I suppose that, at least in software, there is a statute of limitations on murder. But the re-design of Appleworks for OS 10 was a deliberate crippling of a wonderful productivity suite. That release signified Apple's intent to kill the product: It's entirely too useful to be abandoned inconspicuously so we'll cripple it introduce a lot of amazingly bad interface ideas then let its popularity wither away without significant investment until it seems to make perfect sense to discontinue the product.
I find myself in a strange productivity limbo similar to the days of the browser wars. I have Word, I have Pages, I have AppleWorks and I'm unhappy -- none of them Address my needs. AppleWorks used to but that was before the re-engineering; If I were offered an up to date AppleWorks that returned to the interface model prior to the OS X release. I'd jump at it and put Pages in my waste basket. (Word I'd probably keep for compatibility reasons).
So I guess I've got to hope Apple gets it's head out of it's butt with UI and makes a useful pages (Numbers excites me a little -- Still missing the draw and database features -- which are really useful. still deeply lacking the integration of Appleworks: I'm doing a business plan should I do it in numbers or Pages? note: I don't have numbers but I like the demos). Their current philosophy seems to be focused on stripping power away from users in the form of Apple assumptions and pre-packaged "templates" -- it's a clever strategy; masking in statistical white noise the cries of those being strangled by crippled applications behind the vast majority of those who never do much.
Have you actually poked around in Pages, Keynote and Numbers? They offer *much* more power than AppleWorks' versions of those tools ever did. AW was great. For 1990. I used it quite a bit, starting back on the //e for god's sake. But I know when to let go.
iWork is light years ahead of AW in terms of power, functionality, and interface. I can't imagine ever taking that huge step back.
Seriously, scratch the surface, and you'll find an incredible amount of power buried in there. That's the Apple way... make the initial experience with the app so dead simple as to seem 'too easy'... but provide layers of functionality hidden just under the surface that are hard to beat... but not hard to find.
As for that integration you're seeking... it's there. Seriously. "The best tool for the job" is the motto. Are you making a layout table in that report? Pages' table tools are probably better suited for what you want. Is it going to be primarily number crunching? Try Numbers. Decide half-way through that you need the other toolset? *Move the table to the other app*. Seriously.
Apple is allowing you to integrate with *ALL* apps, not just 3 or 4. How is this a bad thing??
As a teacher, who was trained and taught to use AppleWorks, I have to take offense at your cavalier attitude toward those aspects of the program. Many of us in education used and continue to use the program and all of its module components. The word processor, drawing, painting, presentation, spreadsheet integration was simply amazing. All apps could be called on from one menu panel and as many of the features needed could be implemented in one document if needed. The drawing and painting mode gave Illustrator, Quark, In Design and Photoshop features that were the most useful. I could layout a flyer lickety-split (iWorks does do that), but I could insert a drawing or diagram, by making it myself with those drawing tools right into a test with one click without having to use a separate program to make it. Teachers in different areas could make use of each module individually. Art teachers could teach many basic graphic skills without the cost of the big boy programs. When money came available, students then had an easy path to the new program as the skills were already there. I still find that AppleWorks integration of text and graphics can create a quicker flyer that Pages,and although Pages is improving it still cannot be saved in modify-ably useful graphic file formats such as tiff, pict, jpeg or eps. I will hopefully hold out that Apple will add a set of decent drawing tools to Pages and the ability to save in various graphics formats and that Numbers will gain a Database feature if not a fileMaker light program component
As a teacher, shouldn't you know how to use paragraphs? A little white space would make your comments a bit easier to read.
For those looking for a cheap/free replacement for the AW drawing program, what about The GIMP?
I realize that it was designed for photo retouching (ie. is more like Photoshop than Illustrator), but it can be used for simple image composition tasks as well.
If you're going down the UNIX port path, the application you're looking for is Inkscape...
appleworks may have been a great product, but it was still a relic of the os 9 days.. while they released an os x build, it still contained a lot of depricated code, and with the advent of the macintel platform, it would have been a helluva lot of work to update it for modern times. they're better off building something new from scratch, using modern technology, and modern paradigms..
don't mourn for appleworks too hard, iwork has a great future ahead of it, and the new version has set it leaps and bounds beyond where it was in '06.
on those who would like to see filemaker included-- i don't think filemaker will be around in it's present state for much longer. it just doesn't seem to fit with what apple is currently doing. they're stripping down and going mainstream, and filemaker just doesn't have that apple sizzle to it. i do, however, see them including a new, filemaker-based database app in a future version of ilife. while they already own the company that makes filemaker, i think it will be very similar to what they're doing with some of their pro apps-- buying a company that produces a product with potential, overhauling the interface, dropping the price, repackaging, and selling it.
