I happen to like Pages. Quite a lot actually. I use it everyday at my office even though it is a PC environment. Why? Because styles are very easy to manage and manipulate. Word bites a$$ in that regard. Making your own unique templates is also a snap. Table of Contents setup is outstanding.
I think sales are lagging because:
1. A lot of Mac users use Microsoft Word because of the workplace.
2. Those that don't either use Appleworks or TextEdit which both do the trick quite easily.
iWork is only experiencing what all of the other word processors like Nisus Express, Mellel, Mariner Write and the others have found. It is a tough road to sell a word processor app that either doesn't do everything Word does or is free with your Mac.
Eventually, I believe they will have to roll iWork (or Pages) in as a bundle with a new Mac but the timing is blurred because they keep improving TextEdit. Maybe on the Powerbooks and PowerMacs.
Maybe it would help if they gave it a real name. When I heard it was called iWork I just about fell off my chair. What a funky name for a productivity suite.
Also, any chance Apple will make a personal finance manager app? Include this in the suite and I'd buy it. I hate Quicken, and MS Money doesn't run on OS X. Also, how about an app to scan in and digitize paper documents?? I'd love this! I want a PAPERLESS OFFICE!
keynote 2 is actually really, really good. i used it to make a self-running quicktime movie, huge, high-res, and it pulled it off well. there were a BUNCH of annoyances, though, but here's what i did: i TOLD APPLE ABOUT THEM. so i'll be interested to see if any of the suggestions get used for the next version.
pages, well, it's so hard for me to think about using it, and therefore give apple feedback about it. since i so rarely bang out any text-only stuff anymore, and if i do layout, i fire up indesign. sure, average consumers won't have indesign.
personally, i blame the change int heir graphic design for the packaging. but i'm a designer, so i'm suppose to be nitpicky like that.
I don't think you guys really understand what's going on with Keynote and Pages. It's very much like OS X in the 10.0 days. They wrote these programs from scratch because they're looking to the future. They know that they features are lacking now, but once the foundation is laid the Cocoa way of doing things will let Apple improve these apps at an incredible pace.
Cocoa really is the key here. That's why they couldn't fix AppleWorks, or buy RagTime. Yes Pages is painful in many ways, but I think 2.0 and 3.0 are going to show massive improvement. The spreadsheet hole will be filled, and surprisingly well. NeXT had the best spreadsheet ever and there's an open source clone of it.
Given the history of NeXT and innovative spreadsheet apps, I'd be a little surprised to see Apple come out with a plain ol' 2D spreadsheet. Maybe they use FlexiSheet as a foundation, or maybe they start fresh, but that's the direction I see them going in.
Really? I love their graphic design for the packaging of iWork and iLife.
i was half-joking when i made that comment. but there IS a concern with a major shift in product design pacakging. you'd be amazed at how easily the majority of the purchasing public becomes confused when the same product suddently has new packaging, and they simply won't buy it, thinking it's not what they're looking for. so you can do it, but even if you do it well (i.e. attractive, speaks well to the product, etc.), it doesn't mean increased sales. sometimes, it actually means decreased sales.
Comments
I think sales are lagging because:
1. A lot of Mac users use Microsoft Word because of the workplace.
2. Those that don't either use Appleworks or TextEdit which both do the trick quite easily.
iWork is only experiencing what all of the other word processors like Nisus Express, Mellel, Mariner Write and the others have found. It is a tough road to sell a word processor app that either doesn't do everything Word does or is free with your Mac.
Eventually, I believe they will have to roll iWork (or Pages) in as a bundle with a new Mac but the timing is blurred because they keep improving TextEdit. Maybe on the Powerbooks and PowerMacs.
Also, any chance Apple will make a personal finance manager app? Include this in the suite and I'd buy it. I hate Quicken, and MS Money doesn't run on OS X. Also, how about an app to scan in and digitize paper documents?? I'd love this! I want a PAPERLESS OFFICE!
pages, well, it's so hard for me to think about using it, and therefore give apple feedback about it. since i so rarely bang out any text-only stuff anymore, and if i do layout, i fire up indesign. sure, average consumers won't have indesign.
personally, i blame the change int heir graphic design for the packaging. but i'm a designer, so i'm suppose to be nitpicky like that.
Cocoa really is the key here. That's why they couldn't fix AppleWorks, or buy RagTime. Yes Pages is painful in many ways, but I think 2.0 and 3.0 are going to show massive improvement. The spreadsheet hole will be filled, and surprisingly well. NeXT had the best spreadsheet ever and there's an open source clone of it.
I'm not worried.
Originally posted by rok
personally, i blame the change int heir graphic design for the packaging. but i'm a designer, so i'm suppose to be nitpicky like that.
Really? I love their graphic design for the packaging of iWork and iLife.
Originally posted by spankalee
The spreadsheet hole will be filled, and surprisingly well.
Got somethin' to share? Ya can't leave us hangin here...
Originally posted by gregmightdothat
Really? I love their graphic design for the packaging of iWork and iLife.
Yeah I'm a designer - I don't like the overuse of templates but i thought the cover was quite fun - although a bit too much.
NeXT had the best spreadsheet ever and there's an open source clone of it.
Where is this?
http://www.blackholeinc.com/catalog/...Quantrix.shtml
The OSS project is FlexiSheet. It's very cool, but needs some serious work.
http://www.materialarts.com/FlexiSheet/
Given the history of NeXT and innovative spreadsheet apps, I'd be a little surprised to see Apple come out with a plain ol' 2D spreadsheet. Maybe they use FlexiSheet as a foundation, or maybe they start fresh, but that's the direction I see them going in.
no in side info, unfortunately.
Originally posted by gregmightdothat
Really? I love their graphic design for the packaging of iWork and iLife.
i was half-joking when i made that comment. but there IS a concern with a major shift in product design pacakging. you'd be amazed at how easily the majority of the purchasing public becomes confused when the same product suddently has new packaging, and they simply won't buy it, thinking it's not what they're looking for. so you can do it, but even if you do it well (i.e. attractive, speaks well to the product, etc.), it doesn't mean increased sales. sometimes, it actually means decreased sales.