“Along with iWork 09, Apple introduced the much rumored iWork.com, an online extension to the desktop office suite,” Milind Alvares reports for Smoking Apples.
“iWork.com merely presents your work online. There is absolutely no editing that can be done via the online interface. The only editing that can be done is adding comments,” Alvares reports. “After using the online extension for a while, I understood its true purpose. iWork.com excels at what it’s meant to do.”
“iWork.com is meant to send people a draft or final copy of a document. If you want to send a client, publisher, friend a document, instead of attaching it in an email, you merely invite them to view the document online,” Alvares reports.
“The formatting is preserved to the T, with color, graphics and fonts are all embedded in the document… The receiving end can then add notes or download a copy,” Alvares reports.
“I’ve always marveled at how Apple thinks outside the grid and brings in something what no one expects… People don’t want to edit files on the web, not with what the web currently has to offer. The cloud [has] yet to mature enough to be able to provide a rich environment for doing complex tasks,” Alvares reports. “What Apple has done is provide an online extension, while keeping the editing features [on] the desktop. They’ve also made sure that PC users don’t get left out by adding an option to download it as an MS Office-compatible file. The seamlessness by which this information is presented and transferred makes it not only easy to use, but usable.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Chris Z.” for the heads up.]
Let me edit on the fly and they got sumpin’.
Finally someone who gets what Apple was simply trying to do…
Apple has become much more careful about making sure the technology is ready to accomplish a task in a user-friendly way before they roll it out. And if technology is not ready, they either cut the task down or not enable the task at all.
I want other people to be able to edit my excel files without being able to download them.
Too many multiple versions floating around if everyone is downloading and editing multiple copies.
Oh course, after someone edits one of my excel/number files, I want to be able to undo any changes they make incase they screw it.
Hmm – I’ve never heard of Smoking Apples before. The site looks interesting. I’ll have to keep my eye on it.
Peace.
PS – Smoking Apples publishes a magazine. Their first issue – Nov 08 – has a review of Pixelmator which they basically agreed that Pixelmator is a good tool for basic tasks.
Na, I really think Google Docs is the future. I am a Chemistry teacher so I do a lot of word processing/spreadsheet/presentation work at home and use it on multiple computers at school. Google Docs is a GODSEND for me. I have nearly 100% of my work in the clouds now. And this past year, they introduced forms which allow me to make my tests for my classes as well. Unfortunately, I can’t put in pictures or graphs yet, but that is coming for sure. I sure all of Google’s Features, Sites for my website, Presentations, Forms, Calendar, It really is incredible what they have accomplished. I would happily pay $99/year for access to Google Apps.
Check out my websites and tell me what you think:
sites.google.com/site/mr-mays-class
sites.google.com/site/skillmanfriends
Forget the Super Power 17″ Macbook Pro, and give me a dumb terminal with a full internet browser. The fact is, 90% of people don’t need all of the computer power they have.
My thoughts exactly! At first I was excited, then disappointed, and then pleasantly surprised. Unlike MobileMe (which should be in beta), iWork.com is really strong. I hope they add some more features here and there, but for editing, let’s leave it at the desktop. Maybe in a couple of years when the internet is ready, Apple will release a proper office suite for the web.
I’m definitely buying this when it gets out of beta. Till then it’s a free ride!
“There is absolutely no editing that can be done via the online interface. The only editing that can be done is adding comments”
Way to contradict yourself in two sentences, Mr. Alvares. Do you get paid for this?
——RM
It’s certainly disappointing to learn that one can’t edit the documents. After listening to the keynote again, I can see that they never really claimed it could, but everyone immediately assumed this was the case and no one was contradicted.
It *is* a beta however. Perhaps features (like editing) will be added later? As it is right now I can see how it would be minimally useful if I had a book or article that I wanted comments on, but that’s it.
If it’s in the cloud, you have no access to it without the cloud. You WILL have days with now clouds!
iWork.com solidifies my belief that MobileMe either needs to be free (with purchase of something, oh say a $300 iPhone), or a free “lite” version with Push needs to be made available – whether it is through advertising or covered by cost of purchased.
But either way… iWork adds value to the software suite, and MobileMe has no place for me.
