Apple Makes iMovie, GarageBand, and iWork Apps for Mac and iOS Free for All Users

[GeneralChang]

I'm a customer, and I think their product line sucks now. I think their Iphones are weak especially with their outdated form factor. I think their 12inch macbook is a joke with one port (still have an amazing Macbook air and wouldn't trade it in for one port for anything), the macbook pros are ok (but only USB-C is lame).

Why don't you use Siri to look up something about some competitors, (wait, it can't) Maybe use Apple Maps to go to the a microsoft store to see some innovation (wait, it's buggy).

Why don't you share your location with an andriod friend (wait, cross platform sharing is only available in google maps).

Keep shelling out your money Mr. Lemmings

I think the OP was ignoring the fact that Apple's product lines have been moving, and aren't serving the same crowds as they were five or six years ago. But it's not like we didn't see these shifts coming, and it's not like Apple's products don't meet the needs of millions of happy customers. It sounds like your needs and Apple's product lines have diverged, in which case, you know... you pointed out lots of other places you can shop.
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They're are built in to macOS - all Cocoa apps have access to them.

For my usage (I'm a professional writer and editor), I've actually found them to be better and more consistent that those provided with Office especially for non-US English dialects. The Office tools only work with Office, the macOS tools work with Pages, Scrivener, Ulysses, Nisus Writer Pro, Mellel, TextEdit, Safari etc, etc...

The built in Oxford English Dictionary is also good enough that I rarely have to use my two-volume Shorter OED.

I love the built-in OED, it's actually a compelling argument in favor of macOS in my eyes. But I may also be a huge nerd.

 

[Macneck]

People who don't buy products new from companies are not the most loyal customers. Apple nearly went out of business 20+ years ago when these loyal customers weren't buying enough computers to sustain the company.

Can't disagree more. Loyalty is not measured by the number of computer one buys, but by the number of different brands one owns. MANY people -me included- can't afford buying a computer as regularly as they'd like. Those people are loyal customers if their next computer/phone/tablet/whatever is again from Apple and not from Samsung or Dell. Consider also that together with that computer or phone they also spend their money on a monthly basis in services like icloud, stores... They are still customers even when their last computer was bought in 2012.

And trying to blame customers of Apple's financial problems in the past is... You mean I should go into debts for Apple to be a happy company? I buy a computer when I need one and can afford it.

If you give something for free to newcomers who never bought that computer because of that gift, offer it also to the people who have been supporting you for years. That would have been the *elegant* way.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

The real question is who uses iWorks?

I do use it a lot on my Mac and iPad.
And I also have MS Office 365 on both, which I hardly even use; practically never.

 

[RedGala]

Great OS should come with great software. Good news.

 

[phillytim]

I downloaded P/N/K/Gb while I still have a Mac, just to get them registered to my Apple ID.

Can't hurt, if I ever come back to Mac from my anticipated move to a Windows laptop.

 

[ignatius345]

I guess in the minority but I very much like Microsoft office 2016 on Mac. It runs fine for me.

I have to say, Office 2016 is miles ahead of where Office for Mac was before. For a while at work, I was bouncing between PC and Mac versions of Office and it was great to finally have something close to the same design and functionality for both platforms.

 

[tubular]

Photoshop and Illustrator also fully support OpenType and Glyphs with separate menus for seeing all the alternates.

Good to know, but same basic argument; I don't rent software, I buy it or I don't buy it, and Adobe is dead to me until they abandon their subscription model.

 

[Dekema2]

Maybe you shouldn't be using 6 year old software. If you are, maybe you shouldn't bash it without having used the latest MS Word.

Having the latest MS Office for Mac, I'll say using any of iWork becomes incredibly frustrating because it just doesn't have any power behind it. If you're making fliers to find your lost dog, or making a spreadsheet to add or subtract, it'll work, but anything more it just falls flat on its face.



I'd rather have only needed to impress once.

Hey, I gave credit where it was due, I'm not in a position to drop triple digits on a productivity suite when I get the older copy from school for free.

