I have not seen anything on this... has anyone heard anything. Office 08 sucks and iWork has been out for a while now...
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Any word on iWork (Numbers) development?
- Thread starter pbbaker123
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Numbers does have some snags;
no trend-line option, error bars, log(x) functions etc.
I use Numbers 80% of the time, but have to switch to Excel the rest of the time because of Numbers' lack of features.
no trend-line option, error bars, log(x) functions etc.
I use Numbers 80% of the time, but have to switch to Excel the rest of the time because of Numbers' lack of features.
I'd like a few bits like Excel's format painter and left and right y axes for plotting two things on the same graph. But mostly I'd like performance improvements. I have a sheet with lots of formulae and a couple of graphs. It is seriously slow switching between tables and graphs on my core 2 duo 2.33 GHz 3GB iMac. To extend the series that's included in the graph, for example, I must select the graph, wait about a minute (!), extend the range and wait another 30 seconds or so. I have to be very careful what I click on, as one wrong click will cost me another minute or so. I have never seen such poor performance.
In case it helps anyone, I did find performance greatly increases, perhaps to normal, if you keep the graphs on a separate sheet. You have to bring them back, though, to edit the series etc, and dragging the graph from one sheet to another takes a minute of two!. That would also be good, the ability to edit the series etc while the graph is on another sheet.
I did read elsewhere that Numbers is written in some kind of interpreted language?
Anyway, fantastic application, I love it for simple work that easily lays out beautifully, but for a heavier job like this one I'll stick to Excel for now.
In case it helps anyone, I did find performance greatly increases, perhaps to normal, if you keep the graphs on a separate sheet. You have to bring them back, though, to edit the series etc, and dragging the graph from one sheet to another takes a minute of two!. That would also be good, the ability to edit the series etc while the graph is on another sheet.
I did read elsewhere that Numbers is written in some kind of interpreted language?
Anyway, fantastic application, I love it for simple work that easily lays out beautifully, but for a heavier job like this one I'll stick to Excel for now.
Yeah, I use it for everything that is simple, because I like the look and and feel. Unfortunately, for down and dirty spreadsheet work, it does suck from both functionality and usability.. Which is why I am hoping that somebody over there at APPL is working on it....
Ok, that is a great suggestion, and since I have never submitted suggestions directly to apple, why don't we compile a list of reasonable features that need to be in Numbers to make it a real spreadsheet, instead of just a spreadsheet for the rest of us. I will compile the results and submit the letter via email to Steve.
1. Not being able to use arrow keys to select cells while editing a cell
1. Not being able to use arrow keys to select cells while editing a cell
It seems Apple has iWork off the annual update schedule -- more like 18-24 month intervals now. Numbers really needs some performance improvements. I tried to use it for editing a 3,000 record database, and it was impossible.
Why does he say 18-24 months? iWork was on a yearly schedule, then moved from January to August last year. It makes sense iWork won't see an update until Jan 09.
That's my assumption. I don't have a problem with an 18-24 month cycle for major revisions of iWork. Every year is really too often. Besides, nobody seems to complain much about waiting four years for Microsoft to revisit Office (and then not deliver much improvement).
Well unless it gets another August update, that delay may have been iPhone related, but we shall see.
I expect a Numbers update by Macworld. I would think it would be easier to get more of the Excel features than Excel getting the Numbers features. At least the feature called "speed".
So, has anyone heard how much longer MS is making office for Mac. I know they make plenty of money on it. I personally hate it, but I heard from somewhere that this was the last of Office development for Mac but that it would be supported for 5 years...
So, I guess APPL has 5 years to make iWork into a top notch suite. Until then, it will just be an alternative...
So, I guess APPL has 5 years to make iWork into a top notch suite. Until then, it will just be an alternative...
Microsoft has said they are committed to Office for the Mac for at least a few more years (it was five years a couple of years ago), which at their rate of development means possibly one more version. But the truth is, they will remain committed to this product for as long as it makes money for them. I believe the iWork strategy has less to do with Apple's worry that Microsoft will withdraw Office for the Mac then it has to do with reducing the leverage that Office gives Microsoft.
So....
Ok, not to drag this out, because it sounds like there is not much here, unless we do see an update this August... (I bought the new iWork the day it was available last August)
Question to Apple: Other than people like me who absolutely don't like MSFT and the the person who is a casual computer user who buys iWork because it is lower priced when the guy at the Apple store is showing you stuff, WHY should Mac users in general switch to iWork formats (that are only compatible with other Mac users that also have iWork?
Other than "I just like it" what is the advantage or purpose of developing this if Apple are not going to push for higher adoption among Mac users?
Ok, not to drag this out, because it sounds like there is not much here, unless we do see an update this August... (I bought the new iWork the day it was available last August)
Question to Apple: Other than people like me who absolutely don't like MSFT and the the person who is a casual computer user who buys iWork because it is lower priced when the guy at the Apple store is showing you stuff, WHY should Mac users in general switch to iWork formats (that are only compatible with other Mac users that also have iWork?
Other than "I just like it" what is the advantage or purpose of developing this if Apple are not going to push for higher adoption among Mac users?
You've suggested a couple of good reasons, but how about turning the argument around? Other than being stuffed to the gills with features that most people will never use, what are the advantages to buying into Microsoft's approach to software design?
iWork seems to be pretty popular. We have a pretty large mac user base at my university (and we are a BIG university), and a lot of people are using iWork instead of MS Office, including the faculty itself. And Pages and Keynote files are easily exported to MS Office formats easily and with little formatting and compatibility issues.
That is great. I don't pretend to have the answers in terms of direction. I like iWork a lot, but my original intent of this thread was more of a question with Numbers, as it seems to really be lacking. I know its version 1, but my question is to whether Apple is going to build a real spreadsheet application, or will it continue to be a "casual spreadsheet" for my CD collection?
On the flip-side, MS is getting away from VB, which is, unfortunately incorporated into many spreadsheet applications. It is my perception that as long as Office 2003 is still supported and remains mainstream, groups who have large volume licenses of Excel will continue to use VB or Macro-laden spreadsheets that are hard Mac users; Excel 2004 and OO both work for the most point, but the State of Texas uses an Excel "program" that is used for construction payment to contractors that won't even open in either OO or Numbers, or that when is opened is not remotely usable. I can use Excel 2004 for these, but it runs very slow and is taxing. I think that MS feels that the future of MS Office on the Mac will be through some sort of virtualization... which leads me back to, what is the future of Numbers.
On the flip-side, MS is getting away from VB, which is, unfortunately incorporated into many spreadsheet applications. It is my perception that as long as Office 2003 is still supported and remains mainstream, groups who have large volume licenses of Excel will continue to use VB or Macro-laden spreadsheets that are hard Mac users; Excel 2004 and OO both work for the most point, but the State of Texas uses an Excel "program" that is used for construction payment to contractors that won't even open in either OO or Numbers, or that when is opened is not remotely usable. I can use Excel 2004 for these, but it runs very slow and is taxing. I think that MS feels that the future of MS Office on the Mac will be through some sort of virtualization... which leads me back to, what is the future of Numbers.
Numbers is version 1.0. I think it's not very realistic to expect it to be an Excel slayer now, even if it was conceived as such, which I don't think it was -- any more than Pages was designed to be a Word-killer. Users who demand maximum features are probably going to stick with Word and Excel. They have a huge head-start in terms of raw features, but suffer on the usability front. Apple is going after users who don't need feature-heavy software, which I happen to think is about 90% of the people who currently use Office, even if most of them don't know it yet. That said, Numbers is certainly a work in progress -- somewhat like Pages was in its 1.0 state. Give it time, it'll grow.