“Apple will step on yet another of Microsoft’s toes early next year when the Mac maker unveils the next version of its iWork productivity suite, complete with a new spreadsheet application,” ThinkSecret.com Staff reports for PC Magazine.
“Sources report that iWork ’07 will gain this new third component, code-named Lasso, which will go to bat against Microsoft Excel in the consumer and small-office space. The new application will arrive in addition to the upgraded Pages 3 and Keynote 4 programs, Apple’s current answers to Word and PowerPoint,” ThinkSecret reports. “While Lasso will lack the depth of Excel, Apple expects the software to strike a chord with the many spreadsheet users who don’t require extremely specialized functionality.”
ThinkSecret reports, “Lasso’s function editor will sport more than 200 hundred [MDN Note: we believe they mean 200, not 200,000] functions that will span a number of needs, from financial to statistical and possibly niche applications such as engineering, sources say. Lasso will also feature limited integration with the Internet, making it easy, for example, for users to create a spreadsheet that automatically downloads and inputs updated stock market information at a specified interval. Wrapping such functionality in an attractive, straightforward interface will be Lasso’s strong suit, bringing practical, advanced capabilities to the masses.”
“Lasso will not be the only iWork component for Microsoft to watch. The next upgrade to Apple’s desktop publishing software, Pages 3, is set to receive a number of improvements poised to make the application behave more like a normal word processor,” ThinkSecret reports.
Much more in the full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple on Board with new Microsoft Office Open XML format – October 10, 2006
More details of Apple’s iWork spreadsheet software surface – July 28, 2006
RUMOR: ‘Charts’ spreadsheet software coming to Apple iWork in ‘07 – July 05, 2006
Where’s Apple iWork’s spreadsheet? – February 01, 2006
RUMOR: Apple working on spreadsheet application called ‘Numbers’ for iWork – June 16, 2005
Mac users should not buy Microsoft software (or hardware) – May 16, 2003
And what is Stink Secret’s track record? I’d be surprised if they were batting .500.
“200 hundred functions” Does that mean like 20,000 functions?
Why is ThinkSecret.com reporting for PCMagazine?
200 hundred?? Wow. Thats a lot of functions, probably more than Excel.
“Lasso’s function editor will sport more than 200 hundred functions…”
Wow — that’s over 20,000 functions!
How will I ever keep track of them all?
MW “thats” That’s a lot of functions!
Yay!
That is all I have to say.
MW: Play as in, “I want to play with iWork 07!”
The last reason that I keep Appleworks on my hard drive is the database function. I use it every day in many ways.
Add that to iWork and they have got something.
I’ll finally be able to ditch M$ Office, it looks like!
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There’ve been rumors about a “Numbers” spreadsheet function for iWork for a while — it would make sense for people who want to bring robust charts and graphs into their Keynote productions.
If it supported AppleScript (adequately), I suppose users could write their own functions, or get functions that others had written. That would be cool.
A spreadsheet app is great and all but Apple needs to make Pages more better before it goes on.
“Lasso”? Ugh.
Look, I’m as much of a Mac fanboi as anyone here, but the only reason I’m able to use my Mac while working on Wall Street is because of the seemless compatibility of Office documents/spreadsheets that I get with OfficeMac. I’m sure iWork will be a great app, but if it’s not 100% compatible, it’s a non-starter for me (and I assume many others).
While we want to be 100% Apple, the reality is that the business worls is 98%+ Windows (and MS Office). That’s just the way it is.
Recall the recent announcement that M$ offered XML or something like that as an open standard? And that Apple backs the idea? Hmmm… I wonder why?
Compatible for sure. Now it’ll be an issue of usability.
I’m with KenH. Appleworks database is an application I use the most. What Apple should include is a Filemaker Express database within iWork. This is something I believe is inevitable.
I agree with MadMac. If you are in biz and you want to use a mac it is difficult to do it w/out Office for the mac.
iWork does need a spreadsheet AND a database app. Not only will it allow the older AppleWorks app to be dropped, but will make it very attractive to potential switchers – especially if it’s included in the consumer Macs.
