Almost all of the posts on this topic are knee-jerk slagging of Microsoft or trivial complaints about having to pay $20 to update.
The MS exec is correct in saying that iWork has been watered down. A lot of functionality has been removed for compatibility with iDevices. This renders them worthless for any serious work. Whereas the previous versions were very good and only required small tweeks and function additions to be serious competition for MS Office. Keynote was superb, Numbers great, but Pages needed work.
Pages in particular is now near-useless- see the extensive posts on the Apple discussion site.
Apple has got it wrong, like the Final Cut Pro debacle that brought a torrent of complaints and turned off users.
If Apple keeps making mistakes like this it will turn into the company that PC users in the past derided it for- making overpriced toys.
Turning off professional users will ultimately kill off the trash can Mac Pro, and leave Apple like Sony, selling expensive entertaining fluff. Make no mistake, the Mac and core users are required for the rest of the products to make up the Apple eco-system.
As an IT consultant I find this talk of standard anoying if you go around most companies they just type up letters and all the bells and whistles of Microsoft Office are useless and an expensive waste of time. If Apple are going to supply iWork free then only a stupid businessman would choose MS.
I was around at the start of MS and from the start they marketed themselves as the standard and you all went OK.
Well, Tim Cook started it I guess! I agree Office is better than iWork, but I disagree that Surface is better than iPad. Nothing comes close to iPad in the current market.
If you go read the reviews in the Mac App Store, you'll see what watered down means. They've removed tons of functionality from all three iWork applications on the Mac just to make them match up with iOS and iCloud. Go to the Apple forums.
When I was watching the Apple Event and they said "We now have full document compatibility across iOS and Mac," I briefly wondered if they had just discarded the old Mac version and ported the iOS version across. With the lost functionality people are now seeing I'm wondering that again.
Absolutely right. Apple is spending billions to make iPads a milimeter thinner and a few ounces lighter - who cares. Users want solutions. It's thin enough already. Forgetaboutit. Give us more features, better software, etc.
Sarcasm, I hope? Users want convenience and mobility. App Devs will provide the software.
Apple had to dumb down iWork a wee bit to ensure full compatibility between iOS and the mac. Now that this is here, I believe all of the apps are upgraded in functionality to make office even more irrelevant.
Imagine if Numbers did categories and pivot tables. That would completely eliminate the need for Excel for 95% of users. Add some statistical functions to it. Excel would be no longer needed.
I've used Excel for 20 years and never have I created a pivot table. I doubt that 95% of users use that feature as well. I do agree with the stat functions, though.
What M$ is failing to understand is that most users do not need the full power of office anymore. Most people are casual users of word processing and spreadsheets. Yeah iwork is water down form Office but who cares, any tablet is a water down version of a laptop, again who cares. What matter is the ipad and it software delivers what people need, it is not over kill. M$ does not want to face the fact the majority of the users do not want or need the full power of Office anymore.
[SIZE=4][I]"It has been rumored that we have fired scud missiles into Kuwait. I am here now to tell you, we do not have any scud missiles and I don't know why they were fired into Kuwait." [/I] — Actual Quote From the Iraqi Information Minister, Mr. al-Sahaf?(AKA 'Baghdad Bob')
[COLOR=red]If you have been wondering what happened to Mr. al-Sahaf, he is now the Information Minister for Microsoft's Surface Division, and a contender for Steve Ballmer's soon to available position.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
Frank X Shaw is silly for calling out Apple. Nothing identifies a frustrated challenger than shouting at the incumbent.
On the other hand, the passion stirred up by his silly post is intriguing. Why can't iPad users be happy with using iPads? Why are we so angry when someone labels them as entertainment devices or whatever? Why can't we just laugh it off as tablet envy?
Looking through this story and the following posts, Most everyone IS laughing this off. I don't see the anger you are talking about.
What I do find most humorous is when the Surface was first announced (as a creation device vs. a consumption device) They demonstrated how well it could show movies and play music. Even more recently to illustrate how the Surface Pro can multitask it was shown doing two thing (a) creating a PowerPoint while (b) watching a movie. I created a lot of PowerPoints, but never while watching a movie --- the Surface may be able to multitask but I'd never finish a PowerPoint with a movie playing at the same time. :-)
I think the Surface Pro may get some traction at places where the IT manager has absolute control, but BYOD has gone on for too many years to put the iPad back in its box. Furthermore, the vast majority of worker bees need less than 20% of what MS Office is capable of. I'm highly skilled with Office and I know I have used less the 50% of what it can do... maybe even 40%.
