I really don't care about hyperlinking inside the same document. I do care about a citation or a cross reference that can be auto updated throughout the entire document without me having to search all the places I made the cross reference. Seems like an easy feature to add to me.
For my second example, if there's a way to do it on the iOS version of Pages, I'm completely open to understanding how to do it. Maybe this ability only exists on the OS X version because I can't find out to do it on the iOS version.
I just want to make comments on documents on my iPad. This could be perfect for grading papers. Seems like such a simple and useful thing, but never seems to happen. Any programmers out there know what would make this so difficult?
Jeez, is this another excuse for Apple to not actually update the Mac-based iWork, which has gone unchanged in 3 years??
Pages and Numbers need serious help. They don't need to match Word and Excel feature-by-feature, but they do need a few more tools that make them more capable for a lot of projects. And yet 3 years go by without any appreciable changes from Apple.
Yet another case of Apple not being able to manage its portfolio very well, unless it's an iPhone, iPad or Macbook....
Pages is nowhere near as powerful as Word. Take references, they are impossible in Pages, and Word does this natively. Actually, Framemaker is the best word processor ever designed.
On the other hand, Numbers could be a contender.
Framemaker does not directly compete with Word or Pages. Arguably, it is more of a publishing tool than a word processor.
References, or rather citations, are doable in Word but plug-ins are far superior.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NasserAE
Just give me the ability to write equations natively in iWork and I might not use Office anymore.
While you can write equations "natively" in Word, it is not that great. This is one of the things that Framemaker is better at.
VMWare provides, among other things, cloud computing services. Which Apple has historically been very bad at...
While customers may not be 100% satisfied with iCloud, Apple would not turn to VMWare for the type of cloud support that iWork needs. There is more (or less) to this.
Word is OK as long as you prefer plain text. Once you start using styles and lists, it's all FUBAR. And don't even think about inserting an image! I used Word 2007 to create a 100-page training manual. I could've done it in Pages in less than half the time.
"Getting into Enterprise" is what destroyed any chance Microsoft ever had of winning the consumer market. The consumer market is also more rewarding financially and is now leading the corporate market by the nose.
Jumping into the corporate market (something Apple has *always* sucked at anyway), would be a giant step backwards today. It would ruin the company IMO.
Not sure what you mean here, unless you are referring to smartphones and tablets. MS is still leading in consumer desktop and laptop market, much as software is considered.
I'd say that one of reasons for MS popularity on consumer's computers is that consumers are already using MS OS and Office at work, and consumers on average:
Don't want to learn more different software than they really have to (Homer Simpson syndrome?)
Don't want to complicate their life additionally with having to convert documents between their home and work setup
Need to share their documents with their colleagues and business partners (who are also likely to use MS products)
I think that this worked well for MS in most cases. The only case where they failed was smartphone market, but that was mostly due to MS being lazy in developing WinMo and generally treating it as unloved step-child, IMHO. For Microsoft, Windows Phone 7/8 should have happened 3 years ago.
Easily 80% of the products you just cited are outside of the core Office suite.
Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, Access, OneNote is core. Everything else below is different suits of product that still fall under the 'office' umbrella but it's not the same. For example, Sharepoint and Lync are two completely separate packages not required for Office, but they do tightly integrate with it. It seems like you took every business oriented application MS designed and lumped it under office...
BTW - Sharepoint services are depreciated and replaced with Sharepoint Foundation (as in the free version). So was frontpage for MOSS Designer.
Originally Posted by PhilBoogie
1. I agree that Framemaker is way better than Word.
2. What the heck has VMware has got to do with this?
3. I don't think Apple wants to take on MS Office, they simply wouldn't have the time to create all the products in that package:
Oh, sure! Absolutely! But to claim that "no one really uses it" is certainly foolish.
Fair enough. Though I don't think it's foolish to say "hardly any one uses it." Definitely nowhere near on the scale compared to Office. Creating Office is the smartest thing MS ever did. It's the single biggest reason the vast majority of people remain on Windows.
While you can write equations "natively" in Word, it is not that great. This is one of the things that Framemaker is better at.
Better how? Seriously, I am interested since my writings involve large number of complex equations. I have been using MS Equation Editor for years and it does exactly what I needed and more. However, Word does get sluggish when using MS Equation Editor.
Comments
Jeez, is this another excuse for Apple to not actually update the Mac-based iWork, which has gone unchanged in 3 years??
Pages and Numbers need serious help. They don't need to match Word and Excel feature-by-feature, but they do need a few more tools that make them more capable for a lot of projects. And yet 3 years go by without any appreciable changes from Apple.