The lack of a database app has surprised me as it shouldn’t be too hard to get a FileMaker Lite put together. Solves the database situation and also provides a nice upgrade path to FileMaker.
On the pricing Old Nick seems to have forgotten that a large percentage of mac users are in school or have family members in school – lots of education discounts available, making a fuller iWork much more attractive to Mac uses than Office.
Excel, since the classic Excel 4.0 (1992), has had 470 functions.
This hasn’t really changed since then, others they have added are bolt ons and not core functions.
What’s particularly annoying is that many of these functions have the same calc bugs in them now as they did 14 years ago — Mac and Windows versions — watch out for the stats ones!
Numbers
Tables
Lasso
Same rumor. Only the name of the third component has changed.
Lasso, I say Lasso? What in tar’nation?
@Nixon
PC Magazine announced a week or so ago that they were expanding their Mac coverage and adding a regular column by popular Mac experts ThinkSecret.
PC Magazine: it’s hip to be square.
iWork does need a spreadsheet AND a database app
—
no it doesn’t…. it’s for families. No database.
What about household inventories? Stamp collections? Coin collections? School records?
I hope this is true. I was afraid that Apple had made a deal with Micropenis to not make an Excel competitor or else they would stop making Office for the Mac.
I think Apple should either improve the basic word processing abilities of Pages (as stated here) or improve TextEdit to make it more functional. TextEdit has got to be Apple’s most butt-ugly and limited app ever!
Hello, Lasso-haters! Lasso is just the code name! The final name will be different.
Looking forward to bumping Microsoft Office off my Macs. I hardly use it these days anyways.
“Looking forward to bumping Microsoft Office off my Macs. I hardly use it these days anyways.”
Looking forward to bumping AppleWorks off my Macs. I still use the spreadsheet.
I want a spreadsheet and a database, because I am a database geek, and I really hate not haviing Access on my home computer-its the only reason I would use parallels etc (when I get an Intel Mac.)
I wish it were true, but we’ve all been burned by the same rumour before. Still waiting for Numbers, which I first heard about this time last year.
ok – to the idiots (with a smirk) who feel they want a database with iWorks, that is what FileMaker Pro is for. um – they are like – um, an Apple subsidiary. but for as much as I do not like microsoft, I do like Office. but then again, Apple would be set to put up a competing product – and the timing is right.
Apple sits on the board that approves the office document standards that Microsoft develops. by default, office is THE standard for business communications – and this is a good thing. now that it is treated as a standard, other developers/companies are able to develop to that standard and have total inter-operability. before anyone can scream foul and spit venom on how we don’t trust M$ – think about it. M$ has more of a monopoly in the office productivity suite than they do the OS.
M$ can no longer tinker and tweak and try to make sure other offerings break with office. M$ got what they wanted and painted themselves into a corner. when you strip away the fanatic perspective of M$, their position becomes more clear. the more they become relevent – the less they are relevent. pretty soon M$ will be nothing more than a standards company with revenue coming from licensing only.
Yes, the Visual Basic for Applications component of Office, among other features are required for most businesses. Which eliminates the possibility of most businesses using OpenOffice, ‘Lasso’, or anything other than Microsoft Office. That’s the reality. I doubt if MS is too worried about any home-user or (very)-small-business oriented spreadsheet that Apple or anyone else creates.
That’s okay though. Apple clearly is going after the home market. It’s all good.
As webbyswim says, I, as well, actually like Office. Both Mac and for Windows. It kills me to say it, believe me, but it is overall a great product. Not perfect, but pretty great. The only product MS has ever even come close to getting right. The rest of their products are garbage.
I hate to say this but they should also offer the software for the PC at a much lower cost than MS Office.
Microsoft’s Office software will gradually be deleted not only by Mac users but by PC users as well in large corporations.
I think MS Office is really in trouble with http://docs.google.com
Goodbye cash cow!
The irony of Scabro asking for a “more better” Word processor was not lost on me!
Pages definitely needs “more better” functionality to be an adequate everyday word processor. It has plenty of bells and whistles but is still missing a few basic nuts and bolts.