 

[flyinmac]

Indeed, I have a Mac mini from late 2009 that I had updated to El Capitan (10.11.6) about two months ago. It would not run MS Office for Mac 2008 after the upgrade, so I installed LibreOffice 5.3.0 as a basic productivity suite. When I saw the recent news concerning the iWork apps, I tried to perform an install via the App Store and found that I must be running OS X 10.12 or later.

It was no real loss to me, as I'm running the latest MS Office on my Windows 10 box (using a license available to employees of large enterprises, which replaced our old HUP scheme) and I run applications such as AbiWord, Gnumeric, and/or LibreOffice on my Linux boxes. The iWork suite would've been a "nice-to-have" for the Mac mini, which isn't my main machine anyway.

My Mac Pro 2006 is running El Capitan 10.11.6 and MS Office 2008 for the Mac works flawlessly for me.

So there must be something else going on. Did you make sure you had all of the updates for office 2008 installed?

I've never had any trouble, and I use it daily.

 

[Michael Goff]

Great OS should come with great software. Good news.

Yeah, but the subject is iLife and iWork... Not great software.

 

[Cave Man]

When I saw the recent news concerning the iWork apps, I tried to perform an install via the App Store and found that I must be running OS X 10.12 or later.

Here we are in 2017 and iWork '09 is still superior to the crapware that Apple offers for free. In this case, you get what you pay for.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Essentially they are only giving the software away to those who were already able to get it for free.

It's a backhanded gift. Their only motivation is the misguided hope that this will convince us that our machines must be replaced.

Like one more jab will convince us that our computers are obsolete, and suddenly we'll flock to the Apple Store to buy a new computer that has Apple's blessing, but is otherwise not any more capable than what we already have.

I imagine shortsighted Tim will be surprised to learn that nobody flocked to buy new computers to run iWorks Apps. It's just not that good.

AppleWorks was the last time Apple had a great package. Simple and powerful. It was the best package. But all we've seen since then is diminished capabilities.

I'd move back to PowerPC to run AppleWorks before I purchased a new Mac to run iWorks.

I think you're reaching, desperately, at loosely.
Numbers, Pages, and Keynote have only been free for iOS, not Mac users since iLife was given up or at least the past 2yrs. And the iLife DVD I have from OSX Panther doesn't even boot on Mac mini 2012 with Sierra; since it's not Rosetta capable.
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Here we are in 2017 and iWork '09 is still superior to the crapware that Apple offers for free. In this case, you get what you pay for.

please entertain how iWorks is better please? Like what specifically is "better" quantifiably or qualifiedly?

 

[flyinmac]

I think you're reaching, desperately, at loosely.
Numbers, Pages, and Keynote have only been free for iOS, not Mac users since iLife was given up or at least the past 2yrs. And the iLife DVD I have from OSX Panther doesn't even boot on Mac mini 2012 with Sierra; since it's not Rosetta capable.
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please entertain how iWorks is better please? Like what specifically is "better" quantifiably or qualifiedly?

It does sound like you might need to review history a bit.

iWorks Pages, Numbers, and Keynote were free if you purchased a new Mac after 2013. As was the iLife Suite.

Any machine made after 2013 was already eligible to get these apps for free. Likewise, Sierra can be installed on said machines.

Requiring Sierra to be able to run the "newly" free iWorks apps does not extend free access to any machine that wasn't already eligible to receive a free copy of the iWorks apps.

So, the point I made previously is quite valid.

As for iLife, again any machine made since 2013 could get iLife for free.

The only old iLife program I had that wouldn't run on El Capitan was iPhoto. But, iPhoto was replaced anyway for free. So that wasn't an issue.

It's likely you were trying to install a PowerPC version. But, Apple did provide an update that was a universal binary, and didn't require Rosetta. I updated my apps for free with every free update. So, essentially I moved all the way up to iLife '08 taking advantage of any free update opportunities that arose.

And, since Mac apps are self contained, I've always just copied the programs from my Application folder as I've moved to newer OS X versions.

So, there were options available to those of us that wanted to keep using older iLife purchases. I've only purchased iLife once.

 

[Abazigal]

please entertain how iWorks is better please? Like what specifically is "better" quantifiably or qualifiedly?

