Tuesday, August 07, 2007

iWork

Update: there are very nice video tutorials on Apple's site. They will also give you an impression of working with the apps if you don't have them yet.
I have just gotten iWork today (I ordered it only yesterday!), and it looks very nice. It's a pleasantly compact little package the size of a couple of music CDs, and it includes a small Getting Started book.
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Apple iWork, new version.
Now three powerful home/office apps. And it is still absolutely amazingly cheap. I have paid more for software that does not do one tenth of what these apps do. Apple is clearly being very, very aggressive about using cheap and free software to add value to their machines. I think everybody wins here. Heck, even if it you only need these apps to open Microsoft Office documents, you still save lots of money!

Even though I rarely use spreadsheets (which is the new app), I think I'll pay for iWork '08 just to get the update to Pages, which has a new word processor mode, more fit for writers than the earlier versions (which only had the more page-layout-like modes.)

iWork is clearly meant to replace the venerable AppleWorks (originally called ClarisWorks, going all the way back to the early nineties), which is/was a quite capable Works application, but which never really got its legs as a Mac OS X application. It sort of sucks in many ways, for instance imprecise text rendering and little things like that. I've been waiting for years for a serious update or a replacement for it. This is it.

7 comments:

Nicola said...

I'm quite impressed with Neo Office though I do agree it's worth it just for the Pages update, I do like that app.

Just been drooling over the new aluminium imacs...

:)

Nicola

Anonymous said...

Apple has now released a 30-day free trial of iWork '08.

Steve said...

On a related note, I'm a bit disappointed with iLife, simply for the fact that iMovie requires a G5 processor and I'm on a Powerbook, which never came out with a G5.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Yeah, that sucks.

But the last version of iLife is still very capable.

Anonymous said...

I like Apples pricing concept of low price, and then no discount for upgrading. It is so simple.

And the new iMacs ... what a fashion statement! People will be bying them even if they don't need a new computer!

Prasad :-)

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

I know. I almost wish I had a real use for an iMac. (I have a G5 iMac in the living room which I use occasionally, but it's mostly "decoration" at this point.)

Nicola said...

Who needs a real use?! :)

Am trying to convince my daughter to use my 20" iMac for work instead of her Macbook so I can get a new 24" one!

Failing that I will install my old one in my bedroom where it came in very handy when I was ill earlier in the year and kept me sane being able to access all my music and movies in the middle of the night when the drugs were giving me nightmares and paranoia. I kept the tiny remote under my pillow and was able to regain a sense of normality in seconds with Front Row. :)