AppleWorks does such a grossly inferior job of rendering screen fonts that it really shouldn’t be mentioned in a serious conversation about modern word processors. Too bad because, except for that one failing, AppleWorks is a really nice little word processor that puts the most-used settings readily at hand instead of burying them in menus.
All very good, but what is Apple’s focus here?
iWork is fine for those consumers who would by a Mac, but won’t because, “I won’t be able to open all my Office files, unless I shell out more cash for the Mac version of Office.”
But what about the enterprise? There’s no way that a company is going to accept Mac’s, if the Office replacement only has some of the features of Microsoft Office and ‘lacks the depth of Excel”, it has to 100% compatible or nothing.
I don’t know why Apple doesn’t re-brand NeoOffice, make it more Mac like and install this for free on all new Mac’s. They could still work on iWork, as I don’t see one grabbing sales from the other, they’re 2 different products.
NeoOffice/OpenOffice: a workhorse app, 100% compatible with Office that has no frills and gets the job done.
iWork: a hybrid Office/Page Layout application that is useful for documents that need more flair and design.
I’m ‘trying’ to give up on Office, and have moved to NeoOffice in the short term to see if it is feasible. My company has started to accept OpenOffice on their Windows PC’s in order to cut costs, but it’s gonna be tough because Excel (I grudgingly accept) is unsurpassable.
iWork documents ARE COMPATIBLE with Office and visa versa! It will be even more the case with the new XML standard files.
Pages is a great word processor with infinitely better layout capabilities than Word. I produce newsletters, brochures, invoices, labels, letters etc etc and it’s really a joy to use.
“Lasso”, if it does all the straightforward things will appeal to 90% of Excel users. Most of us use about 10% of that of the funtionality of Excel.
Database: I am surprised that Apple hasn’t already released a FileMaker Lite version that can be a straightforward, simple database which again is what 90% of Access users want. None of the fancy shit, just the really sound basics.
So we then have the Apple Mac Office Suite….go Apple!
And my goal is: NEVER will I spend another centime with Microsoft.
I’m still trying to work out to put lines across a page in Pages. Anyone know how to do this? In Mellel it’s dead easy but in Pages I’m stuck.
Hey all you “eww, Lasso” numbnuts! The final name will not be the same as the codename Lasso. It will be: “Piecharts and Spreadsheets.”
Rock on!
This “rumor” is just a rehash of olf July rumors from their website. Nothing new here, folks.
http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0607charts.html
http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0607pages3.html
http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0607charts2.html
Yawn.
@ confounded.
“I’m still trying to work out to put lines across a page in Pages. Anyone know how to do this? In Mellel it’s dead easy but in Pages I’m stuck.”
Are you for real?
Insert Shape, Line. Bingo.
The slice of pie is big enough for Apple to have a small piece, but compatibility is very important. Pages claims compatibility with Word files, but it does not display it exactly as Word does, even after putting in the exact specs in the inspector that Word has.
As a Mac fan I hope it all works out, but Apple’s track record with apps like Pages and Keynote brings back memories of Appleworks and Filemaker. Of course FM went on to be big business, but not for Apple. I guess my point is, if they’re going to break the starting gate open I hope their intention is to stick with it for the long term. I’d like to see some demonstration that they have a financial and personnel commitment indicating a long term goal for these types of products.
In the meantime I think I’ll go ahead and Mariner’s office suite.
Thanks Macaday. I just wish the lines weren’t so dark. It’s just for my students to write on. I’ll see if I can find a work around for the texture.
“Of course FM went on to be big business, but not for Apple.”
I must have missed the announcement of Apple selling FileMaker to Snap-On Tools.
Some people think that FileMaker Pro increased their prices ($299 now, $99 at one point in the past) simply because it was viewed as simply being too cheap for a “real” (many-to-many relational) database. They may be in a quandary about this — make the proposed FileMaker Express a flat-file database program, and it’s not the same as Access; make it fully relational and what do you cut out of the “lite” version that’s not in the full version?
Good Luck “taking on Office”
LOL!!!!