Agreed. Databases in general are now pervasive throughout OS X, and they're only going to get used more. If history repeats, we'll see these various uses simplified and presented as developer APIs... and then the DB tool would simply be a UI over the top, much like the rest of iWork is rather a showcase for the underlying data APIs.
I'm pretty stoked about the new motion path stuff in Keynote, some of the new effects that look to be straight out of Motion, the format bar, etc.
Keynote is quite the little swiss army knife, a place where you can promiscuously toss in QT movies, graphics, photos, sound, text, stir it up with some motion graphics and effects, sequence with transitions, and....heh, I just noticed, there's a send to You Tube button in Keynote now.
I used LisaDraw, Mac Draw, Mac Draw2 -- everything. For 30 years I was a professional Forms Analyst. This was one of the greatest programs (until FormsExpert came along)
Today I tried to open a jpg in the ClarisDraw6 program, and it was fine. But, as soon as I added a few lines to a map, it crashed. (10.4.10). Bummer.
I really don't think we need to go to PS to do such a simple task.
We DO NEED A VECTOR DRAW PROGRAM. C'mon Apple. Let's roll.
Seriously, check out OmniGraffle. I know it's not Officially Apple Created, but it's as close as you're going to fine outside the mothership. Fantastic app.
Seriously, check out OmniGraffle. I know it's not Officially Apple Created, but it's as close as you're going to fine outside the mothership. Fantastic app.
Nostalgia moment: Anybody remember the Beagle Bros. addons for AppleWorks 3, which allowed fonts, WYSIWYG previewing, and other cool stuff?
Beagle Bros. just made cool utilities in general. They seemed to have more insight into the apple ][+ than Apple did.
FWIW, the most awsome word processor on the Apple 2 I've ever seen was Gutenberg. WYSIWYG, text wrap-around graphics, fonts, great header and footer capabilities, layout features, etc. I couldn't believe that was possible back then.
Oh, and I bought an Apple llc just to run appleworks. Got me through my masters program.
Beagle Bros. just made cool utilities in general. They seemed to have more insight into the apple ][+ than Apple did.
FWIW, the most awsome word processor on the Apple 2 I've ever seen was Gutenberg. WYSIWYG, text wrap-around graphics, fonts, great header and footer capabilities, layout features, etc. I couldn't believe that was possible back then.
Oh, and I bought an Apple llc just to run appleworks. Got me through my masters program.
At least I can open my many .cwk files in Pages. Had to update one to AW 6 first though. Can't believe that I hadn't opened that one for so long! All of mine were just word processor files. Anyone else try an open anything else in Pages or Numbers yet? I would think that they would work too. Here's hoping.
That's the route Apple has taken - instead of focussing on how to further lock users in, they have established a few common data formats (PDF, RTF, iCal, vCard, etc) as the lingua franca between apps. This lets, you, the user, choose which apps you need for your jobs, and you can be pretty well assured that they'll all work together.
Whilst I like many of the common cocoa features in the iLife and iWorks suites, what drives me crazy is the bits, it seems, that Apple deliberately cripples or leaves out.
Just a few examples:
1. iPhoto won't let you import pdfs, and is horrendously slow at producing slideshows.
2. TextEdit has fixed huge margins and most of its features lack a user interface to make use of them
3. Preview won't save multi-page pdfs, nor slideshows as Quicktime movies. It is scriptable to convert between graphics formats but not to pdf the OSX default.
4. The color picker can create color sets and save them but to where? …and how to save and exchange them? …how do you do spot colors?
5. iMovie now won't let you create DVDs
6. Pages behaves totally erratically on page breaks and back editing of existing styles is just a pain in the arse.
7. There is nowhere to edit paint or drawings…
I could go on forever but to sum up Apple seems to deliberately cripple any serious attempt to use their products for anything but superficial tasks.
