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Apple Opens iWork for iCloud Beta to All Users
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This really reminds me of that quote by Henry Ford "If I had asked people what they want, they would have asked for a better horse".
Think outside of your own situation and standard processes...
I agree. They're offering beta with iCloud accounts, and basic iCloud accounts are free. It's probably safe to assume they'll leave it (post-beta) in a basic iCloud account, right? If so, that means it's going to be free, and possibly they'll even start offering iWork for the Mac free, since the web version of the same software is free??
This could mark a big shift in office suite products, in that these suites start to become so standard they're included in the OS, which would seriously hurt MS's Office Suite and therefore MS's big revenue stream.
Yes, Office does things no other products do, but who actually needs those features, and can you make do without them by using the free tools available?? Some won't be able to do without Office, but many or most will. How will MS respond? I don't envy the new CEO, whoever that turns out to be.
Very good. Never bought keynote - not on the Mac nor on the iPad. I have very seldom a need for it which I can address now for free. Thanks Apple !
I used the Numbers web app and it was horribly crashy! Like once per 4 minutes as I was trying to work on it. But I persisted! And eventually got done. I hope it's in a better shape now. This was about a month ago.
Impressive, but still - get off my lawn
While I am seriously impressed with the technological achievement of iWork in the cloud, I cannot see myself using it. I like to have things here, locally on my Mac and don't need an Internet connection to make a quick change on something.
Besides, I also value my privacy and think the numbers in my spreadsheets are noone else's business. Of course Apple will protect them and all but who is to say they'll never get accidentally leaked or the company hands them over because someone has accused me of <whatever> that triggers an investigation?
So - well done, chaps, this is quite an impressive feat. But not for me, thank you.
While I am seriously impressed with the technological achievement of iWork in the cloud, I cannot see myself using it. I like to have things here, locally on my Mac and don't need an Internet connection to make a quick change on something.
Besides, I also value my privacy and think the numbers in my spreadsheets are noone else's business. Of course Apple will protect them and all but who is to say they'll never get accidentally leaked or the company hands them over because someone has accused me of <whatever> that triggers an investigation?
So - well done, chaps, this is quite an impressive feat. But not for me, thank you.
Surprised to hear this since I think this is the most awesome thing that has happened to iWork in years, maybe since it was conceived.
I can finally abandon Microsoft Office for all personal work, regardless which computer I happen to unexpectedly be sitting with. Hell I can even use a Chromebook, not to mention Windows 7, as a secondary computer without having to abandon iWork for OS X.
I can design a presentation on Keynote on my Mac, save it to iCloud, open it up and present it with a supplied PC laptop hardware and a projector at the place I'm going to.
I can work on the web version if I have some spare time in some place, and then I already have everything as I move on in a native OS X app later on.
I think this is big news for me in making me actually use iWork more.
I just hope they've ironed out the bugs that I experienced about a month ago, as I wrote earlier.
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It's not that more inconvenient. Just open e.g. Pages, choose to open from iCloud, and there you are. It's just a bit different workflow.
It's a good idea though! It'd be great to have an iCloud list item in the left view of Finder for ease of access of those documents.
Edit: Oh wait, maybe I misunderstand. Maybe you don't even have iWork?
In that case, there are OS X applications to at least make a web service function a bit more like a native app, but it's no full fix.
iCloud Beta ...
I just noticed that not only they have given open access to iWork for iCloud; also iCloud beta (with the new apps/design cued from iOS7) is not openly accessible with normal AppleIDs: beta.icloud.com
I'm not going into whether I like or not the design. However, Apple seems to give as a hint at its future design for iOS, iCloud and OSX ...
I'm truly amazed that the design has not swapped to Mavericks already. Looks as if they are waiting for the general responses of the iOS and iCloud design to eventually advance with their proposal... What do you guys think?
I just noticed that not only they have given open access to iWork for iCloud; also iCloud beta (with the new apps/design cued from iOS7) is not openly accessible with normal AppleIDs: beta.icloud.com
I'm not going into whether I like or not the design. However, Apple seems to give as a hint at its future design for iOS, iCloud and OSX ...
I'm truly amazed that the design has not swapped to Mavericks already. Looks as if they are waiting for the general responses of the iOS and iCloud design to eventually advance with their proposal... What do you guys think?
Leo Laporte tried it on Macbreak Weekly with a Google Pixel, it worked.
Hebrew text is, as always with Apple products, not working well. The letters show up in reversed order (Hebrew/Arabic are written right-to-left).