For me, iWork's is just more pleasurable to use. I feel that I spend less time fighting the interface of iWork's when I work, which in turn frees up more time to focus on actually getting things done.

People will point out how iWork's has just a fraction of the functionality that Office has. I agree. And that's all the functionality I will ever need. Which means I don't need to contend with extra stuff I don't need or want.

It's just all the little details which add up to give that better user experience. It launches faster, syncs over iCloud, feels smoother and less bloated to operate, has a better interface on a 16:9 screen (where the controls are less cluttered and moved to the right rather than the top, where it takes up precious vertical screen space), boasts better template layouts (to me at least), it's just "nicer" to use. If that makes sense.

I admit there is just no getting away from Office in a work setting, but I will still use iWork's whenever I can get away with it (i.e.: presentations which I don't need to email to colleagues).

Yes, I am a little rebel at heart.

 

[MacBH928]

Good to know, but same basic argument; I don't rent software, I buy it or I don't buy it, and Adobe is dead to me until they abandon their subscription model.

whats your alternative?

 

[Cave Man]

please entertain how iWorks is better please? Like what specifically is "better" quantifiably or qualifiedly?

You still cannot multi select references in EndNote. You have to insert them one at a time. This is a New Pages issue because multi select still works fine in Pages '09.
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whats your alternative?

Photoshop CS5. Unfortunately. I'm also using Graphic instead of Illustrator.

 

[Plips71755]

Apple today updated several of its Mac and iOS apps, making them available for all Mac and iOS users for free.

iMovie, Numbers, Keynote, Pages, and GarageBand for both Mac and iOS devices have been updated and are now listed in the App Store for free.

Previously, all of these apps were provided for free to customers who purchased a new Mac or iOS device, but now that purchase is not required to get the software. Many Apple customers were already likely eligible to download the software at no cost if they had made a device purchase in the last few years.

Apple's iWork page has not yet been updated and continues to say that customers will only be able to download Pages, Keynote, and Numbers after purchasing an eligible Mac or iOS device, but new wording may be added shortly following the price drop. Apple's apps have also been removed from the Top Free app charts in the App Store.

Apple has been offering these apps for free to new Mac and iOS device owners since 2013, but dropping the price to free for all users makes it less confusing and opens up downloads for those who have not recently made a new device purchase.

- Pages for macOS [Direct Link]
- Keynote for macOS [Direct Link]
- Numbers for macOS [Direct Link]
- GarageBand for macOS - [Direct Link]
- iMovie for macOS - [Direct Link]

- Pages for iOS - [Direct Link]
- Keynote for iOS - [Direct Link]
- Numbers for iOS - [Direct Link]
- GarageBand for iOS - [Direct Link]
- iMovie for iOS - [Direct Link]

Update: According to a support document, today's app changes will make it easier for business and educational institutions to download Pages, Numbers, Keynote, GarageBand, and iMovie through the Volume Purchase Program store.

Article Link: Apple Makes iMovie, GarageBand, and iWork Apps for Mac and iOS Free for All Users

 

[Plips71755]

Well having access to software updates and upgrades for Apple if you owned a machine has always been around - even if you were several versions out of date. It was one of the things I always liked - I could have the newest features without having to buy an upgrade version. Windows was only doing security updates and until recent years you had to go to their site to do so. I'm assuming you can have them auto downloaded now. But Apple's was the newest operating system and the subsequent packages and apps and it stays updated. However, as much as I love Apple ..... their working software (Pages, Keynote, Numbers, Photos) stinks. They have been so downgraded and simplified that for me it's not useful. I run PC based programs that don't have an Apple version in virtual machine on Mac with Parallels. However, I use Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 for everyday use. I was going to recently upgrade but I'm not paying a monthly fee to do so and I don't want a basic version so I'm happy where I am (until it gets no support). I've been using Apple since the early 1980s when they first came out. I also used PC based software at home and at work. I currently have iMac i7 and I'm very happy with hardware; however they have dumbed down and stripped their software - including Photos to where you just can't do much with it. I have been using these types of packages (both Apple and Microsoft along with the original WordPerfect, Lotus, etc.) in office environments, for at home use and for basic graphic design work including publishing a magazine. There is a lot you can do with Microsoft Word/Powerpoint and you sure can't do any of it with Apple's software. Apple use to be a graphic designers delight - now we have to buy and install other software. I just recently went out to the Apple community and asked if I was just missing these features (moved/hidden somewhere) and got back the answer I expected - forget it - stay with Microsoft if you want those features. So creativity and intuitiveness - the hallmarks of Apple software are just gone. SAD!

