iWork '08

...

horizon, and sees the world at it's feet as something to wipe off it's shoe. My new Mac is great, but the mouse that came with it has a cord about 6 inches long and the computer has very few ports. There are a few other features and inconveniences that say, either you go wireless on everything or we'll throw you a few obligatory non-wireless alternatives. iWork follows this philosophy. The word processing part of the program was obviously not conceived and executed by anybody who ever had to sit in a cubicle and crank out letters. Apple dashed off this program as a crumb to throw to those plebians who don't use email or Blackberries or iPhones to communicate. "OK, you programmers, give us a word processor, so we can get the real groovy stuff out to our target audience."

Microsoft Word is a work horse. Pages is a silly filly. I'm sure that the presentation-producing (Keynote) and the spreadsheet maker (Numbers) are way cool, but having a program that can be easily used to write a derned letter is beneath Apple.

Now I'm looking at Microsoft Office 2004 or some of those free word processing programs. The money I spent on iWork was wasted.

iWork '08

...

to give it time to mature. Or so I thought.

While I appreciate the beautiful templates and intuitive interface that iWork offers, what remains when all the pretties are stripped away? iWork Lite: The version you weren't bargaining on but should have expected for a mere $79.99 (MSRP).

My hope was that Pages would reference Webster's New World Dictionary, which is regarded as a superior reference in hard copy form for capitalization and proper hyphenation. While Pages approaches this level of accuracy, it doesn't quite make the grade. This calls into question its usefulness for English majors, journalists and writers of all stripes. Worse, Pages proofreader is a poor substitute for MS Word's grammar checker. As a result, Pages is also a questionable choice for teachers, students and professionals.

Other purported iWork limitations include:


* Few keyboard shortcuts (native Mac users once prided themselves on the ease with which they could zip through tasks with minimal mouse clicks);
* Cannot change the "save as" to default to an export file type;
* No auto-save/recovery;
* No auto-correct;
* Pages lacks an outline function;
* Weak on functionality: Does not support right-to-left language types. Cross references and the automatic numbering of legends, equations, references are missing. Limitations using the chart editor. "Start count at" and indentation level controls frustrate some users. No HTML import/export;
* iWork Server/Client works on an intranet using Rendezvous, but does not support Internet networking;
* Pages supports only basic citation and footnoting. Cannot use footnotes and endnotes simultaneously. Can accept Grapher/LaTeXiT services but does not support bibliographies (fails to interface with EndNote, for example);
* Opens Appleworks files only via the "import" command;
* Cannot add images -- such as company logo -- to Pages headers or footers;
* Numbers will not satisfy technical users, nor those who wish to include some of the following in a Keynote presentation: It does not support pivot tables. Cannot plot a graph with two y-axes. Will not graph error bars. Does not support Visual Basic macros. Cannot perform trendline analysis or basic statistics (t-test). Does not permit users to freeze/unfreeze panes;
* Apple reports: "Your ability to open a large Numbers file or import a large Microsoft Excel file into Numbers '08 may be constrained by the amount of memory installed on your computer. This constraint adjusts with the addition and removal of memory from the computer."
* Users porting complex Excel documents to Numbers report the need to perform numerous corrections;
* Does not include a database application. Lacks SQL database integration, among others;
* Does not support envelope printing within Pages (envelope printing is left up to Mac Address Book);
* Does not support mail merge (except from Mac Address Book);
* Cannot email a page from within an iWorks application;
* Does not include a standalone email application (relies instead on the integrated email application in OS X);
* Apparently, native iWork files are actually packages, which many web-based email servers do not support. To overcome this limitation, iWork files must be exported and/or saved and subsequently attached to outgoing web-based email messages as archives (zipped files);
*iWorks users who are borderline on system compatibility or whose machines place them at the lower end of iWork's system requirements may encounter sluggish performance (I encountered a number of pauses during which the rainbow colored beach ball appeared while working in Pages).

Do I recommend iWork? That depends on who, what, where and why you wish to use it. From my vantage point, iWork is not a Microsoft Office competitor but an entry-level trio of applications that are big on potential but small on delivery. Nevertheless, there are some users -- primarily those who require strong visuals and a template-based approach to productivity -- who may benefit from iWork 2008.

iWork '08

...

to give it time to mature. Or so I thought.



While I appreciate the beautiful templates and intuitive interface that iWork offers, what remains when all the pretties are stripped away? iWork Lite: The version you weren't bargaining on but should have expected for a mere $79.99 (MSRP).



My hope was that Pages would reference Webster's New World Dictionary, which is regarded as a superior reference in hard copy form for capitalization and proper hyphenation. While Pages approaches this level of accuracy, it doesn't quite make the grade. This calls into question its usefulness for English majors, journalists and writers of all stripes. Worse, Pages proofreader is a poor substitute for MS Word's grammar checker. As a result, Pages is also a questionable choice for teachers, students and professionals.



Other purported iWork limitations include:





* Few keyboard shortcuts (native Mac users once prided themselves on the ease with which they could zip through tasks with minimal mouse clicks);

* Cannot change the "save as" to default to an export file type;

* No auto-save/recovery;

* No auto-correct;

* Pages lacks an outline function;

* Weak on functionality: Does not support right-to-left language types. Cross references and the automatic numbering of legends, equations, references are missing. Limitations using the chart editor. "Start count at" and indentation level controls frustrate some users. No HTML import/export;

* iWork Server/Client works on an intranet using Rendezvous, but does not support Internet networking;

* Pages supports only basic citation and footnoting. Cannot use footnotes and endnotes simultaneously. Can accept Grapher/LaTeXiT services but does not support bibliographies (fails to interface with EndNote, for example);

* Opens Appleworks files only via the "import" command;

* Cannot add images -- such as company logo -- to Pages headers or footers;

* Numbers will not satisfy technical users, nor those who wish to include some of the following in a Keynote presentation: It does not support pivot tables. Cannot plot a graph with two y-axes. Will not graph error bars. Does not support Visual Basic macros. Cannot perform trendline analysis or basic statistics (t-test). Does not permit users to freeze/unfreeze panes;

* Apple reports: "Your ability to open a large Numbers file or import a large Microsoft Excel file into Numbers '08 may be constrained by the amount of memory installed on your computer. This constraint adjusts with the addition and removal of memory from the computer."

* Users porting complex Excel documents to Numbers report the need to perform numerous corrections;

* Does not include a database application. Lacks SQL database integration, among others;

* Does not support envelope printing within Pages (envelope printing is left up to Mac Address Book);

* Does not support mail merge (except from Mac Address Book);

* Cannot email a page from within an iWorks application;

* Does not include a standalone email application (relies instead on the integrated email application in OS X);

* Apparently, native iWork files are actually packages, which many web-based email servers do not support. To overcome this limitation, iWork files must be exported and/or saved and subsequently attached to outgoing web-based email messages as archives (zipped files);

*iWorks users who are borderline on system compatibility or whose machines place them at the lower end of iWork's system requirements may encounter sluggish performance (I encountered a number of pauses during which the rainbow colored beach ball appeared while working in Pages).



Do I recommend iWork? That depends on who, what, where and why you wish to use it. From my vantage point, iWork is not a Microsoft Office competitor but an entry-level trio of applications that are big on potential but small on delivery. Nevertheless, there are some users -- primarily those who require strong visuals and a template-based approach to productivity -- who may benefit from iWork 2008.