@ “Hmm – I’ve never heard of Smoking Apples before. The site looks interesting. I’ll have to keep my eye on it”
Me too
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bullcrap. If I’m going to subscribe to a service to share my documents, I want to have the ability to edit online as well, with the ability to allow others to edit, or lock them. I can do more with google docs for free. It already should be part of mobileme, rather than a separate entity with unusable urls. When you upload a document to share, it should go into a folder on your idisk that you can easily find.
Also, at a very minimum, if you are just uploading a file to get peoples comments, then the comments should sync back to the document, just like comments do in iWeb. You shouldn’t have to create all your work in the application and then toggle back and forth between the website and your app to make sure you’ve caught all the comments.
@ dallas
So what happens if you lose your internet connection (if you’re going wireless), or god forbid, you lose power. At least the 17″ mac book would allow you to complete your edits and provide you with light and entertainment for up to 6 hours till power comes back. Or you could just sit in the dark with your dumb terminal twidleling your thumbs, if that’s what floats your boat.
Clever solution. Having all members of a review team post their comments on a single web copy of a draft document avoids the currently common chore of aggregating comments inserted into multiple copies of a draft distributed via e-mail.
I’ve worked on many technical reports and other documents. One thing I do not want is multiple people editing one document. Yes, comments. But all changes to the document are the responsibility of the designated editor for that document.
In my experience, group editing quickly degenerates into “too many cooks”.
iWork.com sounds right for me. Sure, you can turn editing off in some other sharing services, but then people complain that they aren’t allowed to edit. Well, they aren’t allowed to edit for a reason, but try explaining they aren’t the single most brilliant writer ever to grace the Earth.
Darn it, when is Apple going to start supporting ODF?! I mean, TextEdit supports it, so why can’t iWork get onboard??!
Who CARES how it works, or even if it does work. Seems CYA is in vogue here. Why waste everyone’s time putting on a presentation about this when you could phone it in..or issue just a press release?
I can think of many people who care how and if this works. Lots of people don’t care, of course, but lots do. Different strokes for different folks.
As for phoning it in, can you imagine the press hysterics if they did that? “Apple cancels MacWorld keynote. Company to be bankrupt by month end.”
I also think Apple’s keep-it-simple approach is perfect for the first release. It solves an immediate workflow issue for me. All my production is on the Mac desktop using iWork whenever possible. To share documents, I often print to PDF and embed in email which complicates file management. iWork.com will totally eliminate the PDF step and allow me to archive project files in native iWork formats.
While online editing and collaboration are indeed useful, to me that’s a separate application. I like the web-standards approach of separating style from content. The perfect collaborative solution will enable me to publish a locked template with defined editable text fields (like Yep but specific to iWork apps). This could be a nice addition in 2010 or 2011 iWork releases.
The only way you can understand its usefulness, is not looking at it as a feature deficient online suite. Apple didn’t say it was, so where does the question of editing come in? It’s merely a way of sharing documents, and once you get that in your head, the whole thing becomes clear. iWork.com is absolutely brilliant at what it does.
Now what it does, is not what everyone wants. Some will need their editing tool but I’m sure many will be interested in iWork.com’s sharing features. I showed this to my dad, and a technophobe that he is, he was really interested in this new way to share documents. It’s easy, simple, elegant. It works.
This is perfect for me. I mean Perfect. I am the publisher of the documents, and only I should be able to edit the original. I want others to comment, and if their comment is valid, I make the change.
I can see myself using iWork.com a lot once it’s out of beta.
Well, after the Mobile Me debacle they must be scared shitless of another failure. Expect them to test any new online “cloud” features thoroughly in beta before they start advertising them loudly. Similar to Google Docs which wasn’t developed overnight this is going to take time. Great to know they’re working on it though.
Why no iWork upgrade? I don’t want to pay the full price for a few new features which may or may not be particularly useful to me.
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“ouside the grid”??? Where did this guy come from?
“Off the grid” or “Outside the box” are the proper sayings… Has this guy never heard of William Safire?
Oh, and mindpower, Apple doesn’t do upgrades. Since their software is inexpensive enough, they don’t feel that they need to offer an upgrade price. And with the quality and feature set you get for the price, I have to agree with them.
Guess you are used to Microsloth and the Office upgrade pricing. Well, when you rake over $300 for a piece of software, you have to offer an upgrade price or you will lose customers.
be nice if they focused on a basic and put graphing trendlines in Numbers as you can in excel…