Personally, I don't understand their releasing these apps now. I can't see that it will help them at all and I believe it will actually hurt them by showing non apple folks what joke their software has become. If their software was so great and creative as it was - even 10 years ago - I'd say it was a super idea to show PC folks what they were missing. Though they never really upgraded these types of packages to do the same as Microsoft did. But to me, this is another nail in Tim Cook's coffin. They should have gotten rid of him - I hate to say this but I don't know if Steve J. was too sick to realize he wasn't making a good decision, or whether Cook had him (and apparently the board snowed), or whether in some sort of sick way - Steve didn't want the company to succeed in the same manner as it had done under his administration. That's hard to say from someone who has been a die hard Apple lover for 35+/- years.

And this has carried over into their IOS devices. Every version, you have to hunt and explore like you are playing a game to find where functions have moved or have they been deleted. In past years - I would be excited to see what the new version would bring us and now I read the "coming attractions" hype and all I can think is - why don't they fix the problems and stop thinking up ways to reorganize Photos which I hate. You read the information and it's like - what is really new and ground shaking here - nothing. And now they are flat deceiving us. I don't think they even read the community forums - if they did - they would make changes. I just got the Apple Pro 9.7" 128K with the new apple pencil. What a joke.... finding a case that contains the pencil inside and isn't heavier than the iPad is tuff. I have a super light device but now it weighs 2 lbs. The charging system and keeping up with itty bitty parts is nuts. Their specifications for the iPad pro says it has a fingerprint resistant coating but it doesn't. If you push Apple (sr tech) you will be told they had to make changes for the new Apple pencil. Their advice besides saying some people's fingers are oilier than others and they suggest iKlear to clean it or to get a screen protector. It is worse than my older iPad which didn't even have a coating. I've used friend's Airs and had no issue. Apple did ask me if I wanted to send the Pro back and get the Air - very helpful but I wanted to use the pencil which only works on a Pro. That was before I used the Apple Pencil. Getting rid of the fingerprints is a nightmare and there are plenty of complaints about it on the internet - but they haven't heard anything. But then the pencil they said caused the coating change - the $100 pencil - well it doesn't work any differently than my $8 stylus from Target and it doesn't work with any of their software except very limited in Notes - extremely limited - nothing like the hype on the website reads. It works with the drawing/art/coloring packages; however, you still have to choose brushes and adjust the opacity/line weight etc. - just as before and like I did with the $8 one. It's just plain fraud - if I had the money, I'd do a class-action suit.
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For me, iWork's is just more pleasurable to use. I feel that I spend less time fighting the interface of iWork's when I work, which in turn frees up more time to focus on actually getting things done.

People will point out how iWork's has just a fraction of the functionality that Office has. I agree. And that's all the functionality I will ever need. Which means I don't need to contend with extra stuff I don't need or want.

It's just all the little details which add up to give that better user experience. It launches faster, syncs over iCloud, feels smoother and less bloated to operate, has a better interface on a 16:9 screen (where the controls are less cluttered and moved to the right rather than the top, where it takes up precious vertical screen space), boasts better template layouts (to me at least), it's just "nicer" to use. If that makes sense.

I admit there is just no getting away from Office in a work setting, but I will still use iWork's whenever I can get away with it (i.e.: presentations which I don't need to email to colleagues).

Yes, I am a little rebel at heart.

 

[Plips71755]

For me, iWork's is just more pleasurable to use. I feel that I spend less time fighting the interface of iWork's when I work, which in turn frees up more time to focus on actually getting things done.

