“Apple Inc.’s release of iWork ’08 this week is ’embarrassing,’ an analyst said today, not for its maker, but for rival Microsoft Corp.,” Gregg Keizer reports for Computerworld. “Tuesday, Apple rolled out a refreshed iWork that added a spreadsheet, dubbed Numbers, to the earlier mix of a word processor/page layout Pages and presentation maker Keynote. But it was iWork’s ability to handle the Open XML file format — the new native format for Microsoft’s own Office 2007 application suite — that Michael Gartenberg of JupiterResearch LLC talked about.”
“‘This was the ultimate insult to injury,’ Gartenberg said. ‘Not only has Microsoft not delivered the ability to read and write Open XML in its Mac Office, but at the end of the day, Apple was the one who delivered,'” Keizer reports.
“Gartenberg referred to Microsoft’s problems developing Office 2008 for Mac, which the company announced last week would be delayed until mid-January. Among the roadblocks, said Microsoft’s Macintosh Business Unit (MBU), is the shift to Open XML as Office 2008’s native file format… ‘This is embarrassing for MBU,’ Gartenberg said,”Keizer reports.
Keizer reports, “Ironically, one of those who praised iWork’s handling of the Microsoft file format was a program manager for Office 2007. “[iWork ’08] reads the Office Open XML files with very high fidelity,” said Brian Jones on his company blog… ‘What this really shows is Microsoft’s inability to ship software on time these days… It’s going to be hard for Microsoft to get those people who try and buy iWork back,’ Gartenberg said. ‘Microsoft’s let down its Mac customers.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s iWork ’08 should embarrass Microsoft for many more reasons beyond just being able to open up Open XML files, but we’re not so sure Microsoft is even capable of being embarrassed – just look the Zune or their flagship OS or their CEO; a huge embarrassment who, we pray, will continue to helm the ship all the way to the bottom.
Many Mac users — the majority, we believe — think they need Office, but really don’t. Give Apple’s free 30-day iWork ’08 trial a try and see for yourself.
I say port iWork to Windoze!
A glass of ice water to those in hell.
I opened several of the Numbers templates and fiddled around with changing values in the cells. It took a huge amount of time to recalculate, every time. This is not good at all. Files are very slow to open too. 1.67 GHz G4 Powerbook.
I am using the Numbers trial software to put together a simple spreadsheet with a pie chart. This software is excruciatingly slow. Plus the chart looks horrible. I’m using my trusty PowerBook 100.
@ TommyBoy impostor: Lay off my handle poseur.
The Numbers is excruciatingly slow. I am using my robust Apple II with Intel 64-bit processor emulation (which allowed me to run Numbers on MacOS X Tiger).
I invited Ballmer down to a posh little bistro today. It was strange and a bit uncomfortable. I sipped on a liquidity squeeze while Ballmers doppelganger across the room choked on a credit crunch. Ballmer sat licking the sweat off his chin and looked down at his hands a lot …big fingers. After an uncomfortable silence I said, ‘wow’. Then I said it again but this time in upper case, ‘WOW’. He went forward straight down head to the table. I wrote iWork ’08 on the back of his head with a big fat sharpie. It was very tasteful. Oh, yeah ..Ballmer, if you’re reading this ..you’re welcome.
“Embarrass and Extend”
GO Apple!!
DEFII –
I use QuickBooks for the Mac, and have used Quicken. I know there are some things that supposedly Quicken only does on PCs, but I’ve completely run my small business on Intuit since I started seven years ago. Quicken has never lost data, and now that it can save in the PC format, my accountant is happy.
So what’s so bad with Quicken and QuickBooks??
The Numbers is excruciatingly slow. I am using my robust Apple II
VisiCalc, dude. The app that started it all…
Crazy to think they ran a spreadsheet with less resources than Vista needs to draw a single icon on the screen.
We tried Numbers in our company and we can do anything we want, no problem with formulas and/or speed. Too bad we were caught and ended up in prison.
Other than that, numbers are just fine.
… and Bill keeps selling more of his stock….
Basic truths:
Zune Tang is not funny (if you believe he is-watch some Monty Python or Coupling to learn what funny is).
