PC to Mac compatability questions

This is probably a well aired topic on this forum but I am planning on converting from a Win XP PC to a mac mini in the next couple of weeks but am looking for advice on the following questions
1. Will I be able to use my flash memory drive on the mac?
2. Does the Mac OS contain drivers for popular printers (HP and Canon in particular)?
3. Can I transfer and use my word documents to my mac using my ipod (which is currently formatted for PC)
4. Should I invest in MS Office for Mac or buy iWork?
5. Can iWork read and format word files?
6. I use photoshop elements for basic image editing like cloning etc. Does iPhoto offer similar image editing facilities?
Any help with the above would be greatly appreciated.
Sub Sea Sniper

4. Should I invest in MS Office for Mac or buy iWork?
Mac OSX comes with "Apple Works" This is a very old
"Office Suite" dating back to the very beginning.
Apple keep quiet about "appleworks". They shouldn't.
Mac OSX also comes with a 30-day trial of iWork. So
you can test it out. It's really more for making
presentations and nice looking documants.
5. Can iWork read and format word files?
If you click on a Word file it will open but I doubt
things like embedded macros will work. Simple documents
seem to just work.
6. I use photoshop elements for basic image editing like cloning etc. Does iPhoto offer similar image editing facilities?
I'm not an iPhoto fan. It is not intended for someone who has thousands of images or is into doing more to an image than just crop and adjust overall color. iPhoto does not have the concepts of layers and selections acting as masks.
You can define a "default editor" in iPhoto. So when you
click an image to edit it your default editor starts. You
do not need to use the built-in editor. But starting
PS is sl_ow.....
I happen to like "gimp" see www.gimp.org it runs on Macs, Windows and UNIX. It's more like CS than Elements and has a cleaner interface and it's free.
I hope that iPhoto 6 is much improved over 5. We will know soon.

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