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iWork

Could be better

Written by SB from North Las Vegas

Jan 9, 2009

--It's good to see Apple doing what MS never could do right. From the beginning, MS products have been riddled with crashes and quirky output whereas these three Apple products work quite well. I highly recommend the 30 day trial version if you've never used these before.

--Pages goes beyond MS Word in that it's more of a competent page layout program (like Adobe's PageMaker or FrameMaker) than a simple word processor. MS Word is better at some things, but Pages is more powerful and stable than the MS product. Word just cannot make a big document without stumbling, often losing data in the process. But Pages can handle the big jobs with flare!

--Numbers does a better job at many things than Excel does (mostly with charts and graphs) but has a distinct drawback for those who want to label narrow columns with vertical text... it can't rotate text like Excel. I found Numbers to be a little odd in the way it does things (I've been using Excel for over two decades, so that may have something to do with it) but if it rotated text I'd learn to get over the differences and drop Excel.

--Keynote is better than the Mac version of PP, but the XP version of PP can stand up pretty well to Keynote. Still, I prefer the Mac OS to Windose so PP is no longer used.

--Overall, I like all three and the price cannot be beat, but I would have really appreciated rotatable text in this version of Numbers. Heck, if the dweebs at MS can do it, so should the geniuses at Apple.

1479 of 1675 people found this useful

iWork

Well Put Together

Written by DW from Annandale

Jan 6, 2009

Although some features don't get much of an upgrade over iWork '08, the new version of iWork is well worth the upgrade! It features a host of features that were missing in previous versions, as well as many new themes and better integration for Microsoft Office files. As an added bonus, it loads a lot faster than previous versions of iWork and has so far been very stable. I would give this product 6 stars if it were possible, so, go and buy it (or download the 30 day free trial and give it a test run).

1122 of 1280 people found this useful

iWork

Pleasure to use

Written by MN from Old Bridge

Feb 9, 2009

I felt compelled to write a review because many other reviews have been helpful to me on various occasions. Perhaps mine will help someone too. I have iWork 09 in trial mode right now and it is, simply put, a pleasure to use. It is fast, clean, intuitive, and nice to look at. I really can't see a reason why I would need Office 2008. In fact, I had that too, as a trial from a friend, but just uninstalled it. I simply don't need all its bloat. And quite honestly, as good as it is for what it is made to do, I don't think Office for Mac will ever rival the efficiency, stability or beauty of iWork 09 and its subsequent releases.

In addition, iWork 09 offers great compatibility. Even better than iWork '08, especially noticeable with Numbers. I found that Pages does a tremendous job opening .doc and even .docx. I ran a test after editing a client's business profile in .doc format, tracked changes in Pages and then sent it back out as .docx. No problems on the other end. All the edits were there as I had made them, and in proper format. Numbers 09 also does well with Excel in translating calculations. Perhaps on the output side, Excel would have some trouble reproducing the elegance of spread sheets made in Numbers 09, but the document can be exported and read, which is the most important aspect. I haven't tried Keynote to any significant degree. That is soon to come, but from what I can tell I wont have any complaints with it either.

Lastly, iWork comes a great price, although on this point I will argue that at least a small discount for '08 users would be proper (I am one myself). It seems odd to make previous iWork users pay the same 'full price' as a new customer every time a new version comes out. For some, this may diminish their incentive to 'upgrade' as Apple calls it. Less than a year has passed since I bought iWork 08, so as much as I truly like 09, and I know I will get it eventually, I am holding off for now because of the out-of-pocket expense. If Apple offered an upgrade price to current 08 users, say 49.99, I wouldn't hesitate. For that I am giving it four starts only. Otherwise, Apple has made another truly great product that reminds me of the reason I am a Mac user...I recommend iWork 09 with confidence!

195 of 205 people found this useful

iWork

iwork '09 vs. microsoft office for mac

Written by AH from Montgomery

Mar 11, 2009

I just recently purchased a macbook pro and could not decide whether to get the microsoft office package for mac or iwork '09. At first I was skeptical about using iwork because of how "windows" using the world seems to be. Because I'm going to college next year, I wanted to make sure I had a program that was compatible with what my school uses. As it turns out, iwork '09 actually has a feature where you can turn an apple document into a word document. talk about compatibility... Not only is it more compatible, but it is also about $75 cheaper than the microsoft office package.