People will point out how iWork's has just a fraction of the functionality that Office has. I agree. And that's all the functionality I will ever need. Which means I don't need to contend with extra stuff I don't need or want.

It's just all the little details which add up to give that better user experience. It launches faster, syncs over iCloud, feels smoother and less bloated to operate, has a better interface on a 16:9 screen (where the controls are less cluttered and moved to the right rather than the top, where it takes up precious vertical screen space), boasts better template layouts (to me at least), it's just "nicer" to use. If that makes sense.

I admit there is just no getting away from Office in a work setting, but I will still use iWork's whenever I can get away with it (i.e.: presentations which I don't need to email to colleagues).

Yes, I am a little rebel at heart.

Unless you are a very basic and new user, I just don't see how you can find Pages, Keynote or Numbers easier and more pleasurable to use than Word, Excel or Powerpoint. I use the Microsoft Office for Mac version. I have used it for the past 7 years. I spent the past 7 years trying to do in Pages, etc. what I could do in Word, etc. and you just can't do it. There isn't any comparison. It interacts and works with Cloud just as well. I've used Apple since the 1980s and Microsoft since early 90's. Now maybe you really don't care about being able to design your own documents and be able to edit your images including removing backgrounds and changing the color theme right in the Word program; being able to easily run text around images how you want it (not how a template want to do it) or being able to create text that you can bend and shape how you want, or create text you can fill with any type of background from your kid's pictures or you get off the internet from a picture of a stone to a NASA photo; or to highlight, shadow, or 20 other creative options like gradient coloring of text in several shades or filling images/shapes/text with the pattern from a piece of scanned fabric. Maybe having complete control over your documents and presentations isn't all that important to you but all of these things and a lot more is to the rest of us. When I've had to use Pages or Keynotes - and you walk into a meeting and someone says "You must have used such and such template" and you ask why did they say that - the answer is - "oh, it looks like others I've seen" - not want you want to hear. Or even worse - when someone says - why didn't you do such and such and you have to answer - I had to use Pages and their reply is "OH......", they perfectly understand it's limitations and almost feel sorry for you. If you call yourself a rebel - you would want more control and ability. Using templates isn't being a rebel. I don't know how long you've used Apple but their software just doesn't stand up anymore. Now if you are fairly new to software and computers - and you got caught in the Windows 7, 8 etc OS mess - then you definitely would like the Apple OS better - I do too. Yes the Apple OS desktop view is a lot slicker but remember the desktop is just icing. Slicker and glossier doesn't always make for better function. It's like reading a 4-color magazine on high quality heavy paper but it's written in Greek. It might be really pretty but if you can't read it - what's the point. Apple came up being super intuitive - you didn't need a manual. Everything was where it should be - it was natural feeling. Now most of spend each upgrade hunting for the functions they have moved or just deleted and not told us. They seem more intent on putting Photos in collections and locations where shot than actually being able to do something with them. The new Photos you can't even create a decent slideshow or book - if what you need something other than the 3 or 4 themes - well you are out of luck. I was told to try it in iMovie - what a farce that was. It would be better for us real users if the folks who could basically write their letters in Notes or Mail - to not give opinions on software that the rest of really need to work. I don't mean that nasty - it's just Apple wants to hear your type of comments. It backs up and gives support to their laziness to fix problems and to get back to being creative and functional. In the past, they were a graphic designer's delight. Now we are forced to go to Adobe or I've become very adept with making Word/Powerpoint do a lot of neat things and picking and choosing bits/pieces from the templates of both to get what I want done. Adobe has gone to a monthly pay system as Windows and others are doing. I will give Apple credit for not having done this yet but I wonder how long it will be. I can see with what little I do easily spending a couple thousand or more each year in software rent fees if this continues. Other folks - it could be $5000 or more a year. At that point, I will go back to pencil and paper. We get ripped off enough by the cable and cellular companies - now the software industry wants in on the deal. Everyone is doing it - even coloring book apps which I played with for the first time recently. All the good pictures require $8 and up monthly fee. Just sell me the app and be done. This rental thing is going to cause computer usage to go backwards to where less and less folks use it OR everyone will be more in debt trying to keep up with the technology. Maybe I'm a oldie but I cut the tv cable cord a long time ago. A $10 walmart antenna works just fine for me - I have 17 completely different channels to choose from and get all my PBS channels for free - no monthly or yearly bill. I have Apple TV that allows me to run any movies, youtube how to videos, slideshows whatever from my iPad to my big screen tv and I'm not missing anything. I don't even buy cable tv shows though I do occasionally rent a movie from netflix. Everyone complains about being in debt - well it's because these companies have convinced us we just have to have all this technology, or we have to have huge houses. We don't and we need to get back to saving and being frugal as opposed to just paying those monthly bills. We pay more for internet than most countries and the internet was developed here.http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/internet-u-s-compare-globally-hint-slower-expensive/
Now we can't even get just internet access which is pretty vital these days because they have hiked the prices. Sorry for the rant - back to software - Apple is pretty but the old saying - "pretty is as pretty does" holds true in technology too. I'm tired of giving up function and true usability for pretty.

