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Is Keynote Dead?

BWhaler

BWhaler

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 8, 2003
3,789
6,250
I love Keynote, run a company which uses Apple products, and continually get asked if Apple is serious about the SMB market.

Keynote used to be a great advertisement for Apple in the business setting.

"How did you do that?"
"That's the best presentation I have ever seen"

...were all free advertisements for Apple.

Yet, Apple is treating Keynote like Appleworks, milking it and letting it die a slow death.

What do you think? Is Keynote dead?
 
I've been thinking about getting Keynote but now I'm worried they're about to release version 2 and I want to wait for that.

I've "test driven" Office 2004 and, whilst there's absolutely no point in me upgrading, PowerPoint is the only one that has really seen any improvement - you can now do cube and 3D flip transitions, and better drop shadows for text.

I'd expect Keynote to go one better soon. Lets hope.
 
BWhaler said:
I love Keynote, run a company which uses Apple products, and continually get asked if Apple is serious about the SMB market.

Keynote used to be a great advertisement for Apple in the business setting.

"How did you do that?"
"That's the best presentation I have ever seen"

...were all free advertisements for Apple.

Yet, Apple is treating Keynote like Appleworks, milking it and letting it die a slow death.

What do you think? Is Keynote dead?
Click to expand...

The last version of PowerPoint came out in 2001, that was 2 1/2 years ago. Keynote has been out since 2003. So if it get's updated as often as PowerPoint, we will have to wait another year. I don't think you can call it "dying" yet.
 
...but Apple certainly isn't promoting it as heavily as they ought to be. I run into Mac owners presenting in PowerPoint who've never even heard of Keynote. Apple should bundle it with all of the PowerBooks.
 
johnnyjibbs said:
I've been thinking about getting Keynote but now I'm worried they're about to release version 2 and I want to wait for that.

I've "test driven" Office 2004 and, whilst there's absolutely no point in me upgrading, PowerPoint is the only one that has really seen any improvement - you can now do cube and 3D flip transitions, and better drop shadows for text.

I'd expect Keynote to go one better soon. Lets hope.
Click to expand...
I just bought Keynote and am happy with it, although I haven't really "experimented" with it yet. I downloaded the Keynote 1.1.1 update and installed it. I think of it as a "PowerPoint-killer" for the Mac.
 
Once Apple adds a decent scripting language (HyperKeynote, anyone?) and the ability to construct runtimes, I shall be truly content. And they also need to add the ability to add overall soundtracks rather than only adding music on a per-slide basis.

But on the whole, in a world of PowerPoint drabness, Keynote blows everybody away.
 
Apple Office

I was expecting that Keynote was a precursor to a Apple Office product. This was before Mac Office 2004 was even announced. Perhaps that project died if it was going to happen. I agree that Keynote seems dead now. When it was announced at a Keynote address, it killed some time since they didn't have a lot of hardware to show off and got a few laughs when Steve announced it by name. Powerpoint seems to be good enough now and with better templates and Keynote like wipes.

Watch it not get updated.
 
johnnyjibbs said:
I've been thinking about getting Keynote but now I'm worried they're about to release version 2 and I want to wait for that.
Click to expand...

I'm with you on that one, Mr Jibbs. I've been itchin to buy it for a couple o'weeks but fear it'll bite me a month or two later ... which is exactly what happened when I bought iLife before iLife 4 was announced.

Ho hum. :(
 
I used to use PowerPoint a lot, giving presentation on stuff is part of my job. I've used nothing but Keynote for over a year now. I constantly get positive comments. I wouldn't wait until version 2 comes out, if it is. I'd just get myself right on down to the Apple Store and get Keynote right now and start using it. :D
 
Savage Henry said:
I'm with you on that one, Mr Jibbs. I've been itchin to buy it for a couple o'weeks but fear it'll bite me a month or two later ... which is exactly what happened when I bought iLife before iLife 4 was announced.

Ho hum. :(
Click to expand...

This could be true, Next Keynote revision could see the light by WWDC, but it's not dead...

see: Keynote Design Contest, Enjoy it!

