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Apple iWrite?

Forget it guys...

iWrite is not a Word Processor. It is not in Apple's intent to compete with Microsoft on it's own. Apple competes against MS in collaboration with other companies like Sun or Oracle. MS is very big to be taken on by one company. The only competition Office will get, is going to be from OpenOffice.org or derivatives of that.

Apple is actively involved in the OpenOffice project and in the near future there will be a nice OSX native version on offer, that will be as good or better than the MS offering. The goal is for OpenOffice.org to modularize to a level, that will ease the development of its GUI on different platforms. And that's where Apple's contribution is currently at.

However, iWrite has nothing to do with that. iWrite is going to be the new Newton replacement. Think of it as a small laptop without a keyboard and a mouse but a stylus. It will be the fusion of PDAs and laptops. A computer that takes interaction to another level, and believe me, you are going to like it... a lot...

...but for that you'll just have to wait just a little bit more... just a little bit...
 
Originally posted by iChan
should apple release a PDA, there is no chance in hell that it will be calling an iWrite.

I mean, is writing the only thing you;d be able to do on it?

PDA=Personal Digital Assistant...
Click to expand...
I think if Apple releases a PDA they should call it Newton.
Oh wait, did some one already make that joke?
 
Don't Underestimate Compatibility Issues

For those who believe that substantial compatibility between word processing (or spreadsheet) programs is enough, bear in mind that many people work on very complicated documents with complex formatting. Only 100%, completely transparent, and completely accurate and reliable conversion will do. Trust me on this - you'll only wade through a 60 page document once to correct formatting, because the next time you'll use the original word processing program to make changes.

There's a reason why Office compatibility was such a prominent part of Apple's switcher campaign. For some of us, that was an critical factor.
 
Have you ever thought that they won't actually be making a product out of this, anytime in the next 5 years? They might just trademark it for some other reason.

If Apple could make a word processor and a spreadsheet (maybe also a database front end to mySQL too) of the standard of Keynote 1.1 I'd be buying it straight away. M$ products are plain ugly on OSX and Apple's stuff looks amazing.

Keynote raises the bar so much in presentations it's unbelivable. If Apple did this to word processing and spreadsheets then I'm quite sure many of the none-tied-down-to-M$ small to medium businesses would switch, if Apple could advertise it right.
 
What I've been saying all along

iWrite will be an application similar to what's in Windows XP Tablet PC edition: Windows Journal.

Yes, here I go again with the tablet stuff but hear me out.
Consider that SJ has said that the PDA field is too saturated and that tablet pc's really have "no usage" right now.
SJ is going to change all that by combining what works and what doesn't.

What does is that you can have the best of both worlds with the a laptop that converts into a tablet pc. If you've ever used a Windows tablet, you know how difficult it is to manage documents and so forth. Handwriting recognition is "on the way" for the rest of the apps in there also, so it was released pretty much prematurely; this is why it has failed so miserably, people simply don't see it as an extra edition (cost) or a replacement for their laptop/desktop (not enough power).

The 12 in. PB for sure will see this and I'm not so sure about the 15 in or the 17 in.

"iWrite: Record and manage all your handwritten documents and convert them to typed text."

Sounds good to me!! Bring it on!:cool:
 
Office compatability

Several posters have said "100%" or "Seamless" office compatibility. Forget it. It's a pipe dream. Even as MS adopts XML and announces that they are "releasing" their XML schemas", they keep enough in hand to assure that there will ALWAYS be something that only goes one way or another or doesn't work at all. Such is the business of proprietary file formats.

iWrite will be the wordprocessing module of Appleworks which will now allow individual applications to be launched. It will use the XML schemas for OpenOffice as well as the ability to open office docs and Apple will leave (for now) the direct competition with Office (features, etc) to Oo_O knowing full well that Oo_O will be Aquafied in due time. Meanwhile, they will have adopted yet another open standard and will be well positioned to completely embrace Oo_O should MS leave the platform

Remember, Oo_O is already FREE AND darn near 100% office compatible AND available on Windows, Linux, Mac (via X win) and yet still is no where near knocking off the "killer app". MS is not so vulnerable. However support for Office and proprietary file formats is slowly being eroded and Apple should join this bandwagon by introducing a powerful mut minimalist consumer application suite supporting open standards and let the rest of the battle develop.
 
Originally posted by uhlawboi80
wellll, unless it has flawless compatibility, unlike Safari which still doesnt, im hoping they dont piss of MS and have them stop making Office X.

now before you all freak out on me, i dont like M$ anymore than the rest of you. BUT, i cant use the reply button or several other functions of exchange online.
Click to expand...