 

[Abazigal]

Unless you are a very basic and new user, I just don't see how you can find Pages, Keynote or Numbers easier and more pleasurable to use than Word, Excel or Powerpoint. I use the Microsoft Office for Mac version. I have used it for the past 7 years. I spent the past 7 years trying to do in Pages, etc. what I could do in Word, etc. and you just can't do it. There isn't any comparison. It interacts and works with Cloud just as well. I've used Apple since the 1980s and Microsoft since early 90's. Now maybe you really don't care about being able to design your own documents and be able to edit your images including removing backgrounds and changing the color theme right in the Word program; being able to easily run text around images how you want it (not how a template want to do it) or being able to create text that you can bend and shape how you want, or create text you can fill with any type of background from your kid's pictures or you get off the internet from a picture of a stone to a NASA photo; or to highlight, shadow, or 20 other creative options like gradient coloring of text in several shades or filling images/shapes/text with the pattern from a piece of scanned fabric. Maybe having complete control over your documents and presentations isn't all that important to you but all of these things and a lot more is to the rest of us. When I've had to use Pages or Keynotes - and you walk into a meeting and someone says "You must have used such and such template" and you ask why did they say that - the answer is - "oh, it looks like others I've seen" - not want you want to hear. Or even worse - when someone says - why didn't you do such and such and you have to answer - I had to use Pages and their reply is "OH......", they perfectly understand it's limitations and almost feel sorry for you. If you call yourself a rebel - you would want more control and ability. Using templates isn't being a rebel. I don't know how long you've used Apple but their software just doesn't stand up anymore. Now if you are fairly new to software and computers - and you got caught in the Windows 7, 8 etc OS mess - then you definitely would like the Apple OS better - I do too. Yes the Apple OS desktop view is a lot slicker but remember the desktop is just icing. Slicker and glossier doesn't always make for better function. It's like reading a 4-color magazine on high quality heavy paper but it's written in Greek. It might be really pretty but if you can't read it - what's the point. Apple came up being super intuitive - you didn't need a manual. Everything was where it should be - it was natural feeling. Now most of spend each upgrade hunting for the functions they have moved or just deleted and not told us. They seem more intent on putting Photos in collections and locations where shot than actually being able to do something with them. The new Photos you can't even create a decent slideshow or book - if what you need something other than the 3 or 4 themes - well you are out of luck. I was told to try it in iMovie - what a farce that was. It would be better for us real users if the folks who could basically write their letters in Notes or Mail - to not give opinions on software that the rest of really need to work. I don't mean that nasty - it's just Apple wants to hear your type of comments. It backs up and gives support to their laziness to fix problems and to get back to being creative and functional. In the past, they were a graphic designer's delight. Now we are forced to go to Adobe or I've become very adept with making Word/Powerpoint do a lot of neat things and picking and choosing bits/pieces from the templates of both to get what I want done. Adobe has gone to a monthly pay system as Windows and others are doing. I will give Apple credit for not having done this yet but I wonder how long it will be. I can see with what little I do easily spending a couple thousand or more each year in software rent fees if this continues. Other folks - it could be $5000 or more a year. At that point, I will go back to pencil and paper. We get ripped off enough by the cable and cellular companies - now the software industry wants in on the deal. Everyone is doing it - even coloring book apps which I played with for the first time recently. All the good pictures require $8 and up monthly fee. Just sell me the app and be done. This rental thing is going to cause computer usage to go backwards to where less and less folks use it OR everyone will be more in debt trying to keep up with the technology. Maybe I'm a oldie but I cut the tv cable cord a long time ago. A $10 walmart antenna works just fine for me - I have 17 completely different channels to choose from and get all my PBS channels for free - no monthly or yearly bill. I have Apple TV that allows me to run any movies, youtube how to videos, slideshows whatever from my iPad to my big screen tv and I'm not missing anything. I don't even buy cable tv shows though I do occasionally rent a movie from netflix. Everyone complains about being in debt - well it's because these companies have convinced us we just have to have all this technology, or we have to have huge houses. We don't and we need to get back to saving and being frugal as opposed to just paying those monthly bills. We pay more for internet than most countries and the internet was developed here.http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/internet-u-s-compare-globally-hint-slower-expensive/
Now we can't even get just internet access which is pretty vital these days because they have hiked the prices. Sorry for the rant - back to software - Apple is pretty but the old saying - "pretty is as pretty does" holds true in technology too. I'm tired of giving up function and true usability for pretty.

