iWork '05 Productivity Suite?

[GFLPraxis]

Microsoft effectively did own Apple in the dark, dark days of the mid 90s. If they pulled out their 'investments', they would of gone bankrupt.

HAHAHAROFLHAHAHAHAAAAaaa...

A $150 million investment in NON-VOTING stock (IIRC less than 3% of Apple) does not constitute "owning apple".

And I seriously doubt that a company with 40 billion in the bank could have gone bankrupt if not for a $150 million investment.

 

[savar]

So the iWork suite is going to comprise of Keynote 2, a word processor called "Pages" and what else? No spreadsheet ? No database ?

A speadsheet app is essential, and a simple "Filemaker Lite" app should be a given. Although I would be very surprised if we got all this for $99. I'm guessing $149 - same price as office student:teacher edition.

If they only include keynote 2 and pages, then i'd say $99.

Its shaping up to be an exciting keynote though!!!

Ugh, Pages is a completely stupid name. Why not just go ahead and call it iPenAndPaper? A slightly more professional name is in order, like "Mac Office".

After all the years waiting for this upgrade, this thing better be jam packed. I would be disappointed if Apple doesn't somehow raise the bar. Is a database component really required anymore? I just don't know how many people use it.

ARgg, why do read the forums here...now I'm just twisting with anticipation.

 

[Xtremehkr]

Microsoft could lose 90% market share and be fine. They make money with the software, not hardware.

If everyone bought Macs, Microsoft would make loads from Microsoft Office: Mac + Virtual PC + Windows to run on Virtual PC. Since they need both VPC and Windows, and they don't get the discount you get on Windows when you buy, say, a Dell, they'd make twice as much money as they were making before.

Eventually people would stop getting VPC and Windows, but MS would keep going with Office + more software for Mac + XBox + PocketPC + everything else they sell.

If iWorks lives up to its potential, that may be a problem. If Apple ever becomes that popular, Microsoft would have to make a similar deal with Apple to bundle software so as to maintain market share.

And by market share, I meant in terms of the operating system. There would be a much better balance if there were three competing OS choices.

 

[GFLPraxis]

Ugh, Pages is a completely stupid name. Why not just go ahead and call it iPenAndPaper? A slightly more professional name is in order, like "Mac Office".

After all the years waiting for this upgrade, this thing better be jam packed. I would be disappointed if Apple doesn't somehow raise the bar. Is a database component really required anymore? I just don't know how many people use it.

ARgg, why do read the forums here...now I'm just twisting with anticipation.

Pages may just be a code name, though.

 

[GFLPraxis]

If iWorks lives up to its potential, that may be a problem. If Apple ever becomes that popular, Microsoft would have to make a similar deal with Apple to bundle software so as to maintain market share.

And by market share, I meant in terms of the operating system. There would be a much better balance if there were three competing OS choices.

DEFINITELY. Windows needs to stay around, so Apple doesn't become Microsoft. I would like to see Apple with 50% share though Or at least 30%, with Linux and Windows for the rest.

 

[rdowns]

HAHAHAROFLHAHAHAHAAAAaaa...

A $150 million investment in NON-VOTING stock (IIRC less than 3% of Apple) does not constitute "owning apple".

And I seriously doubt that a company with 40 billion in the bank could have gone bankrupt if not for a $150 million investment.

HAHAHAROFLHAHAHAHAAAAaaa

$40 billion in the bank. You might want to check your source there. (Here's a hint, they have somewhere north of $5 billion in cash today)

 

[SWC]

Forget Microsoft Office, it's dead in the water. OpenOffice is rising and going to dominate. This product needs to used OpenDocument formats as its defaults. "Skate to where the puck is going, not where it is."

Yes with all 3% of the market 99% of their userbase being *nix. Office is dead in the water just like Firefox being used more than IE. Will it happen? maybe. Is it close to happening? no time soon.

 

[sun25]

Geat for Everybody

Um, no. I asssume you're a student? I'm in administration at a college for the SUNY system, the college system is buying eMacs for classrooms to labs to drone machines at different libraries and other stations adding up to literally thousands of eMac purchased in volume through Apple. Thousands of computers adds to Apple's coffers and keeps Macs in at least this college system, without which, craptacular Dells would be everywhere, they're a stronghold. eMacs are convenient, highly affordable, and quite capable. NOT students buying the eMacs, we're talking entire colleges (i.e. business and organizations, not individuals). Maybe when you become an adult you'll get your head out of your youth fog and see the big picture. Until then, don't post what you don't know or speculate without thinking of more than yourself and your own situation. Try listening for a change, it's good for character building.

This new lower priced mac is great for education since many institutions update boxes every three years but update monitors every six. Furthermore the combonation of a respectable wordprocessor with a very cheap mac will grow the education base.

 

[GFLPraxis]

HAHAHAROFLHAHAHAHAAAAaaa

$40 billion in the bank. You might want to check your source there. (Here's a hint, they have somewhere north of $5 billion in cash today)

Oops, added an extra zero. It was $4 billion last I checked. (2003 I believe)

Typo

 

[heisetax]

Excel still does more!