Trolls or misguided people always complain and throw up phantom problems no one else experiences.(Really, what the hell are some of you doing to your machines?)
Apple always embarasses MS.
This so-called Numbers program barely moves. I’m running a state-of-the-art Commodore 64 computer with the GEOS environment loaded.
Who wants to bet, given the code basis for Safari, that it won’t be long before there is an actual “Apple Office?
iWork 08 is a definite must buy for me now. I have worked without the iWork suite for 6 years waiting for an answer to Excel, while remaining unwilling to pay through the nose for MS Office. A very welcome day!
iLife ’08 is an embarrassment to Microsoft as well. For that matter, so was iLife ’06, but with ’08 they really made a huge leap.
This becomes clearer when you compare something like photo, movie, and productivity apps on the Mac and PC, and what they’ll cost you:
Apple Mac Software: Spend much less (but get much more) than on a PC.
here’s what I don’t understand: apple owns filemaker, so why isn’t filemaker part of iWork? iWork needs a database app to round it out so it can compete with office/access in small business environments.
What about iWork08 and ODF?
iWork ’08 is a classic 80/20 app, in as much as it contains the 20% of overall functionality that 80%+ of the user-base actually use.
Hopefully, Apple have implemented some sort of plug-in architecture so that third-party developers can add in functionality like equation editors (for Pages and Keynote) or database interfaces [XML, ODBC, etc.] (for Numbers).
As it stands, you get three elegant (and in the case of Pages and Keynote, increasingly mature) applications for $79 – under $30.00/app which is pretty good value. Need more functionality like diagramming or whatever, go and buy something like Omni’s Graffle which costs a fraction of the cost of Visio (the family pack (5-user) of Pro only costs $225.00) but doesn’t drive me up the wall.
uptime 16 hours. Damn Numbers caused kernel panic. Other than that Numbers is amazing. I fall in love instantly. Office is soooo gone. I am very happy that I no longer can justify Office at our office. We do not upgrade or buy new licenses of Microsoft Office.
Unfortunately many do still need ‘Office’, anyone working in science and maths does need it, I hope that iWork will evolve to cover this.
It isn’t acceptable to translate correctly some of the time, every single symbol, bullet point, font, graphic, and formating must be translated, people often pass the same document back and forth between users adding to the document.
I use QuickBooks for the Mac, and have used Quicken. I know there are some things that supposedly Quicken only does on PCs, but I’ve completely run my small business on Intuit since I started seven years ago. Quicken has never lost data, and now that it can save in the PC format, my accountant is happy.
So what’s so bad with Quicken and QuickBooks??
The main reason we switched to “MYOB” accounting software is because “Quicken” allows your book keeper to steal from you without leaving a trail to follow. For example: you can write a check for $500 to a supplier you have on file, go into the software and turn off the tracking, change the name on the check to “joe book-keeper”, print the check out- cash it. Go back and turn the tracking back on and you won’t even notice that the check went to the wrong place as it will still show that the check went to your supplier. Two of my suppliers had this happen to them in the last 3 years, 1 had a little under 20K taken the other just over 2K. They figured it out when their supplier discounts didn’t go up for the amount of $$ they were spending with them.
So, for that reason only- the possibility for someone to easily steal from you with a program designed to let them do it…
As it looks right now, there’s no way I would trade in Office for iWork. First main deal breaker is the missing dictionarie/-s. I write in 5 different languages and really like the way I can switch between dictionaries in Office. Secondly, iWork doesn’t have a thesaurus – go figure.
i am really glad a lot of people seem to like open office and neooffice. especially if you are trapped on windows i recommend them myself…..
but if you are on Mac, and go get the 30 day trial, unless you are totally blind, you have to admit that iWork blows them away in most areas.
i am not saying they don’t have their place, in fact i am very glad they have a place, and i expect more good things to come from them. but honestly, open keynote (for example) and be honest with yourself. iWork is a great little collection of apps…..
Why pay for iWork? Because NeoOffice is a slow Java application that creates crappy looking PowerPoint/Keynote presentations. Impress impresses nobody and makes PowerPoint presentations look like a beauty queen.
MW: Answer- Steve has given me the answer to finally being able to get rid of NeoOffice on my system.