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

[IJ Reilly]

My vocabulary lets me down once again. Appropriate wasn't quite the word I meant. I guess Office is... easier for businesses. Not perfect but no real reason to change, especially when you consider iWork is macOS only.

Well fair enough, but it does depend on what you mean by easier!

 

[a.gomez]

They can't even give this crap away. They need to kill it and give up. We do not have a single Mac without microsoft Office.

Evey single client send us microsoft office files - why would we even deal with anything else.

 

[6836838]

I thought they were already free!? I mean who would pay for iWorks over MSOffice!?

 

[Asarien]

They made them free to any new owner since 2013... surely everyone has met that criteria by now right? Who will this appeal to?

Genuinely curious, not bashing!

This appeals heavily to IT, who restore, repurpose and reissue machines daily. Especially if a machine is initially imaged, that free license would just disappear.

 

[dysamoria]

The problem is Microsoft not willing to add Pages documents support to Office, obviously because they are the dominant platform.

Apple did what they had to do : support for opening and exporting to .doc and .docx.

And finally added RTF back after 4 years...

 

[Amazing Iceman]

Short answer: no.

Long answer: Maybe if you made a bit of a fuss to Apple, they might give you a gift card or something. But honestly, no point being that guy. Spending an hour arguing the toss over something so trivial isn't something a lot of people should feel comfortable doing. Besides, if you got $15 use out of it already, then you might as well call it even.

I wouldn't spend time asking for my money back. it's not much money.
I'll wait to see what happens.
I just know that recently Apple acquired a company and refunded all the users who purchased the app they have now made free.

 

[MICHAELSD]

Technically you need to have a newer Mac or newer iOS device running the latest software to use these apps anyway, so charging for it was just an unnecessary inconvenience.

 

[eriksmoe]

Libreoffice FTW

 

[2013.1]

Still no comeback of form letter / bulk letter in pages?

 

[IJ Reilly]

Why do people cheer free software? It just makes it harder for 3rd party developers to develop pro software because no one wants to pay for it.

If you care to debate that point you have to acknowledge that "free" doesn't really exist, only included. In this case Apple has rectified a strange situation where the software was included for some but not others.

 

[robbysibrahim]

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.

YESSS. This makes me and consequently my users very, very happy.

 

[BeefCake 15]

They made them free to any new owner since 2013... surely everyone has met that criteria by now right? Who will this appeal to?

Genuinely curious, not bashing!

Just last Friday coincidentally I spent 20 minutes on the phone trying to figure out why when I uninstalled Garage Band and tried to reinstall it, it was asking me for $15....It took a bit for them to confirm it was in my family purchases etc.

This will simplify that issue for whatever it's worth.

 

[dysamoria]

Why do people cheer free software? It just makes it harder for 3rd party developers to develop pro software because no one wants to pay for it.

After decades of certain tools being needed on all systems, these things get included in the base system because customers don't want to have to buy more and more basic tools (or download them free). I don't blame these customers either.

It happens and the market moves on. The people who need more professional features will still buy the software that provides it. It's simply a smaller market.

 

[TouchOfClass]

Sounds about right instead of investing in software development, give the old stuff away for free

 

[mr.bee]

now we can all make our high school kids paper in Pages and follow up our yard sales in Numbers...

make it professional and then we'll talk.

- adding 'stock history' is not frequently requested
- pivot tables are frequently used
- data connections are frequently used
- what if analysis is needed
- better performance management in Numbers. I sometimes had to wait 8 minutes and more on a rmbp 15" late 2013
- more filter options

 

[keysofanxiety]

Sounds about right instead of investing in software development, give the old stuff away for free

Ahh, MacRumors. Where inoffensive, at-least-stuff-is-now-slightly-better-than-it-was-before articles inspire only pessimism.

 

[mcilwraith]

Got it, but why is Pages 430Mb when Word is only 56Mb??

 

[neliason]

A very strong move against Microsoft Office. I must admit, back when I was still using macOS these programs were a very productive and efficient addition to my workflow.

I don't think Apple can move against Office. Office runs on Windows which is by far the dominant platform. Pages etc. only runs on Mac and iOS. It really is just a nice gift for Apple users with older devices. Personally I get by fine with Numbers and Pages. Both do what I need and can be converted to Office formats in case I need to share with others. I actually like Pages and Numbers more than the Office counterparts but both are missing some important features Office has. I just don't need those features. But if you do, for instance mail merge, then you need Office or some other product.

 

[hybrid_x]

“Available to all users…” provided you’ve got hardware capable of running the latest OS.

*sad trombone*

 

[GeneralChang]

These software tools are one of the main reasons I stuck with macOS when I made the switch from Windows. When I wanted to do some basic document layout, Pages stunned me with how reliable it was versus Word. When I needed to create (objectively way too many) elegant presentations for school, Keynote made me look good. And when I wanted to get into audio production or video editing, I had excellent beginner tools that still packed decent power already installed on my machine.

Which leaves Numbers, I guess. It's fine for the limited data management I do on occasion, but there are lots of free alternatives that work as well or better. I could take it or leave it.

 

[Asarien]

“Available to all users…” provided you’ve got hardware capable of running the latest OS.

View attachment 696693

*sad trombone*

Can't stop progress, breh.

 

[neliason]

Got it, but why is Pages 430Mb when Word is only 56Mb??

Is it? I don't have Word on my Mac but MSFT often has you download installers that then download all that is necessary for the application. They do this for a lot of Windows software. So what you initially download isn't all the binaries needed to run the application.

 

[MH01]

Hmmm I thought they were free for years now. Learning something new everyday

 

[MacsRgr8]

Finally.
What the **** took them so long.
It was so hard to explain to educational and business customers that the apps were free to the owners of the iPads, but you could not distribute them for free on eligible iPads.

 

[ehrens]

YESSS. This makes me and consequently my users very, very happy.

This. It was a giant pain to have to go to the business office to get the invoices, scan them in, email them out to VPP support and wait for them to allot the codes. Now I can make sure all of the devices we have on hand can get these apps right out of the gate without hassle.