Yet another case of Apple not being able to manage its portfolio very well, unless it's an iPhone, iPad or Macbook....
As much as I like Pages, Mellel is the one for me.
Just waiting for an iPad version.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kkerst
Pages is nowhere near as powerful as Word. Take references, they are impossible in Pages, and Word does this natively. Actually, Framemaker is the best word processor ever designed.
On the other hand, Numbers could be a contender.
Framemaker does not directly compete with Word or Pages. Arguably, it is more of a publishing tool than a word processor.
References, or rather citations, are doable in Word but plug-ins are far superior.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NasserAE
Just give me the ability to write equations natively in iWork and I might not use Office anymore.
While you can write equations "natively" in Word, it is not that great. This is one of the things that Framemaker is better at.
Pages is great and can take on 90% of most people's needs.
Keynote is fantastic and blows Powerpoint out of the water.
Numbers is not bad but Excel is far more powerful due to it's VBA custom programming language. Numbers is not even close to Excel. I wish it was.
nuked
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikeb85
VMWare provides, among other things, cloud computing services. Which Apple has historically been very bad at...
While customers may not be 100% satisfied with iCloud, Apple would not turn to VMWare for the type of cloud support that iWork needs. There is more (or less) to this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazoobee
Besides, Adobe ruined Framemaker years ago as they do with everything they touch.
Along with my much loved Freehand and all the Macromedia tools.
I used Word 2007 to create a 100-page training manual. I could've done it in Pages in less than half the time.
Not sure what you mean here, unless you are referring to smartphones and tablets. MS is still leading in consumer desktop and laptop market, much as software is considered.
I'd say that one of reasons for MS popularity on consumer's computers is that consumers are already using MS OS and Office at work, and consumers on average:
I think that this worked well for MS in most cases. The only case where they failed was smartphone market, but that was mostly due to MS being lazy in developing WinMo and generally treating it as unloved step-child, IMHO. For Microsoft, Windows Phone 7/8 should have happened 3 years ago.
So when will Apple upgrade their software? iWork '09 is on course to still be sold in '13 unless something dramatic happens very soon.
Aperture is looking creakier by the minute.
iLife, along with Aperture, gets the occasional patch, bug fix or minor added feature.
When they do thoroughly overhaul an app, they fall flat on their faces (see Final Cut Pro X).
It doesn't inspire confidence.
Quote:
Easily 80% of the products you just cited are outside of the core Office suite.
Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, Access, OneNote is core. Everything else below is different suits of product that still fall under the 'office' umbrella but it's not the same. For example, Sharepoint and Lync are two completely separate packages not required for Office, but they do tightly integrate with it. It seems like you took every business oriented application MS designed and lumped it under office...
BTW - Sharepoint services are depreciated and replaced with Sharepoint Foundation (as in the free version). So was frontpage for MOSS Designer.
Originally Posted by PhilBoogie
1. I agree that Framemaker is way better than Word.
2. What the heck has VMware has got to do with this?
3. I don't think Apple wants to take on MS Office, they simply wouldn't have the time to create all the products in that package:
Word
Excel
PowerPoint
Outlook
Access
Lync
SharePoint Server
Office 365
Communicator
Live Meeting
OneNote
Project
Project Online
Project Server
Publisher
Visio
Accounting
FrontPage
Groove
InfoPath
Dashboard Designer
Search Server
SharePoint Designer
SharePoint Foundation
SharePoint Online
SharePoint Workspace
Small Business Accounting
Windows SharePoint Services
That was when the latest version of iWork was introduced. In January.
We're coming up on this thing being four years old on the Mac, and yet that isn't mentioned anywhere. What the hell is Apple doing with this software?
Edit: Beaten by photoeditor.
Originally Posted by wizard69
There is much with respect to iWorks that could be improved and that is without coping MS or creating a lot of bloat.
Oh, sure! Absolutely! But to claim that "no one really uses it" is certainly foolish.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Oh, sure! Absolutely! But to claim that "no one really uses it" is certainly foolish.
Fair enough. Though I don't think it's foolish to say "hardly any one uses it." Definitely nowhere near on the scale compared to Office. Creating Office is the smartest thing MS ever did. It's the single biggest reason the vast majority of people remain on Windows.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Harbinger
While you can write equations "natively" in Word, it is not that great. This is one of the things that Framemaker is better at.
Better how? Seriously, I am interested since my writings involve large number of complex equations. I have been using MS Equation Editor for years and it does exactly what I needed and more. However, Word does get sluggish when using MS Equation Editor.