Job Postings and Patent Acquisitions Hint at Potential Overhaul of iLife and iWork

[thelookingglass]

Originally Posted by anthonymoody

Quote:
a file sorting system that can reorganize according to time, category, or a common theme -- such as a work project -- and sync with cloud servers and other users


That's the part that's eluded iWork and iCloud until now - the ability to mix file types. We think of them traditionally as Folders but themes is an equally good if not better convention. Tag files with keywords, as many as needed, so you can group and sort (and search) as needed. Hopefully Apple will not limit this to iWork files but will include PDFs, photos and, well, just about anything.

Big things coming for iOS file system.

Sure hope so. At a minimum it at least shows that they're aware the current implementation is not a long term solution.

[ArtOfWarfare]

Two things that would make doing my homework in iWork a lot quicker:

A built in equation editor.
Built in flow chart support.

Other stuff that would be nice... The ability to add captions... The ability to insert tables of tables or tables of figures... I can't think of much else that causes me to choose Word over Pages, ever.

[britboyj]

About. God. Damn. Time.

[JGRE]

Originally Posted by T'hain Esh Kelch

Why? It wouldn't be faster you know.

iPhoto certainly will, I have also Arperture (64-bit) which is a bigger app but it loads much faster dan iPhoto.

Apple should have all there apps in 64bit. 32bit is so yesterday.

[jonnysods]

I bet they remove the year dates from the version so people won't make note of how old their software is. Like iWork 6.0 or something like that.

[Jeaz]

It's very much over due. Almost too late. iWork has been on the brink of abandonware and while iLife has received a little more love, it's still barely make use of iCloud and the potentials with it.

[bedifferent]

Originally Posted by britboyj

About. God. Damn. Time.

I'm disappointed Apple is now starting work on a new iLife suite. This means it will be a while before anything substantial results. While I use "Dreamweaver for heavy web work, iWeb was a fun and easy GUI for MobileMe sites. I miss hosting my own site on MM, was easy.

iPhoto needs a serious overhaul. Removing individual picture/event/album restoration from "Time Machine" with ver. 9 was a big mistake. It's a PITA if you or someone else placed pics you need in the trash, then inadvertently empty it. You have to restore the entire iPhoto library instead of opening iPhoto, then "Time Machine" to restore individual items as you can with Contacts, Calendar, Mail... Ridiculous.

[HenryDJP]

Originally Posted by JGRE

At least 64-bit please.

I do realize that iWork is a little on the slow side but I use iMovie all the time and never noticed any performance hits. That being said Steve Jobs (before deceased) should have been embarrassed that iLife wasn't 64-bit since he touted OS X being 64-bit so often. I didn't even know this until I checked Activity Monitor.

[blacktape242]

iweb??!!?!?!? ok, probably not, but i can wish cant i?

[HenryDJP]

Originally Posted by Jeaz

It's very much over due. Almost too late. iWork has been on the brink of abandonware and while iLife has received a little more love, it's still barely make use of iCloud and the potentials with it.

While iLife could never be "too late" to the game, I was certainly hoping Apple would've had iWork take at least 50% of Microsoft's Office business by now. Apple has had a productivity suite for many years and now that they have the iDevices to push their software into so many hands I thought iWork would've taken off by now. They just haven't put forth much effort into iWork. Very sad. Not that it really matters but I never cared for the name.

[JGRE]

Originally Posted by HenryDJP

I do realize that iWork is a little on the slow side but I use iMovie all the time and never noticed any performance hits. That being said Steve Jobs (before deceased) should have been embarrassed that iLife wasn't 64-bit since he touted OS X being 64-bit so often. I didn't even know this until I checked Activity Monitor.

Right, Apple should make an statement (by having all their own apps 64-bit) to all the software developers still working with 32-bit code. 64-bit is really faster, for some apps hardly noticeable but for other there is a big difference. 64-Bit Arperture is much faster than 32-bit iPhoto.

