I have never used crossover, so have no experience with it. Since it doesn't require installing a full version of windows, its worth the effort to install and try it.

[Varjak]

r0k, I don't know what you mean by X3, X4, X5 etc.

rkevwill, I'd say, unless you need otherwise, install Windows XP. Maybe Windows 7 works better with Parallels, etc. Worth looking into.

At some point though, it could become a compatibility issue with creating old WP files and having them run on later versions of WP.

Frankly, I'm about fed up with Windows too. Both my desktops and laptop are acting up and I'm losing patience. I want a MAC!

[rkevwill]

Well, I wouldn't worry about using Win 7 or XP on the mac with Parallels, it works quite well. I used to use VM ware Fusion on my desktop, but I use it so rarely anymore, I didn't even bother to install it on my Macbook Air when I purchased it a few months ago. I used to have to have it for my VPN at work, but they went to a much more Mac Compatible version. (citrix and MS remote desktop). The only file I have problems with, is that damn .dat file. Was that invented just to irritate us mac guys? Whats with people not figuring out how to send word or PDF files! I get the .dat files mostly with "idiots" attaching files to their emails. (my quotes and emphasis).

Anyway, there's a lot of good Wintel laptops out there (I prefer Lenovo for Wintel), but for those who are using Macs like me, I have very few compatibility issues.

All that said, if I was STW's wife, I would take the path of ultimate ease and compatibility (if not cost) and install Parallels, favorite flavor of Windows (xp or 7) so she can have access to not only WordPerfect files, but other things floating around from the past with the least amount of resistance. Gives her the best of the old and new.

[r0k]

r0k, I don't know what you mean by X3, X4, X5 etc.

rkevwill, I'd say, unless you need otherwise, install Windows XP. Maybe Windows 7 works better with Parallels, etc. Worth looking into.

At some point though, it could become a compatibility issue with creating old WP files and having them run on later versions of WP.

Frankly, I'm about fed up with Windows too. Both my desktops and laptop are acting up and I'm losing patience. I want a MAC!

On corel.com X3, X4, X5 etc are versions of WP Office with the current version being X5 and the last known version (IIRC) that was known to work was X3.

[STW]

Great ideas and information. Much appreciated.

She hasn't resolved this yet, other than to keep her PC laptop around. She's been traveling with the macbook Air doing research for several weeks (since I posted) so I'm hoping she may be more used to it and also used to Word. If she would accept MS Word as her main word processor and use WP only when absolutely required, she'd avoid most of the issues. But she loves WP and all her files are in WP and complains about MS Word whenever she is using it. That would be fine if Corel showed any signs of keeping WP viable for the long run.

If she were in the legal field, as Varjak said, she'd have to do the parallels and use WP every day. But in her publishing field, MS Word is used as much or more than WP so she might be able to minimize it.

At least I know there is no reason (other than money and storage) to fear using parallels.

Thanks.