Regards,

AM
 
BornAgainMac said:
I was expecting that Keynote was a precursor to a Apple Office product. This was before Mac Office 2004 was even announced. Perhaps that project died if it was going to happen. I agree that Keynote seems dead now. When it was announced at a Keynote address, it killed some time since they didn't have a lot of hardware to show off and got a few laughs when Steve announced it by name. Powerpoint seems to be good enough now and with better templates and Keynote like wipes.
Click to expand...
Bah! I was at that keynote, and I got a free copy of Keynote. That's what I've been using ever since for my presentation needs, because PowerPoint, even the new 2004, sucks. Keynote just gives me that urge to want to make beautiful and useful slides, PowerPoint makes me want to puke.
long live Keynote!!!!!!! I'll be sticking with it until I cant use it anymore or until PowerPoint has something I desperately need to use.
Then again, Word 2004 is pretty good....
 
BornAgainMac said:
I was expecting that Keynote was a precursor to a Apple Office product. This was before Mac Office 2004 was even announced. Perhaps that project died if it was going to happen. I agree that Keynote seems dead now. When it was announced at a Keynote address, it killed some time since they didn't have a lot of hardware to show off and got a few laughs when Steve announced it by name. Powerpoint seems to be good enough now and with better templates and Keynote like wipes.

Watch it not get updated.
Click to expand...
Keynote sits uneasy in the current line-up. Apple has made it quite clear now that they will not release an Office rival, but Keynote was a good stab at PowerPoint - maybe because they felt PowerPoint wasn't using any of the decent Quartz Extreme or even Quartz features (I know it predated Quartz Extreme :) )

However, most people need Microsoft Office and so get it. I'd prefer to have Keynote, but I can't justify shelling out for that when I have PowerPoint "that will do". I'd love to kick ass with my presentations and use Keynote, but I've paid for PowerPoint so I might as well use it.

I know you can buy Word and Excel separately, but they're so expensive separately that you buying just those two comes to more than the full price of Office. Of course I got the Student edition but even that's a lot of money!

Never mind, one of these days I'll just bite the bullet and get Keynote..
 
Apple's definitely pushing keynote at the education market. Whenever I price a computer at the Apple education store, they always have an offer to bundle Keynote. I don't think it's dying.
 
keynote is great, its sooooo much better than powerpoint, it is in need of an update though and i hope one comes soon!
 
Keynote definitely appear to be on the slow track

Apple generally doesn't let programs go over a year before moving on to a new substantial version. We don't even have Keynote 1.5 yet. Appleworks has become a decaying corpse.

Folks let's take off the blinders. Apple has no interest in furthering Appleworks or Keynote. They will aquiesce to Microsoft not because Office is that great but because MS has Apple by the balls and when Apple gets bold ..they pinch.

I love Apple's dedication to their products...but I have little respect for them. They squandered a huge lead in OS development and have made so many blunders it's a wonder they are still alive.

Today you get chinzy marketing slogans like "Here's to the crazy ones" or "Think Different" or asinine comments like " 5% down 95% to go" Ummmm yeah right, what's my draw....Office, Photoshop and a plethora of other apps are available on the PC and the hardware is cheaper.

Apple has killed off their retail partners in order to scrounge up every extra nickel they can. Apple don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining. Rumor has it that the Keynote team was disbanded. I believe that rumor was stated on this board but good luck finding it.

Apples reluctance to compete with MS on something like an Office Suite speaks voumes. I want to fall out laughing everytime some tool starts talking about OSX on a PC. Let's come back to reality pal...Apple doesn't have the stones to compete for an Office Suite what makes you think they'll "invade" MS's turf and remain unscathed?

For the record. I hope I have a huge helping of Crow coming to me. But I'm not so sure It's a forgone conclusion that I do.
 
I have been using Powerpoint for several years and Keynote for the last two months and am completly sold on it attributes even if there are far fewer templates than Powerpoint. I used Keynote for a board meeting the other night and it hugely impressed the attendees.

I think that Apple will continue to pour resources into software that people have a passion to use and where third party cater to it (Keynoteuser.com, Keynotethemepark.com, etc... I don't know too may folks that have a passion for Appleworks, but Keynote is hands down the best presentation software on any platform.
 
IJ Reilly said:
...but Apple certainly isn't promoting it as heavily as they ought to be. I run into Mac owners presenting in PowerPoint who've never even heard of Keynote. Apple should bundle it with all of the PowerBooks.
Click to expand...


I agree. I'm in a Mac tech class at my school (well, was, I graduated Tuesday) and we were talking about how awful PowerPoint was:

Me: Man, I hate PowerPoint
Them: Me too, but what else could we use?
Me: Keynote
Them: Uhhh, what's that?