You are right, I don't. When I create a presentation, I am not going to slave for two hours to get it right. I am a teacher, not a graphic designer, and I am not paid to create pretty presentations. No one is going to judge me over whether I keep recycling the same few templates, especially at the end of a three hour long meeting when everyone is tired and wants to go home and you just want to get your point across.

I want it done as quickly as possible, without compromising on quality. And I guess that is where the iworks suite shines-I am guaranteed a minimum degree of quality without needing to put in too much effort. I am happy with the few basic templates it ships that both look great and work great.

I guess that is where Apple shines-it lowers the barrier of entry for content creation. People don't seem to realize that simplicity is far harder than complexity. It's easy to add in a million buttons, toggles, switches, and features. What's hard is doing that in a dead-simple manner that is logical, coherent, and easy to use.

That's why so many techies continue to be baffled by Apple's success. People with an engineering mindset don't understand design, and so when they see Apple's incredible success, they just can't wrap their brains around the fact that it's good design that leads to this success. So instead, they convince themselves that Apple only makes money because they're a cult that brainwashes millions of people through product marketing. That's the only way that people who don't understand design are able to make sense of things.

 

[sracer]

Unless you are a very basic and new user, I just don't see how you can find Pages, Keynote or Numbers easier and more pleasurable to use than Word, Excel or Powerpoint. I use the Microsoft Office for Mac version. I have used it for the past 7 years. I spent the past 7 years trying to do in Pages, etc. what I could do in Word, etc. and you just can't do it. There isn't any comparison.

I don't know what you attempted to do with iWork vs MS Office, but as a power user of MS Office and iWork, I can easily perform some tasks in Pages that are more challenging in Word.

The most common reason why people have difficulty using Pages vs. Word is because they take a "Word" mindset to "Pages". That won't work. Also, it is EASIER to press a "do it" button in Word than to have an understanding of the underlying concepts of document creation.

It interacts and works with Cloud just as well. I've used Apple since the 1980s and Microsoft since early 90's. Now maybe you really don't care about being able to design your own documents and be able to edit your images including removing backgrounds and changing the color theme right in the Word program; being able to easily run text around images how you want it (not how a template want to do it) or being able to create text that you can bend and shape how you want, or create text you can fill with any type of background from your kid's pictures or you get off the internet from a picture of a stone to a NASA photo; or to highlight, shadow, or 20 other creative options like gradient coloring of text in several shades or filling images/shapes/text with the pattern from a piece of scanned fabric. Maybe having complete control over your documents and presentations isn't all that important to you but all of these things and a lot more is to the rest of us.

That is bizarre. The things you described are the things that are far easier to do in Pages. (And even more so in Pages '09)

That is where I stopped reading your post. It seems that your post is based on emotions rather than on the facts. That's fine, we're all emotional beings, but that is different than discussing the merits of a software package.

