Briefly: iWork '08, Pro Application Support, new iPod game

[AppleInsider]

Apple's website on Monday briefly made reference to an iWork '08 application. Meanwhile, the company released Pro Application Support 4.0.1 and also put Sims Pool -- Electronic Art's latest iPod game -- up for sale on its ubiquitous iTunes Store.

Brief iWork '08 mention

A one-off mention of "Keynote '08" was visible on Apple's Hot News page for a few minutes on Monday afternoon before it was corrected. The mention was part of a headline that read "Apple Remote and Keynote '08" and was later shortened to "Apple Remote and Keynote."

Apple's iWork '06 and iLife '06 application suites have gone without updates since January of '06. However, the company is widely expected to take the wraps off updates to both software bundles in the coming weeks.

AppleInsider recently cited sources who said they expect updates to iLife in the Aug-Sept timeframe, adding that Apple was considering renaming the bundle iLife '08 given its multi-month delay.

iWork would presumably receive the same treatment.

Pro Application Support 4.0.1

Also on Monday afternoon, Apple released Pro Application Support 4.0.1 [7.6MB]. The update improves general user interface reliability for the company's professional applications and is recommended for all users of Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro, Motion, Soundtrack Pro, DVD Studio Pro, Aperture, Final Cut Express HD, Soundtrack, Logic Pro and Logic Express.

Sims Pool for iPod

Meanwhile, Electronic Arts has released the second of four new iPod games planned ahead of year's end. The latest, Sims Pool, encourages players to "run the table" on their iPods.

"Create and customize a Sim, select a game mode, and enter the pool hall for exciting action," reads a description of the game. "Play 9-ball, 8-ball or fun trick-shot mode. Realize your Sim's goal by playing all the right angles and sinking smooth shots. With one-thumb ease, use the Click Wheel to set cue ball position, select cue angle, add spin, adjust power, and then shoot. The Sims Pool comes alive with vibrant graphics, realistic pool physics, multiple game modes, and immersive sound effects."



The $4.99 title requires a fifth-generation video iPod and iPod Software 1.2 or later. It's available from Apple's iTune Store, arriving less than two weeks after the release of Sims Bowling.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[Bergermeister]

I hope '08 does come out and that it finally is an app that actually works for business (ie, it includes a spreadsheet and a database I hope more card based).

Work involve money. iWork doesn't cover money. So iWork doesn't work. iDon'tWork???


iWork needs:

Word processing
Page layout (Pages)
spreadsheet
database
presentation (Keynote)

I wonder what spreadsheet app Apple uses in-house? Excel? Doubt it.

[eAi]

They need to make iWork into something that competes with Microsoft. I think its inevitable that at some point Microsoft will stop supporting Office on the Mac, or just start neglecting it. If that happens, Apple need to have something waiting in the wings that is as good as it is.

In related news, the Open Office Mac port is looking pretty good - that could be a suitable replacement for Microsoft Office, if Apple support it more (they currently provide free iMacs for developers I believe).

[Porchland]

A pool game for iPod... coming out later this year... pool tables are suspiciously 16x9-ish... I wonder...

[kisin]

I think MS is already neglecting Office for Mac...

[Uh Gillis]

I hate how slow MS Office is to open on Macs. I really hope the upcoming Office fixes that. Theres no reason to wait 20 seconds to open a word page. Otherwise, screenshots of the next Office look kinda cool to me, almost better than their Vista equivalents.

[Shaun, UK]

It's about time Apple introduced a serious all encompassing office suite to compete with MS Office for Mac. A little competition may even spur on MS to update their software more often than every 4 years.

A reasonably priced well spec'd iWork would sell really well. I agree it needs a better word processor, a spreadsheet and database application.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by Bergermeister

iWork needs:

Word processing
Page layout (Pages)
spreadsheet
database
presentation (Keynote)

I wonder what spreadsheet app Apple uses in-house? Excel? Doubt it.

Couldn't Pages be used adequately as a word processor?

Why wouldn't Apple use Excel? I don't think it would make sense to use AppleWorks or a beta of a spreadsheet for internal company-wide use.

Originally Posted by eAi

In related news, the Open Office Mac port is looking pretty good - that could be a suitable replacement for Microsoft Office, if Apple support it more (they currently provide free iMacs for developers I believe).

NeoOffice is based on that and has worked reasonably well for over a year now. At least back then, OO.o for Mac used X11, NeoOffice already used Cocoa for the UI.

[eAi]

Originally Posted by JeffDM

Couldn't Pages be used adequately as a word processor?

Why wouldn't Apple use Excel? I don't think it would make sense to use AppleWorks or a beta of a spreadsheet for internal company-wide use.



NeoOffice is based on that and has worked reasonably well for over a year now. At least back then, OO.o for Mac used X11, NeoOffice already used Cocoa for the UI.

Yes, but NeoOffice uses the somewhat frowned upon Java interface for their port, the OO.o port is a native port. Sure, not a huge difference.

Plus NeoOffice essentially charges for their latest releases...

[mr O]

Originally Posted by Bergermeister

I hope '08 does come out and that it finally is an app that actually works for business (ie, it includes a spreadsheet and a database I hope more card based).

Work involve money. iWork doesn't cover money. So iWork doesn't work. iDon'tWork???

iWork needs:

Word processing
Page layout (Pages)
spreadsheet
database
presentation (Keynote)

I wonder what spreadsheet app Apple uses in-house? Excel? Doubt it.

I very much prefer Pages to Word as Pages is so much easier to use. It should be about writing, not about processing.

The most obvious part missing in iWork is Options, euhm sorry, Excel. But I wonder how Apple is gonna redefine Windows' holy grail?! Excel truly is an amazing application. It is the only huggable Windows software that you wanna be friends with!!!