I opened a bug, I guess like previous issues (iWork for Mac, iBooks Author), no one will fix this
Hi:
I agree with you, hebrew is a problem on Apple's products except for the iPhone/iPad. I have been using Macs since 1986. Hebrew problems have been resolved some years ago on Apple's Mail (except for mail templates) and Safari but the iWork package is worthless in Hebrew, iPhoto and iWeb also have bug problems with Hebrew. Since they have a good working Hebrew in iOS I can only hope it will somehow get to the Mac too
Wow, you really don't have much vision, do you?
Did you also think that streaming video (i.e. Netflix, Apple TV, Roku, etc.) was not going to happen?
I work in an enterprise environment, and the move to cloud-based applications for enterprises is accelerating exponentially. Over the last year or two, three out of every four applications that we have purchased or upgraded for our enterprise has been cloud-based. And I'm talking about a company with 1500+ employees spread out over 8 offices on 2 continents.
Sure one uses Microsoft Word for work. But what private person is going to pay full price for that product soon? Google and Apple are offering something comparable for free. I might buy the suite on a student discount if priced at $50 or so. But I'm never spending $150 on that.
And if I were doing the IT for a small business (like under $1 million in revenue per year), I would certainly be seeing if folks can get off of Microsoft products and onto free alternatives.
would have been worth it if it didn't needed an internet connection, imean, look at android and windows phones they made great things for their customers(and they work without internet) and then look at apple and what they made.... very disappointed. i wish apple get's a CEO and BoD and the company again becomes what it once was with the help of Jobs.
I tried this when it first came out for developers only. It works well however not quite as well as the native code running on my Mac. And that is the problem. Even being free I didn't use it for real work because I already had iWork on the iMac and Macbook.
As a web based app it looks nicer than Google Docs but, Google is way ahead on functionality. For example multiple people can edit a Google doc at the same time.
There was also a problem with formatting, the on-line version of iWork does not suport some features and if you used them in a document the on-line version offers to make a simpler copy. But then how to you fold back you edits into the good version? The features sets need to be IDENTICAL in the on-line and native versions or you can't bounce back between the two.
Other then that for most simple office work this will work well.
Yes some people fear "cloud computing" but I'm sure there were people who fear telephones and automobiles when they were new. But on the other hand it is very annoying to have your data tied to one specific computer. I want to be able to sit in front of any computer on Earth and have my desktop and all my files right there. That might never happen but this comes close.
Google again offers a great compromise. For a fee Google will set up you business with it's own private "cloud". YOu employees save their google doc and google email to the company cloud with servers inside your own building. Then they can log into any company computer and all there stuff is there. But company data never leaves the building. Apple needs to offer this if to compete in the business world. This is a first step.
As a web based app it looks nicer than Google Docs but, Google is way ahead on functionality. For example multiple people can edit a Google doc at the same time.
There was also a problem with formatting, the on-line version of iWork does not suport some features and if you used them in a document the on-line version offers to make a simpler copy. But then how to you fold back you edits into the good version? The features sets need to be IDENTICAL in the on-line and native versions or you can't bounce back between the two.
Other then that for most simple office work this will work well.
Yes some people fear "cloud computing" but I'm sure there were people who fear telephones and automobiles when they were new. But on the other hand it is very annoying to have your data tied to one specific computer. I want to be able to sit in front of any computer on Earth and have my desktop and all my files right there. That might never happen but this comes close.
Google again offers a great compromise. For a fee Google will set up you business with it's own private "cloud". YOu employees save their google doc and google email to the company cloud with servers inside your own building. Then they can log into any company computer and all there stuff is there. But company data never leaves the building. Apple needs to offer this if to compete in the business world. This is a first step.
Why not make it an opt in thing so it only shows up if you want it? I was invited early on to try it and have no use for it.
Did you forget that Adobe is already doing web apps from their Creative Suite? Those are huge extensive applications. That guy your laughing at is right. Before continuing to show us that ignorance is bliss go back over 10 years ago and see where we were with computers. We hardly did anything web based other than surfing, email and hanging out in chatrooms.
Today cell phones are being used to edit our videos and are being posted on the web to view. You can get a world of information on YouTube. Cloud storage has made it easier for everyone to access their files remotely without hauling around their laptops. Even video games and software are being purchased from the web and not much by way of physical disc and developers are pushing web-based usage.
If you don't think after 10 years from now that the world isn't going to be using the web for everything then I LOOOOOL YOU.
Are the file stored at Apple encrypted? If so there is no why Apple or anyone lse will be able to read them.
Seems like.....
something to try in a future. I am pretty much covered by Microsoft Office and dont need so much cloud services. But still, having options is not bad in all.....
something to try in a future. I am pretty much covered by Microsoft Office and dont need so much cloud services. But still, having options is not bad in all.....
I haven't purchased a version for Office since 2007, and probably won't for the foreseeable future. Between iWork for cloud, OSX and iOS, and Google Drive, MS Office would just be a waste of money.