I had the same problem with on-line exchange... until I turned off the pop-up blocker in safari. I can now reply to my hearts content.
 
Why now?

If they have been working on for all this time?

Bit of a risk leaving something like this so late? (registering a tademark)
 
Severl good point have been made that really point to this becomeing anything excpet a M$ word type application.

1. Microsoft would most likley drop Office development. This would hurt Mac sales. Look @ how fast they dropped IE when Safari came out.

2. Alternative Office Suites are already available in abundance, with most offering some degree of Word Compatibility (there is even soem degree of incompatibility between versions of Office!)
Corel Office (WordPerfect), OpenOffice, etc.

3. For Apple to risk losing Microsoft Office support, it would then need to A. Develop additonal apps to replace Publisher, Entourage, and Excel B. COnvince would be buyers its just as good and C. undercut Microsoft's price (not too diffcult, but I'm sure if you ask Sun how much money they make on StarOffice @ roughly 50% dsicount on M$ Office price, it won't be a whole heck of alot.)

I'm not big on paying M$ prices, and for the majority of what i do, OpenOffice is swell. But if you are looking a compatibility with this BUSINESS realted stuff, you don't want to take risks, or as someone else said, spen time reformatting. If it takes some one an hour to reformat a lengthy doc, that's still an hour of billable time wasted. How much does that M$ upgrade cost now?
 
OpenOffice Question

How far away do people think the Mac OS X native OpenOffice is from being reality?
I think Apple would rather let that be the alternative to MS Office.
Maybe, iWrite just a souped up version of TextEdit.
 
as pointed out, i find it hard to believe apple will be releasing an office suite. however i wouldn't be surprised to see an "i" app for word processing that will be included as a standard installation on new macs and the next osx release.
 
Re: Office compatability - off topic

Originally posted by whiskeybravo

Remember, Oo_O is already FREE AND darn near 100% office compatible AND available on Windows, Linux, Mac (via X win) and yet still is no where near knocking off the "killer app". MS is not so vulnerable. However support for Office and proprietary file formats is slowly being eroded and Apple should join this bandwagon by introducing a powerful mut minimalist consumer application suite supporting open standards and let the rest of the battle develop.
Click to expand...
OO is free and therefor people are hesitant to try it. Many assume it can't be very good if it's free. There's also no advertising of the product and so very few consumer know about it. I could go to Target or Walmart and ask everyone going in if they have heard of OpenOffice.. There response would be "Is that the new MS Office?" They just don't know and don't see the light like computer enthusiasts do.

If they charged 40's for it and sold it at Fry's and Walmart, they may actually get a lot more users then offering free over the net.. It sounds carzy, but it'd have a greater effect.
 
Re: Re: Office compatability - off topic

Originally posted by pgwalsh
OO is free and therefor people are hesitant to try it. Many assume it can't be very good if it's free. There's also no advertising of the product and so very few consumer know about it. I could go to Target or Walmart and ask everyone going in if they have heard of OpenOffice.. There response would be "Is that the new MS Office?" They just don't know and don't see the light like computer enthusiasts do.

If they charged 40's for it and sold it at Fry's and Walmart, they may actually get a lot more users then offering free over the net.. It sounds carzy, but it'd have a greater effect.
Click to expand...

Excellent point and precisely what Apple could do with iTunes for Windows to counter WMP9

(Sorry off topic)
 
Originally posted by gamicoulas
iWrite is going to be the new Newton replacement. Think of it as a small laptop without a keyboard and a mouse but a stylus. It will be the fusion of PDAs and laptops. A computer that takes interaction to another level, and believe me, you are going to like it... a lot...

...but for that you'll just have to wait just a little bit more... just a little bit...
Click to expand...

If only this was true...
 
I'm hoping for a word processor. There is exactly one reason I do not use Word. Price. It costs 230 bloody dollars! I simply can't justify paying that much for an application I rarely use. Since I got my Mac I've only had a need for a word processor once. I ended up messing with TeX, which works just fine. Still, it's nice to be able to create a document without having an open reference manual sitting on your desk. If Apple was to release a word processor for the same price as Keynote, I would buy it immediately. Actually I'd prefer cheaper, about $70-ish, but $100 is justifiable.

And please, don't make it so "helpful"! I always got so sick and tired of fighting Word to make it format things the way I wanted it to on school computers.
 