I for one absolutely need Excel for iOS. Nothing else will suffice.
Wait until you see what a dog Excel is on the Surface 2 (formerly RT), and if you want to create a tall narrow document, you need to change the device setting...none of this stuff of just rotating the Surface 90*
I mean really! What do you expect them to say? That Apple is kicking our collective asses all over the landscape! This has been going on for years!
With the emphasis on the word, "YEARS."
While Steve Ballmer hung out in his office, giggling, the U.S. federal government completed a RFQ that left Microsoft standing out in the cold on smart phones AND tablet purchases for the next 6 years.
Absolutely right. Apple is spending billions to make iPads a milimeter thinner and a few ounces lighter - who cares. Users want solutions. It's thin enough already. Forgetaboutit. Give us more features, better software, etc.
Not sure you understand that spending $$$ to attain thinner and Lighter is not an end. Yes it conveys a benefit ( which you seem to undervalue) . Perhaps more importantly though, It's also the means to making the next generation of small, light, & power efficient devices. These devices have yet to be imagined by most folks. Open your mind, do you think that phones and tablets will be offered in the same form in 5 years?
Apple is clearly playing catch-up. Except the difference is, their biggest competitor has always been themselves. They try to out-do their own products, because that's the type of company they are.
I like this take.
Originally Posted by pazuzu
I for one absolutely need Excel for iOS. Nothing else will suffice.
Hahaha ya sure people are gonna buy the surface tablet over a A7 with 64bit architecture and an M7 movement chip ya sure and retina display. And a tablet that doesn't look/feel like crap
I for one absolutely need Excel for iOS. Nothing else will suffice.
Wait until you see what a dog Excel is on the Surface 2 (formerly RT), and if you want to create a tall narrow document, you need to change the device setting...none of this stuff of just rotating the Surface 90*
I haven't tried Excel on Surface. But I've used Numbers extensively. It doesn't compare to Excel. Furthermore, the recent version includes changes that are regressive rather than progressive. Even sorting, a very essential function, is limited ... grrr. And, despite the cute demo mocking Eddy Cue, collaboration doesn't on iWork/iCloud. Apple needs to keep working on this.
"watered down"? What is it that I can or need to do in Word that I can't do in Pages? It's a word processor. If I needed to, I could use Notepad. In fact, I have.
"watered down"? What is it that I can or need to do in Word that I can't do in Pages? It's a word processor. If I needed to, I could use Notepad. In fact, I have.
There is actually plenty that you can do in Word that you cannot do in Pages. Being less feature-heavy, Pages is actually more responsive.
That doesn't mean Pages isn't good. Nor does it mean Pages isn't adequate for many people. Furthermore, the differences between Word and Pages are far less significant than the differences between Excel and Numbers.
But it sounds like you have not used Pages or Numbers at all, perhaps not even Word. Furthermore, by invoking the example of Notepad, which is a text editor and not a word processor, you've actually mocked Pages, not to mention yourself.
Comments
Almost all of the posts on this topic are knee-jerk slagging of Microsoft or trivial complaints about having to pay $20 to update.
The MS exec is correct in saying that iWork has been watered down. A lot of functionality has been removed for compatibility with iDevices. This renders them worthless for any serious work. Whereas the previous versions were very good and only required small tweeks and function additions to be serious competition for MS Office. Keynote was superb, Numbers great, but Pages needed work.
Pages in particular is now near-useless- see the extensive posts on the Apple discussion site.
Apple has got it wrong, like the Final Cut Pro debacle that brought a torrent of complaints and turned off users.
If Apple keeps making mistakes like this it will turn into the company that PC users in the past derided it for- making overpriced toys.
Turning off professional users will ultimately kill off the trash can Mac Pro, and leave Apple like Sony, selling expensive entertaining fluff. Make no mistake, the Mac and core users are required for the rest of the products to make up the Apple eco-system.
As an IT consultant I find this talk of standard anoying if you go around most companies they just type up letters and all the bells and whistles of Microsoft Office are useless and an expensive waste of time. If Apple are going to supply iWork free then only a stupid businessman would choose MS.
I was around at the start of MS and from the start they marketed themselves as the standard and you all went OK.
The iPad is now a cultural phenomenon. The same way all of Apple's is iDevices are a cultural phenomenon.
While the Surface is a phenomenally expensive writedown, without any culture.
If you go read the reviews in the Mac App Store, you'll see what watered down means. They've removed tons of functionality from all three iWork applications on the Mac just to make them match up with iOS and iCloud. Go to the Apple forums.
