Do You Think Pages Will Ever Return to Past Functionality?

[grahamperrin]

A hidden cost of an Apple ecosystem that connects devices: disconnected customers

Do You Think Pages Will Ever Return to Past Functionality? … Do you think Pages will ever have the functionality it once had? …

Bottom line, I miss having a supported version of Pages, do you think Apple will ever restore it's functionality.

Restore expected functionality Pages? I don't know. More than that, and this is not too off-topic …

Restore what has been removed from Safari? I don't know. And so on.

… Apple is trying to build an entire world within their ecosystem. … It's a nice strategy, but it leaves professional and prosumer users out.

… I think it's worse than omissive. It's becoming exclusive to the detriment of some customers, and I doubt that it's easy to categorise those customers.

Let's take a dictionary definition of ecosystem:

• (in general use) a complex network or interconnected system: Silicon Valley's entrepreneurial ecosystem | the entire ecosystem of movie and video production will eventually go digital.​

It has become, unfortunately, little more than a parroted buzzword (recent Apple PR example). Five years ago it was used more thoughtfully, for example –

Apple (United Kingdom) - Education - Leaders & Administrators - The Apple Ecosystem

Everything Apple means everything just works.

Apple is the only company that has created a complete ecosystem for learning. This includes the hardware — Mac, iPod and iPhone — the software and the Mac OS X operating system. All the components are designed by one company, and they’re all designed to work together seamlessly. That makes Apple technology easier to implement, easier to use, easier to maintain and ultimately a better technology investment.​

– and nothing produced by the old Apple gave me cause to doubt the sincerity of that statement.

Apple's so-called 'ecosystem' is now somewhat deplorable. On the surface, to shareholders and others with a financial interest, it may impress, e.g. "driving our highest EPS growth rate in seven quarters” – and I do welcome the potential for greater interconnectivity between devices – but beneath the surface there's a hidden cost. Inappropriate reductions to usability and/or functionality of software cause a disconnect between the company and the human; the humans who feel excluded as a result of the degraded software.

There's emotion and cliché in that paragraph but please, don't dismiss it for those reasons.

Every time someone gushes about numbers, about market share, about profitability or whatever – in response to a complaint about degradation of software – there's another silent but sure swing of the sledgehammer at a pillar of something that Tim Cook reportedly holds dear:

Apple's wish to produce the best, not the most.​

 

[Loa]

Hello,

Like some of you I've grown really frustrated by Pages' "updates". I was so glad to remove the last piece of MS software from my mac when iWork came along... Now with the backwards incompatibility dragging on for 2 versions, it's a deal breaker for me.

Quick question for those who migrated (back) to Office. How easy is it to use Word on Mac (10.8) *and* on a iOS 6 device (ipad 3 that I don't want to upgrade)?

I also currently use iCloud to sync my Pages documents on both devices. Is there an equivalent service for Word?

Thanks

Loa (who's pissed that he has to look at MS for a software solution again...)

 

[sracer]

Hello,

Like some of you I've grown really frustrated by Pages' "updates". I was so glad to remove the last piece of MS software from my mac when iWork came along... Now with the backwards incompatibility dragging on for 2 versions, it's a deal breaker for me.

Quick question for those who migrated (back) to Office. How easy is it to use Word on Mac (10.8) *and* on a iOS 6 device (ipad 3 that I don't want to upgrade)?

I also currently use iCloud to sync my Pages documents on both devices. Is there an equivalent service for Word?

Thanks

Loa (who's pissed that he has to look at MS for a software solution again...)

I use both iWork 09 and Office. Before going back to MS Office on Mac, I suggest downgrading to iWork 09. If you don't have it, check out eBay... You can pick up an official disc for about $10.

 

[MentalFloss]

I recently finished my first novel. I started writing it on Pages on the iPad (yes, on the iPad, with a Bluetooth keyboard), and after a while I began switching between iPad and Mac - which worked great, thanks to iCloud. I loved that flexibility. "Wow, what wonderful tools Apple has given me!" I thought.

Then, one time, iCloud managed to overwrite my document with a two-week-old version, and that is where I began having some doubts about the quality of these wonderful tools. I had not used my iPad for two weeks, and for some reason, it could not download the newest version from iCloud. Still, it was able to overwrite it, as apparently, it does not check whether the iCloud version is newer when uploading. An amateur mistake, really. That was the first time that I realized that Pages is not meant for professional use. Luckily, I figured out that Time Machine also works for iCloud documents, so my work was not (completely) lost, but it was still infuriating.

The final realization set in when I crossed the 100-page boundary. I felt it would be great to have a kind of document map from where I can quickly jump to chapters. "Hey, Pages must have this! It's a basic feature!" Uhm... no. Apparently, it's a pro platinum premium feature. Spent a couple of hours looking for this, because I couldn't believe it's not there. Started doing some Google searches. What a disappointment. People suggested to me that I downgrade to an older Pages version. Well, then what about iCloud synching with my iPad? If that doesn't work, then I can just as well switch to MS Word. With all the weird glitches Word has, it has made me reasonably happy.

The only thing I use Pages for now is to export my document to EPUB - something that Word can't do for some reason. But other than that, I don't want to use a text editor that is only marginally better than Wordpad.

Do I think Apple will restore the functionality of Pages to become useful for more involved writing? No. Why should they? Very few people write books, and if they do, then there's an app for that. That app is - sadly - called "MS Word". The only thing I wonder about is: What do people use internally at Apple? They must have some lengthy documents as well. I suspect that there is a rather large number of MS Word installations on Apple employee's Macs.

One of the last things I am working on for my novel is the dedication on the first page of my novel. There will probably be the usual mention of my lovely wife and daughter. Most likely followed by a "Thanks for nothing, Apple."

 

[maflynn]

Quick question for those who migrated (back) to Office. How easy is it to use Word on Mac (10.8) *and* on a iOS 6 device (ipad 3 that I don't want to upgrade)?

I think you need at a minimum iOS 7, if not 8 now with the latest version of office for the iPad. I don't think it will run. Opening up an exported pages document is pretty easy, much of the formatting is there and you'll get used to the different UI.

I also currently use iCloud to sync my Pages documents on both devices. Is there an equivalent service for Word?

Yes, OneDrive. In fact once you sign up to use Office, and get OneDrive, you receive a lot more space then what apple gives you. Its more of a dropbox solution, i.e., synchronizing files across multiple computers, (windows and macs)

Loa (who's pissed that he has to look at MS for a software solution again...)

[/quote]
Why the hate. MS makes some fine products, and there really hasn't been an app that surpasses MS Office at all. I use the best tool that best fits my needs. I hold no hatred or love for one multibillion dollar corporation over another.