[dru`]

Originally Posted by numlock

skeuomorphism and the aesthetics is one thing but what exactly has stopped them from having numbers as usable and competent application?

its got some nice drag and drop solutions but when it comes to actual work i will go to openoffice/libreoffice and google docs every time.

what's missing from numbers that you need?

i get plenty of actual work done in it.

it doesn't try to be 1-1 in features with excel as open/libreoffice are because that was their goal, apples was to replace appleworks and heavily influenced by the suit of apps steve liked that was available on NeXT (and Sun bought and buried).

there are some things that are not optimal but i generally find a way to get around it by rethinking my approach.

since i've decided to stay on SL i wouldn't any any iwork update anyway. even the dec minor updates won't run.

[bedifferent]

Originally Posted by HenryDJP

While iLife could never be "too late" to the game, I was certainly hoping Apple would've had iWork take at least 50% of Microsoft's Office business by now. Apple has had a productivity suite for many years and now that they have the iDevices to push their software into so many hands I thought iWork would've taken off by now. They just haven't put forth much effort into iWork.

My friends working in Cupertino, seems Apple isn't hiring enough engineers and designers as their company and base grows. Steve always kept a small team for communication between departments, and everyone knows Jobs shifted OS X engineers off 10.5 Leopard to iOS in 2007, delaying its release.

Hire more engineers Apple, stop shifting them between departments. You have the money, use it.

[Macrolido]

Pages works pretty slow for me, in both 32 and 64 bits.

[Michaelgtrusa]

But hire them where?

[HenryDJP]

Originally Posted by Macrolido

Pages works pretty slow for me, in both 32 and 64 bits.

How are you getting Pages to work in 64-bit? It's only a 32-bit app.

[KittiFatale]

Put iLife and iWork together into one suite and it will be unstoppable.

[kemal]

Please Apple. Don't hire any of the interface engineers away from Microsoft.

[bedifferent]

Originally Posted by Michaelgtrusa

But hire them where?

Increase the amount of engineers instead of straining their teams. Apple has a history of hiring engineers that can be shifted around departments as needed. Why bother? Just hire enough engineers for iOS, OS X, iLife, Aperture, iWork, etc development instead of moving around an already strained group. It would improve quality, increase updates cycles (iWork 09 and iLife 11 should have been updated a long time ago). iOS gets a lot of work due to its popularity/need, OS X and associated suites need the same tender loving .

[bbyrdhouse]

About. Stinkin'. Time.

It really is hard to believe that Apple has avoided the iWork suite for nearly 4 years.

It desperately needs some attention ... other than that stupid integration with iCloud.

A lot of what I used Pages for I now use iBooks Author because it is faster, smarter and has more features.

[powers74]

Let's go Johnny.

Originally Posted by Rogifan

And who gets the final say on look and feel?

Ive.

[sfoalex]

Originally Posted by HenryDJP

While iLife could never be "too late" to the game, I was certainly hoping Apple would've had iWork take at least 50% of Microsoft's Office business by now. Apple has had a productivity suite for many years and now that they have the iDevices to push their software into so many hands I thought iWork would've taken off by now. They just haven't put forth much effort into iWork. Very sad. Not that it really matters but I never cared for the name.

Apple won't even get 1% of Microsoft's Office business with iWork, also known as iWorthless. Adopt top menus, get rid of the stupid inspector, lose all the separate windows for things like Fonts. Clean it up, it's all over the place. I can't believe anyone in here even remotely likes it at all.

[carlgo]

What is it with all these hires for this project and that, like whoever is there now can't do it. Aren't there like 27K employees? What do they do?

It almost seems that Apple has no confidence in the people they have, for anything.

[Bubba Satori]

Originally Posted by Michaelgtrusa

But hire them where?

The old MS Works team?

----------

Originally Posted by carlgo

What is it with all these hires for this project and that, like whoever is there now can't do it. Aren't there like 27K employees? What do they do?

It almost seems that Apple has no confidence in the people they have, for anything.

I've always wondered that too.

[kirky29]

Originally Posted by sfoalex

Apple won't even get 1% of Microsoft's Office business with iWork, also known as iWorthless. Adopt top menus, get rid of the stupid inspector, lose all the separate windows for things like Fonts. Clean it up, it's all over the place. I can't believe anyone in here even remotely likes it at all.

Whaaaaaat! I love the font panel! I couldn't imagine not using it.... I can't stand a list of 100's of fonts, I love being able to search through them and add favorites.

Same with the color panel.

I think the inspector is good, but can get annoying when quickly trying to switch through from tables to text etc.