To summarize your wish list:

1/ Word processing: no thanks, don't make it too complicated
2/ Page lay out: Pages
3/ Spreadsheet: Yes please!!!!!
4/ Database: that, my friend, is gonna be the new Address Book
5/ Presentation: Keynote which is already empowered with the Apple remote!

[Frank777]

Originally Posted by Bergermeister

I wonder what spreadsheet app Apple uses in-house? Excel? Doubt it.

It's probably Excel. That's the problem.

If they were forced to use AppleWorks for the past six years like many of us, we'd certainly have a new spreadsheet component in iWork by now.

[Frank777]

Originally Posted by mr O

4/ Database: that, my friend, is gonna be the new Address Book

The Leopard Address Book doesn't seem to be fundamentally changed.
Which is unfortunate given that the whole app could use a good coat of interface paint to spruce it up.

I can't imagine that they would have held that one back as a "secret feature" though, since so many third party apps interface with AB. Messing with it without testing the changes could be dangerous.

[Frank777]

Originally Posted by eAi

Yes, but NeoOffice uses the somewhat frowned upon Java interface for their port, the OO.o port is a native port. Sure, not a huge difference.

Plus NeoOffice essentially charges for their latest releases...

1. The NeoOffice interface is usable and getting better all the time.
2. OpenOffice on the Mac right now is two steps above vapourware.
3. The payment is required to get the software early. You can still get it for free six weeks later.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by eAi

Yes, but NeoOffice uses the somewhat frowned upon Java interface for their port, the OO.o port is a native port. Sure, not a huge difference.

The official site and the porting site both still show OO.o for Mac as requiring X11. They do apparently have an alpha-level download for Aqua, but they have some terse warnings for those that try to download it because it's alpha code.

Plus NeoOffice essentially charges for their latest releases...

I've always had them for free, though they are requesting donations.

[Bergermeister]

Apple has an in-house Point of Sale app that is fantastic. They are a software company. They most likely have their own spreadsheet that is better than Excel. No, I am not kidding.

[bikertwin]

Originally Posted by mr O

The most obvious part missing in iWork is Options, euhm sorry, Excel. But I wonder how Apple is gonna redefine Windows' holy grail?! Excel truly is an amazing application. It is the only huggable Windows software that you wanna be friends with!!!

OMG, you must be an accountant!

Originally Posted by kisin

I think MS is already neglecting Office for Mac...

Yeah, the lack of macro compatibility has killed its usefulness for business.

Office Mac 2008 is dead! Long live iWork!

[Frank777]

I can testify to the fact that there are people in this world who use Excel to create posters and other advertising pieces and then send them in to be printed.

If you needed more evidence that the world is going insane, there it is.

[vinea]

Originally Posted by Frank777

I can testify to the fact that there are people in this world who use Excel to create posters and other advertising pieces and then send them in to be printed.

If you needed more evidence that the world is going insane, there it is.

Yes, I was reading design notes from an Excel team member on usability and he noted that MS testing revealed that many many folks used Excel for lists of things and stuff unrelated to spread sheet use (calculations, etc) which is why Excel excelled and Lotus Improv (a much superior spreadsheet) is a footnote of history.As a spreadsheet Improv was fantastic. But it didn't do lists very well.

Jobs was said to have thought highly of Improv. I would expect Numbers (or whatever it gets called) to be similar. We probably have better ways of keeping lists now but maybe not. Being able to stick stuff in a table and sort based on columns is real handy.

User/Task oriented design leads to better applications than feature oriented design. If folks like Excel its because the Excel team focused on how users actually used Excel. The Word team I'm thinking was more feature oriented.

Vinea

[ksec]

I am expecting a lot from iWork. But with Apple's limited developer resources i have doubt if they could delivery anything revolutionary.

They need developers on the iPhone which delayed Leopard. I could only hope Apple's applications are developed by another separate team.

Keynote is the only application which i wouldn't need to worry about. As long as apple dont mess it up it is already very good.

Pages need A LOT of improvement in terms of Word processing. Both OOo And M$O are much better. Layout and Design wise Pages are much better.

I have trouble with finding a reason why apple would include a DB app into iWork. They have FileMaker 9 ( Which i think still need a lot of improvement, it just doesn't look like an apple app to me yet ).

spreadsheet - tables, graphics, spreadsheet are all needed. But apple faces M$ Excel. Which is very good. Could apple create something easy to use while retain most of the features found in excel?

And afterall M$ positions office as one stop solution from Novice to Pro. While Apple's iWork is more towards casual workers. Apple's Pro Application loses the i suffix. So in a way comparing iWork to Office is like comparing apple to orange

But if Apple decide to complete against Office. Should they change iWork's name?

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by ksec

spreadsheet - tables, graphics, spreadsheet are all needed. But apple faces M$ Excel. Which is very good. Could apple create something easy to use while retain most of the features found in excel?

And afterall M$ positions office as one stop solution from Novice to Pro. While Apple's iWork is more towards casual workers. Apple's Pro Application loses the i suffix. So in a way comparing iWork to Office is like comparing apple to orange

But if Apple decide to complete against Office. Should they change iWork's name?

I don't think iWork is at all poised to compete against Office. I don't think it needs to, and it's not a realistic expectation. I really don't think Apple can do what it takes to be a drop-in replacement and that's what would need to happen to truly replace the MS suite.

Pages is a little clicky, in part because of the tedious inspector system, and the program seems to get hyphenation wrong as much as it gets it right, but I still like the program. I would like a spreadsheet, but that can be quite an undertaking, though I don't think it needs to be terribly powerful.

Office really isn't positioned towards novices that I'm aware, for example, they tend to push Works to the home user.