MS Project on a mac?

June 9, 2011 11:41 AM

MS Project on a mac? Is there software that I can use to avoid running this on a virtual machine.

My employer informed me recently that we now have to use MS Project to track time. My entire team uses Macs and right now we are running it on a Virtual Machine, which takes up system resources and is generally annoying. Is there some sort of software we can use instead? We just need MS Project for time sheets.

Thanks!

posted by melissam to Technology (5 answers total)

There might be a way (if you are also using Project Server 2010) that you can use Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac.
posted by mattbucher at 11:48 AM on June 9, 2011

OmniPlan by the Omni Group is a MS Project-compatible project planning package. there's a free 14-day trial you can avail yourself of to see if it'll do what you need it to do.
posted by mrg at 11:54 AM on June 9, 2011

I used Merlin and it has worked very well.
posted by stevedee at 12:07 PM on June 9, 2011

You may be able to use WineBottler (or similar) to run it... Wine is rarely elegant, but MS Project seems to be one of the apps that's well-supported.

Alternatively, some sort of Remote Desktop arrangement could work out for you.
posted by schmod at 12:23 PM on June 9, 2011

Yeah, my old consulting firm had a machine set up for us to RDP into for expensive to license software. But to avoid needing a VM is just as good a reason. Can you set up one machine with a Windows license & Project and just have everyone RDP in as needed?

There's also a web-accessible MS project if they have the right enterprise licenses. If you're just reporting task progress then that would be perfectly functional. I'm somewhat surprised they're opting to have everyone run a Project license rather than use that.
posted by phearlez at 12:42 PM on June 9, 2011