When I was watching the Apple Event and they said "We now have full document compatibility across iOS and Mac," I briefly wondered if they had just discarded the old Mac version and ported the iOS version across. With the lost functionality people are now seeing I'm wondering that again.
Apple != Microsoft
Sarcasm, I hope? Users want convenience and mobility. App Devs will provide the software.
I've used Excel for 20 years and never have I created a pivot table. I doubt that 95% of users use that feature as well. I do agree with the stat functions, though.
What M$ is failing to understand is that most users do not need the full power of office anymore. Most people are casual users of word processing and spreadsheets. Yeah iwork is water down form Office but who cares, any tablet is a water down version of a laptop, again who cares. What matter is the ipad and it software delivers what people need, it is not over kill. M$ does not want to face the fact the majority of the users do not want or need the full power of Office anymore.
— Actual Quote From the Iraqi Information Minister, Mr. al-Sahaf?(AKA 'Baghdad Bob')
[COLOR=red]If you have been wondering what happened to Mr. al-Sahaf, he is now the Information Minister for Microsoft's Surface Division, and a contender for Steve Ballmer's soon to available position.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
Looking through this story and the following posts, Most everyone IS laughing this off. I don't see the anger you are talking about.
What I do find most humorous is when the Surface was first announced (as a creation device vs. a consumption device) They demonstrated how well it could show movies and play music. Even more recently to illustrate how the Surface Pro can multitask it was shown doing two thing (a) creating a PowerPoint while (b) watching a movie. I created a lot of PowerPoints, but never while watching a movie --- the Surface may be able to multitask but I'd never finish a PowerPoint with a movie playing at the same time. :-)
I think the Surface Pro may get some traction at places where the IT manager has absolute control, but BYOD has gone on for too many years to put the iPad back in its box. Furthermore, the vast majority of worker bees need less than 20% of what MS Office is capable of. I'm highly skilled with Office and I know I have used less the 50% of what it can do... maybe even 40%.
I mean really! What do you expect them to say? That Apple is kicking our collective asses all over the landscape! This has been going on for years!
Wait until you see what a dog Excel is on the Surface 2 (formerly RT), and if you want to create a tall narrow document, you need to change the device setting...none of this stuff of just rotating the Surface 90*
With the emphasis on the word, "YEARS."
While Steve Ballmer hung out in his office, giggling, the U.S. federal government completed a RFQ that left Microsoft standing out in the cold on smart phones AND tablet purchases for the next 6 years.
De times dae have a-change-ed...
Absolutely right. Apple is spending billions to make iPads a milimeter thinner and a few ounces lighter - who cares. Users want solutions. It's thin enough already. Forgetaboutit. Give us more features, better software, etc.
Not sure you understand that spending $$$ to attain thinner and Lighter is not an end. Yes it conveys a benefit ( which you seem to undervalue) . Perhaps more importantly though, It's also the means to making the next generation of small, light, & power efficient devices. These devices have yet to be imagined by most folks. Open your mind, do you think that phones and tablets will be offered in the same form in 5 years?
I like this take.
Why?
Hahaha ya sure people are gonna buy the surface tablet over a A7 with 64bit architecture and an M7 movement chip ya sure and retina display. And a tablet that doesn't look/feel like crap
@bananaman
No, you confuse genuine idiocy for sarcasm. These are the kind of people that give Apple fanboys a bad name.
I for one absolutely need Excel for iOS. Nothing else will suffice.
Wait until you see what a dog Excel is on the Surface 2 (formerly RT), and if you want to create a tall narrow document, you need to change the device setting...none of this stuff of just rotating the Surface 90*
I haven't tried Excel on Surface. But I've used Numbers extensively. It doesn't compare to Excel. Furthermore, the recent version includes changes that are regressive rather than progressive. Even sorting, a very essential function, is limited ... grrr. And, despite the cute demo mocking Eddy Cue, collaboration doesn't on iWork/iCloud. Apple needs to keep working on this.
"watered down"? What is it that I can or need to do in Word that I can't do in Pages? It's a word processor. If I needed to, I could use Notepad. In fact, I have.
There is actually plenty that you can do in Word that you cannot do in Pages. Being less feature-heavy, Pages is actually more responsive.
That doesn't mean Pages isn't good. Nor does it mean Pages isn't adequate for many people. Furthermore, the differences between Word and Pages are far less significant than the differences between Excel and Numbers.
But it sounds like you have not used Pages or Numbers at all, perhaps not even Word. Furthermore, by invoking the example of Notepad, which is a text editor and not a word processor, you've actually mocked Pages, not to mention yourself.