“While Office is hard to touch on the Windows platform, Apple has been trying to counter Office’s status on its computers in the past couple of years with iWork,” Melissa L. Jones reports for The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
“The new version of iWork aims at not only matching Microsoft Office’s capabilities, but surpassing them with graphics, animations and tools unlike what’s available in Office,” Jones reports.
“I have to admit, I was a hard sell on this. I’ve been using Office for years. I’m used to the layout, the style, the tools … and the frustrations. I know Office very well, so I expected to be a fish out of water with iWork,” Jones reports.
“I was, at first. It took a bit of time to figure out where everything was located. But after taking some time to become familiar with the software, I found some impressive features… For example, each program opens with a palette of templates that can get you started on all kinds of projects, from simple budget spreadsheets or brochures to workout schedules, certificates and school grade books. Each template looked very professional and was very easy to edit,” Jones reports.
“I expected to have issues opening old Office files. But I had no problem at all… I was able to save documents as Word or Excel files, and I had no trouble opening them in Office,” Jones reports.
“Is iWork 09 the new Office? Yes and no. Office is a hard habit to break. The style, menus and organization of iWork are different enough to keep regular Office users from feeling as if they’re in completely familiar territory initially. However, the features and integration are impressive, and the ability to open and save Office files makes it easy to move from Microsoft’s product to Apple’s,” Jones reports. “Office may retain its top dog status in Windows, but on the Mac side, it finally has a worthy challenger.”
Full article here.