If you are trying to decide between the two programs, iwork '09 is definitely the right package for your every need.

202 of 227 people found this useful

iWork

Awesome alternative to Office

Written by JM from McKinney

May 26, 2009

I recently switched from PC to Mac, and I was hesitant on buying Microsoft Office for Mac. Then I started reading the reviews for iWorks09 and decided to give it a try since it was less expensive than Office. Needless to say, I am very impressed of how easy to use and practical iWorks is. It really rocked me out seeing these 3 programs work. You can save your documents into Office format, and you won't even need to bother.

147 of 158 people found this useful

iWork

Improved, but still disappointing

Written by NC from Fort Myers

Jan 21, 2009

Pages and Keynote continue to move ahead of their Microsoft rivals in terms of ease of use and flexibility. Our company now uses both as our standard office applications, converting to more common Microsoft products only when necessary. The upgrade is well worth the price.

Numbers continues to be a disappointment. Apple should be able to do better. Although significantly improved over the iWork '08 version, and superior to Excel in terms of ease of use, the chart functions are very weak (for example, no pyramid chart format) and the continued inability to link to other Numbers files, as one can do with Excel, is a major drawback for us.

The incompatibilities between the iWork '08 and '09 formats are also an annoyance, especially in Numbers.

144 of 162 people found this useful

iWork

Beware!! You can not set a "print area" in Numbers as you can in Exel

Written by DZ from Stoneham

Apr 7, 2009

Numbers buyers should be ware that you cannot set a "print area" as you can in MS Exel. The result is... the whole spreadsheet will be printed. As many of us who may only want to print a portion of the spreadsheet not the whole spreadsheet, I was quite surprised by this lack of feature. In addition Numbers will strip out some Exel forms functions like check boxes if you should have a spreadsheet that uses that. I was quite diappointed.

Thankfully I found this out with the trial version, and avoided wasting my money. I will wait until Number grows up a bit more. I do admit that Numbers looks very nice with a lot of pretty and desirable features, but below the surface it can not compete yet adequately with the gold standard of spreadsheets... Exel.

152 of 185 people found this useful

iWork

Use trial version first

Written by TH from Wichita

Apr 17, 2009

I bought IWork 09 with a new Mac I was the only one in my office trying to use this program. I loved the ease of typing and printing reports in Pages but fought the program when sharing files with co-workers. I was disappointed with Numbers, as the spreadsheets I put together were quite different when opened on MS Excel. My boss was not pleased either. Needless to say I am out the 49.99 pre-installed price of I-Work for a program I cant use in the office. If I were a student using it to type and print reports I think it would be great, but not for what I do in an office dominated by MS. If you work in an office with MS save yourself and your co-workers the trouble and buy MS Office.

130 of 142 people found this useful

iWork

No autosave feature

Written by JG from Fort Collins

Apr 18, 2009

Be warned. iWork does not have an autosave feature so if you do not save often, when it crashes (yes it does crash) you will lose all of your work. This can be especially devistating if you are used to working with software that will autosave and you are not aware of this limitation. CAVEAT EMPTOR.

152 of 189 people found this useful

iWork

Microsoft what?

Written by TK from Madison

Jan 13, 2009

This product kicks the you know what out of MS Office. Not only does it have far more usable versions of word and excel in pages and numbers, but it will seamlessly open any excel or word doc and you can save it either way!

The one thing I always hated about MS Office for mac is the fact that it did NOT come with Publisher... well, my sadness is gone now... pages owns publisher with its ease of use and all encompassing abilities... just draw images, text boxes, etc. ANYWHERE you want.

The best thing is I had exactly ZERO experience with iWork until purchasing 09 three days ago and already feel more productive than I did with Office, which I had over 10 years of working with.

So scratch the overpriced Office and get iWork, trust me... you will NOT regret it!

114 of 123 people found this useful

iWork

Really Excellent.

Written by RB from Wagener

Jul 27, 2009

As a long time user of Microsoft Office, I was skeptical of the iWork suite initially. I decided to try it when I bought my new MacBook Pro because - honestly - it was cheap. WOW, was I ever pleasantly surprised!