Sadly a new generation of Apple users doesn't expect to do anything else.
In other words we have been dragged down to the same level as PC users.
btw The pdfs and RTF files created in the iWorks apps erratically sometimes won't open on PCs, so are not dependable as so called "standard formats".
Also many people forget that Apple shipped a Windows version of AppleWorks as well. It was never sold to consumers, only educational institutions.
Actually the AppleWorks that consumers bought had both Windows and Mac versions on the same CD. At least the one I bought in '03 did. I didn't actually know that until I happened to see it in Virtual PC one day, then I took it over to my PC and installed it on there.
Comments
I find myself in a strange productivity limbo similar to the days of the browser wars. I have Word, I have Pages, I have AppleWorks and I'm unhappy -- none of them Address my needs. AppleWorks used to but that was before the re-engineering; If I were offered an up to date AppleWorks that returned to the interface model prior to the OS X release. I'd jump at it and put Pages in my waste basket. (Word I'd probably keep for compatibility reasons).
So I guess I've got to hope Apple gets it's head out of it's butt with UI and makes a useful pages (Numbers excites me a little -- Still missing the draw and database features -- which are really useful. still deeply lacking the integration of Appleworks: I'm doing a business plan should I do it in numbers or Pages? note: I don't have numbers but I like the demos). Their current philosophy seems to be focused on stripping power away from users in the form of Apple assumptions and pre-packaged "templates" -- it's a clever strategy; masking in statistical white noise the cries of those being strangled by crippled applications behind the vast majority of those who never do much.
Have you actually poked around in Pages, Keynote and Numbers? They offer *much* more power than AppleWorks' versions of those tools ever did. AW was great. For 1990. I used it quite a bit, starting back on the //e for god's sake. But I know when to let go.
iWork is light years ahead of AW in terms of power, functionality, and interface. I can't imagine ever taking that huge step back.
Seriously, scratch the surface, and you'll find an incredible amount of power buried in there. That's the Apple way... make the initial experience with the app so dead simple as to seem 'too easy'... but provide layers of functionality hidden just under the surface that are hard to beat... but not hard to find.
As for that integration you're seeking... it's there. Seriously. "The best tool for the job" is the motto. Are you making a layout table in that report? Pages' table tools are probably better suited for what you want. Is it going to be primarily number crunching? Try Numbers. Decide half-way through that you need the other toolset? *Move the table to the other app*. Seriously.
Apple is allowing you to integrate with *ALL* apps, not just 3 or 4. How is this a bad thing??
As a teacher, who was trained and taught to use AppleWorks, I have to take offense at your cavalier attitude toward those aspects of the program. Many of us in education used and continue to use the program and all of its module components. The word processor, drawing, painting, presentation, spreadsheet integration was simply amazing. All apps could be called on from one menu panel and as many of the features needed could be implemented in one document if needed. The drawing and painting mode gave Illustrator, Quark, In Design and Photoshop features that were the most useful. I could layout a flyer lickety-split (iWorks does do that), but I could insert a drawing or diagram, by making it myself with those drawing tools right into a test with one click without having to use a separate program to make it. Teachers in different areas could make use of each module individually. Art teachers could teach many basic graphic skills without the cost of the big boy programs. When money came available, students then had an easy path to the new program as the skills were already there. I still find that AppleWorks integration of text and graphics can create a quicker flyer that Pages,and although Pages is improving it still cannot be saved in modify-ably useful graphic file formats such as tiff, pict, jpeg or eps. I will hopefully hold out that Apple will add a set of decent drawing tools to Pages and the ability to save in various graphics formats and that Numbers will gain a Database feature if not a fileMaker light program component
As a teacher, shouldn't you know how to use paragraphs? A little white space would make your comments a bit easier to read.
For those looking for a cheap/free replacement for the AW drawing program, what about The GIMP?
I realize that it was designed for photo retouching (ie. is more like Photoshop than Illustrator), but it can be used for simple image composition tasks as well.
If you're going down the UNIX port path, the application you're looking for is Inkscape...
http://www.inkscape.org/
As a teacher, shouldn't you know how to use paragraphs? A little white space would make your comments a bit easier to read.
Ouch!