 

[Cave Man]

Unless you are a very basic and new user, I just don't see how you can find Pages, Keynote or Numbers easier and more pleasurable to use than Word, Excel or Powerpoint. I use the Microsoft Office for Mac version.

I suppose it depends on how you define "basic". I write million dollar grants with Pages '09 and it's worked just fine for that. And don't get me started on Power Point. Still less of an app compared to Keynote. I only use Word if I have to collaborate with others on documents who don't have Macs or don't use Pages, but the current version crashes frequently on my Mac Pro. It is rather unstable on my box.

 

[Ebenezum]

I'm not sure about iWork been free, on one hand its nice that one doesn't have to pay for it. On the other hand there are potential downsides such as is Apple going to improve the software in the future in a meaningful way since they won't make any money on it?

Furthermore this isn't exactly good for third party developer who plans to publish competing product since there is Apples software available for free...

I suspect Apple is only going to release minor improvements to iWork software in the future but I would be glad to be proven wrong.

 

[Osty]

Unless you are a very basic and new user, I just don't see how you can find Pages, Keynote or Numbers easier and more pleasurable to use than Word, Excel or Powerpoint.

Sorry, I don't buy that.

I've used Word since the mid 90s. I'm a professional writer by trade and for a while I made my crust building technical writing solutions with MS Office and VBA for Australia's biggest banks. There's not a feature of Word, Excel and Powerpoint I don't know, right down to their object models in VBA.

So, I don't say this lightly; I don't say this as a 'very basic' or new user. I prefer iWork

It looks nicer, handles typography and high-resolution graphics better, it performs better and its page layout controls are much, much better.

Lets be honest, word processors suck for anything longer than a resume, a letter or basic report; all of which, Pages handles just fine.

Word to me is just an interchange format (and a lousy one at that).

Word is inferior for long-form writing: Scrivener and similar products are miles better.

Word is enormously inadequate for technical writing: MadCap Flare, Framemaker or even AsciiDoc with a plain text editor are much better.

Word is too complex by far for basic word processing and not good enough for more specialist tasks.

 

[jumoonji]

Sorry, I don't buy that.

I've used Word since the mid 90s. I'm a professional writer by trade and for a while I made my crust building technical writing solutions with MS Office and VBA for Australia's biggest banks. There's not a feature of Word, Excel and Powerpoint I don't know, right down to their object models in VBA.

So, I don't say this lightly; I don't say this as a 'very basic' or new user. I prefer iWork

It looks nicer, handles typography and high-resolution graphics better, it performs better, and its page layout controls are much, much better.

Lets be honest, word processors suck for anything longer than a resume, a letter or basic report; all of which, Pages handles just fine.

Word to me is just an interchange format (and a lousy one at that).

Word is inferior for long-form writing: Scrivener and similar products are miles better.

Word is enormously inadequate for technical writing: MadCap Flare, Framemaker or even AsciiDoc with a plain text editor are much better.

Word is too complex by far for basic word processing and not good enough for more specialist tasks.

I agree that Pages, and especially Keynotes are in a way better than Office, even the 2016 version. I like the layout, the speed, performance and overall experience of the two processors mentioned before. While my Office 2016 crashes regularly, sometimes it would lag when I scroll across the document and so on and so forth.

I still use Pages to make my resume, write a recommendation letter or simple essay. All non-work stuff. And it was a joy to use. Not to mention Keynote, it is one of a heck of a presentation processor.

However, it is a no-brainer to use Word in the real world usage (i.e. for work) as, at least, in my line of the job the ability to compare docs and track changes feature of Word 2016 (or any part of the "review" tab) is significantly better than Pages. In Pages, for instance, I will not be able to have track changes if it is inside a table, only those that are in the body of the documents. The lack of these features made Pages unusable for my work purposes.

Additionally, I work in a law firm, and as far as I know, no other similar business use Pages for their work. Every collaboration documents are in either ".doc" or ".docx". Thus for the majority, if not all, in my professional line of work, Pages is not a viable tool to use.