Originally posted by jkhanson
Amen to that. I hate the fact that Word replaces what I want with what it *thinks* I want. Yeah, I know you can turn all that stuff off (I have). I switched to LaTeX (using TeXShop as the front end). It has a steep learning curve, but the output is gorgeous and it gives you awesome ability to fine-tune layout. Better yet, it's free. Bye, bye Word.

I like Excel, though. It's the only Microsoft program I still use.
Click to expand...

Excel I like.
Word, though, is a complete dog. Unless you're just writing a small memo, it sucks. It would take me 20 minutes to list all the fundamental problems with Word. In a nutshell, though, it's STILL unbelievably buggy, and it's very unprogrammatic. Using FrameMaker (or even LaTeX) is a good antidote to the illusion that Word is a powerful document creation/editing app. However, FrameMaker is way too expensive, and they haven't bothered to port it to OS X--very short-sighted of Adobe.
kfglq
 
If iWrite is a pen, Apple will try to get one in everybody's shirt pocket. They already have an iPod in everybody's front pants pocket. So they need to sell the iWallet so we'll all have something for our back pocket too, to complete the set.
 
Here are four reasons why OS Office for X is unacceptable, or why it's hurting Mac sales:

1. You can't cut and paste web sites into Word X, but you can in Windows. While the trend is to make more and more of our programs browser-based, it seems odd that Apple, where the "i" in iMac stands for internet, seriously trails Windows in this regard. I need to own a Windows machine just to send out html newsletters.

2. A systems analyst who uses Excel extensively refuses to use the Mac X version - they simply cut out a lot of features and shortcuts from the Windows version.

3. Between using Office for both Mac and Windows, the Mac version seems cartoony and sluggish. I have no doubt this will get worse unless Apple does something about it on their own.

4. There's no shortage of articles blasting MS for not breaking any serious new ground for Office in ten years. They need a kick in the pants - it really is an old school app. Word processors and dtp will merge (drag and drop baby!) just like cell phones and pda's.
 
Apple will enter into a market if it can innovate enough to differentiate itself and take at least a one year lead off the bat. There has been almost no innovation in the MS Office suite for half a decade. DO you think that Apple can innovate in an area that has been dead for so long?

Look how far ahead they were able to take Keynote, has MSFT been even able to match Keynotes 3D hardware accelerated cinematic presentations. No, because the underlying OS Services do not exist in Windows XP to support them in the App layer.

Apple has the advantage of leveraging their richer Cocoa and Quartz frameworks. Plus the integration of collaborative tools like iChat AV will create new functions that simply cannot be easily copied on the Windows platform. The addition of real-time collaboration, think SubEthaEdit (formerly, Hydra), with a full blown document processor along with Video conferencing will launch office productivity into the broadband age. How cool would that be and it is only possible on the OS X platform. Windows just can't handle it right now.
 
Talking about compatibility, there are already plenty of incompatibility issues between Word(PC) and Word(Mac), room for improvement which iWrite could fill, e.g.
- font conversion, especially Symbol fonts
- image conversion (proprietary Windows vector graphics)
- missing possibility to embed click-able links in PDFs created from Word documents
- layout issues like page breaks, footnotes etc.

The funny thing is that most of these issues exist as problems between different PCs as well, albeit to a lesser degree:
- the chances are simply higher that a certain Windows font does not exist on a Mac, than on another PC, although it is quite easy to put a missing Window font on a Mac
- on my stock W2k system the link embedding did not work either (though I later managed to fix it)
- footnotes moved from side to another on a W2K system between Word screen output and the PDF, but stayed were they should on the Mac

Word is simply not stable enough in layout questions, once you've fixed your layout in Word you better don't touch it again, editing anything even on the same computer could break something, opening it on a Mac carries similar risks.
 
Originally posted by geerlingguy
How about this:

Microsoft announces at MacWorld: "I have some good news, and some more good news. Microsoft has just come out with a new version of Office. This will be the last version that Microsoft makes. After that, all Mac Business Unit operations will be transferred to Apple. We believe that Apple is the most innovative computer company, and Apple is dedicated to finally fixing all the bugs in Office for Mac. Instead of calling it office, it will be called Apple Office, with iWrite, Mail, Keynote, and Database. Everything will be faster, easier to use, and generally much better."

Steve adds: "Oh, and one more thing. Here's the PowerBook G5. It comes in the 2.4, 2.6, and dual 3.0 Ghz varieties. The low end model has an 80GB hard drive, 1 GB of PC3200 DDR RAM, and a new ATI Radeon 990 Pro with 128 MB VRAM.":D
Click to expand...

Dude, wake up! You're having an iDream.
 
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