...but, yeah.
don't mourn for appleworks too hard, iwork has a great future ahead of it, and the new version has set it leaps and bounds beyond where it was in '06.
on those who would like to see filemaker included-- i don't think filemaker will be around in it's present state for much longer. it just doesn't seem to fit with what apple is currently doing. they're stripping down and going mainstream, and filemaker just doesn't have that apple sizzle to it. i do, however, see them including a new, filemaker-based database app in a future version of ilife. while they already own the company that makes filemaker, i think it will be very similar to what they're doing with some of their pro apps-- buying a company that produces a product with potential, overhauling the interface, dropping the price, repackaging, and selling it.
Keynote is quite the little swiss army knife, a place where you can promiscuously toss in QT movies, graphics, photos, sound, text, stir it up with some motion graphics and effects, sequence with transitions, and....heh, I just noticed, there's a send to You Tube button in Keynote now.
iWork rocks.
Today I tried to open a jpg in the ClarisDraw6 program, and it was fine. But, as soon as I added a few lines to a map, it crashed. (10.4.10). Bummer.
I really don't think we need to go to PS to do such a simple task.
We DO NEED A VECTOR DRAW PROGRAM. C'mon Apple. Let's roll.
Seriously, check out OmniGraffle. I know it's not Officially Apple Created, but it's as close as you're going to fine outside the mothership. Fantastic app.
Seconded.
Seconded.
Thirded. Or is it three-peated? Threeped?
Thrittoed.
Mmmmmmm............thritoes........
Nostalgia moment: Anybody remember the Beagle Bros. addons for AppleWorks 3, which allowed fonts, WYSIWYG previewing, and other cool stuff?
Beagle Bros. just made cool utilities in general. They seemed to have more insight into the apple ][+ than Apple did.
FWIW, the most awsome word processor on the Apple 2 I've ever seen was Gutenberg. WYSIWYG, text wrap-around graphics, fonts, great header and footer capabilities, layout features, etc. I couldn't believe that was possible back then.
Oh, and I bought an Apple llc just to run appleworks. Got me through my masters program.
Beagle Bros. just made cool utilities in general. They seemed to have more insight into the apple ][+ than Apple did.
FWIW, the most awsome word processor on the Apple 2 I've ever seen was Gutenberg. WYSIWYG, text wrap-around graphics, fonts, great header and footer capabilities, layout features, etc. I couldn't believe that was possible back then.
Oh, and I bought an Apple llc just to run appleworks. Got me through my masters program.
Cool first post. Welcome aboard.
That's the route Apple has taken - instead of focussing on how to further lock users in, they have established a few common data formats (PDF, RTF, iCal, vCard, etc) as the lingua franca between apps. This lets, you, the user, choose which apps you need for your jobs, and you can be pretty well assured that they'll all work together.
Whilst I like many of the common cocoa features in the iLife and iWorks suites, what drives me crazy is the bits, it seems, that Apple deliberately cripples or leaves out.
Just a few examples:
1. iPhoto won't let you import pdfs, and is horrendously slow at producing slideshows.
2. TextEdit has fixed huge margins and most of its features lack a user interface to make use of them
3. Preview won't save multi-page pdfs, nor slideshows as Quicktime movies. It is scriptable to convert between graphics formats but not to pdf the OSX default.
4. The color picker can create color sets and save them but to where? …and how to save and exchange them? …how do you do spot colors?
5. iMovie now won't let you create DVDs
6. Pages behaves totally erratically on page breaks and back editing of existing styles is just a pain in the arse.
7. There is nowhere to edit paint or drawings…
I could go on forever but to sum up Apple seems to deliberately cripple any serious attempt to use their products for anything but superficial tasks.
Sadly a new generation of Apple users doesn't expect to do anything else.
In other words we have been dragged down to the same level as PC users.
btw The pdfs and RTF files created in the iWorks apps erratically sometimes won't open on PCs, so are not dependable as so called "standard formats".
Also many people forget that Apple shipped a Windows version of AppleWorks as well. It was never sold to consumers, only educational institutions.
Actually the AppleWorks that consumers bought had both Windows and Mac versions on the same CD. At least the one I bought in '03 did. I didn't actually know that until I happened to see it in Virtual PC one day, then I took it over to my PC and installed it on there.