In my humble opinion, iWork is MUCH better than Office. Pages easily exports to both Word docs and PDF. Numbers easily exports to Excel and PDF. Keynote is every bit as easy and functional as PowerPoint. And, being a Mac product, the iWork programs DON'T CRASH. They have all the functionality of Office, and then some. And they were very easy to learn. I am so glad that I tried iWork. I VASTLY PREFER IT TO OFFICE. No contest whatsoever. iWork wins hands down.

110 of 119 people found this useful

iWork

much better than 08

Written by JD from Trebic

Jan 9, 2009

I'm university student (CTU in Prague) and I used to use Word, Excel and Powerpoint because iWork 08 wasn't so good as I expected. BUT!!! iWork 09 is absolutely much better than 08! The compatibility with MS Office is great and working with 09 is so easy and powerful.

122 of 146 people found this useful

iWork

Way Better Than 08

Written by MG from Fries

Jan 13, 2009

iWork 09 is by far the best office software I have yet to use. I had iwork 08 and it just wouldn't do the job for me; for some odd reason I can't explain. With iWork 09 its a different story. I love the new pages and keynote but, I have no personal use for numbers. I uninstalled MS office as soon as I realized I liked iWork 09 better. Thank you apple so much for wonderful software.

124 of 155 people found this useful

iWork

I hate MS Office and finally there is light!

Written by TN from Thessaloniki

Jan 8, 2009

The fact that numbers in iwork 08 was not the best product, was the only thing keeping me away from using it (forcing me to use the lamest and slowest office suite of all times MS Office!!).

Now that this issue is fixed (I have already finished a research i was doing using numbers 09) I will even delete it from my hard drive!!

Apple did its magic again!

By the way it still lacks the ability to add effects on pictures that MS office does (like the adding a mirror effect under the picture, or adding indicators with space to write, portraits etc.) which is quite inconvenient but I hope it will get fixed in a later update...

112 of 135 people found this useful

iWork

You Get What You Pay For

Written by JW from Denver

Apr 4, 2009

Honestly, for $79.00 it is decent. I'm running a 4G RAM, 2.5GHz Core 2, and when I open Keynote it is fine for about 15 minutes, and then it becomes a nightmare, slowing everything down and becoming difficult to work with. I wanted it to build out some very simple wireframes for a client presentation, and while it had all of the features I needed, it was laggy, difficult to manipulate items on the screen, not many configuration options, etc. Numbers and Pages are a joke compared to Excel and Word, and I am not a fan of Microsoft in any way, so that takes a lot for me to say that.

100 of 118 people found this useful

iWork

Iwork 4 Life

Written by AA from Lethbridge

May 14, 2009

Worth every penny, numbers is not as useful as excel due to some weird quirks. Like the lack of freezing rows. But hey if you need that, then you probably need a database program, not a spread sheet program.
Once you go pages you never go back!!!
Excellent one click e-mail (any format) capabilities. Ridiculously easy photo editing within document, and the best part of it for my business is the merge fields to your address book when writing, quotes,faxes, letters. Hey if you have time to sit there and type every field every time, chose MS word, me I like making money with my time.

85 of 90 people found this useful

iWork

Still Missing Industrial Strength Productivity/Output

Written by JR from Dearborn

Jun 11, 2009

Unfortunately will have to resort to still using Excel to open & manage large database files. Just tried to open a 6MB Database (CSV) File containing 60,000 Records - responds with Error Message (file is too large to be opened by iWork).

Otherwise - light years ahead of comparable MS Software in every possible way (as usual!)

94 of 109 people found this useful

iWork

Why did I not buy this sooner?

Written by KT from milwaukee

Feb 22, 2009

I am a very busy wife, mother, teacher, and grad student. I have always been a PC person-well until my mother bought me an iMac in 2007. I use Microsoft at work so 'naturally' felt that I should have it on my Mac. Word runs extremely slooooow and freezes (both on my mac and work computer). To be honest, I never considered that there are other options.
I downloaded the trial version of iWork just to see what it looked like. I though that the layouts were simply stunning! It was exactly what I was looking for my grad portfolio project do in June. Pages is simple to use, beautiful, and runs seamlessly.
I keep wondering how Microsoft is the industry standard?? Mac software and computers are smooth and drama-free. Oh, iLife is the 'off the hook' too.

90 of 106 people found this useful