I'm glad you now can order Keynote preinstalled, but I wish it was *free!*
 
nuckinfutz said:
Apple generally doesn't let programs go over a year before moving on to a new substantial version. We don't even have Keynote 1.5 yet. Appleworks has become a decaying corpse.
Click to expand...
Urmm iirc Final Cut Pro...
Bah, AppleWorks is preferable to ooo, but Microsoft Office bets AppleWorks solely because Microsoft already has a huge userbase of Office users, and people always, GODDAMN THEM, look for compatibility over anything. Hell, AppleWorks is still cheaper and ooo is free...
Folks let's take off the blinders. Apple has no interest in furthering Appleworks or Keynote. They will aquiesce to Microsoft not because Office is that great but because MS has Apple by the balls and when Apple gets bold ..they pinch.
Click to expand...
Bah, people have said that in one way or another too many times, and they've all been proven wrong at the end.
I love Apple's dedication to their products...but I have little respect for them. They squandered a huge lead in OS development and have made so many blunders it's a wonder they are still alive.
Click to expand...
Who says Microsoft doesnt? They're already hella behind schedule on Longhorn.
Today you get chinzy marketing slogans like "Here's to the crazy ones" or "Think Different" or asinine comments like " 5% down 95% to go" Ummmm yeah right, what's my draw....Office, Photoshop and a plethora of other apps are available on the PC and the hardware is cheaper.
Click to expand...
Yes the hardware is cheaper, but it depends on your needs. Sure the average user has no use for a Mac, really, but who says Final Cut Express/Pro is available for PCs? Since when was there an Xcode type application for Windows that was entirely free and came bundled with OS X? What about Darwinports? What about the sexiness of having an OS based on Unix? And I'd miss Expose too much. Ahhh what about iChat AV (Yahoo and MSN Messenger suck ass), Adium (Trillian is incomparable), Safari (Bah to IE and Firefox), Launchbar? Jeez, being able to use the unix commands I am familiar with makes me want to use OS X over Windows to begin with.
I'd only get a PC to run some other OS, perhaps Gentoo, and maybe Windows for those occasional frustrating incompatibilities...
Apple has killed off their retail partners in order to scrounge up every extra nickel they can. Apple don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining. Rumor has it that the Keynote team was disbanded. I believe that rumor was stated on this board but good luck finding it.
Click to expand...
Apple didnt kill all of them off. They just started the retail stores, and I am glad they did. There are just some things the authorized retailers and specialists can't always do. Mind you, I still enjoy stopping by my local one, MacEnthusiasts, once in a while...they do the more bizarre repairs like removing stripped screws ;) that the Apple Store geniuses cant remove.

Apples reluctance to compete with MS on something like an Office Suite speaks voumes. I want to fall out laughing everytime some tool starts talking about OSX on a PC. Let's come back to reality pal...Apple doesn't have the stones to compete for an Office Suite what makes you think they'll "invade" MS's turf and remain unscathed?
Click to expand...
Hmm, whatever you say. I honestly dont think OS X for x86 will ever work, I honestly dont think Apple will make an office productivity suite that can really compete with Microsoft Office.
However, Apple beats them almost everywhere else, with FCP and Shake...Hell, it's a good time to be a Mac user ;)
Like it says in the signature of a MacRumors user, the day Apple has a majority is the day I switch back to a PC, or rather for me, the day I stop using Macs.
 
I'll stay Mac as long as it's the industry standard for print and design. And considering it's never been anything other than Macs, I'm pretty much secure (unless you count paste ups and x-actos).

As for Keynote, I actually brought my powerbook in everyday I had a speech due in my Public Speaking class. I'd unplug their laptop for presenting and hook into my Mac. Simple. I got scolded for using too many animations on my first speech, but I still used keynote w/o the animations. Keynote just has better anti-aliasing. Just do a keynote presentation and export as PPT and compare. I also like how Keynote embed everything into one file. Damn PPT and needing to save movies separately.
 
apple definitely wants microsoft to keep pouring efforts into office for mac. from what i've heard, the mac version of 2004 is actually a little better than the windows version. i'm not sure how apple pulled that off. maybe a little bit of pride among the developers over at microsoft. office productivity is important for businesses and education. if apple had a more dominating hold on hardware sales then i could see them making their own office bundle. but right now they're trying to gain more users, not risk losing them.
 
The Mac and Windows versions are essentailly the same, but the PC version is more snappy and the Mac version has a few extra things that take advantage of Quartz and Quartz Extreme on the Mac. The Mac 2004 version is basically the same as Office for Windows 2003, but as it came out later, they could add the odd new thing to it.
 
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