Forget Microsoft Office, it's dead in the water. OpenOffice is rising and going to dominate. This product needs to used OpenDocument formats as its defaults. "Skate to where the puck is going, not where it is."

I have my income tax program written in Excel. I have found no other spreadsheet that will handle the things that I do with Excel. I keep trying alternatives for the past 20 years & all I have to show for it is alot of paid bills for software that I could not use. Excel does have limitations, but not as many as the other spreadsheet programs.

If you can find one around that will handle what Excel does, I'm willing to give it a try. Word processors & presentation programs are one thing to replace. Spreadsheets are not stressed by many like they were in the old days of the Apple I &II, TRS-80 Model I & II, & the Heath-Kit H8 & H-89. AThe spreadsheet made them. With the Mac, MS has kept Excel just a little better than any other Mac spreadsheet. THus no one will spend the needed money to produce one that will really rival Excel.

Bill the TaxMan

 

[ravenvii]

Jesus, all the bickering here is incredibly dumb.

In any case, I look forwards to seeing what Apple does with iWork. Sounds like something I would buy. I was waiting for Keynote 2 to come out so I could buy it, but seems like I'm going to buy iWork instead.

 

[SWC]

Apple shouldn't have any problem with the law. They are only pre-installing the application (meaning it can be FULLY removed).

Microsoft w/ IE and Windows Media Player are TIED into the OS and cannot be removed. That's why they got into trouble.

For reference: QT Player is not tied into the OS. The QT Frameworks are tied in the OS, but those Frameworks are used by many programs: iLife, Mail.app, Safari (and other browsers), the Finder and many other third-party programs.

The same is true with IE, WMP, IIS etc. You can remove the program itself but the underlying technology is still in the OS. Many third party apps use the IE engine or WMP for media playback but theyre still being fined for that being there. It's a matter of size. If the situation was reversed Apple wouldve gotten in trouble and everyone would be praising MS for including that out of the box. I'm not saying apple is wrong and MS is right, but whats the big deal about it being there? If you don't want it don't use it, simple as that. I'm not an apple hater but I think they get away with a lot more because they hold 2% of the market.

 

[SWC]

News.com finally leaked the story about the $499 iMac rumor. Probably next week they will mention iWorks. Is Apple secretly starting rumors to increase the hype? They don't seem to comment or try to stop these rumors except for the Asteriod gizmo (Yawn).

I don't really expect this lawsuit to go anywhere unless there is a lot more behind it than what has already been revealed. I think it makes them look tough and show they don't support rumor sites when in fact they do because it is their livelyhood. How much press do you see them getting about the platform that didnt show up on here, thinksecret or appleinsider first other than related to the iPod. These sites build hype and help bring new users to the platform. If apple goes after the sites and sues people for rumor info they will die off even more. So this gives them a tough image without really damaging anything. With a product like asteroid, I am sure they can track down to a very small number of people that know about it and find out from there who leaked the info instead of going after the rumor sites to give up the info.

 

[SWC]

I would suggest that you give up with the argument that MS owns any of Apple at this time. If I recall, they sold their entire stake in Apple almost two years ago. MS is not propping up Apple.

Their contractual obligation to make software for themac ended 2 years ago, not their investment in the company. They have stated numerous times theyll be making software for the mac for the forseeable future and that theyve had financial ties to the platform. They're not propping up apple but could easily kill it if they discontinue virtual pc and office.

 

[Photorun]

This new lower priced mac is great for education since many institutions update boxes every three years but update monitors every six. Furthermore the combonation of a respectable wordprocessor with a very cheap mac will grow the education base.

Agreed. Apple would be wise to reintroduce a low cost monitor to go with/bundle the $499 is my point. 17" LCD lasting 5-6 years and then in three a new new headless Mac probably of the G5 variety.

 

[GFLPraxis]

The same is true with IE, WMP, IIS etc. You can remove the program itself but the underlying technology is still in the OS. Many third party apps use the IE engine or WMP for media playback but theyre still being fined for that being there. It's a matter of size. If the situation was reversed Apple wouldve gotten in trouble and everyone would be praising MS for including that out of the box. I'm not saying apple is wrong and MS is right, but whats the big deal about it being there? If you don't want it don't use it, simple as that. I'm not an apple hater but I think they get away with a lot more because they hold 2% of the market.

And therein is the point: Many THIRD PARTY APPS.

OS X has FIRST PARTY APPS that rely on it.

I disagree with your "If you don't want it don't use it" idea for IE. Why? IE is a SECURITY RISK. It's presence in Windows alone compromises the entire thing. With a normal browser, a hacker can comprise your passwords and identity at worst. With IE, they can take over the entire PC because IE is tied into the core of the OS. And IE has so many security holes that its easy.

WMP is frustrating because theres a lot more than just the frameworks. You cannot really delete it. With QuickTime, you can, but with WMP, it remains in the registry, components remain scattered in the Windows folder, etc, etc.

 

[GFLPraxis]

Their contractual obligation to make software for themac ended 2 years ago, not their investment in the company. They have stated numerous times theyll be making software for the mac for the forseeable future and that theyve had financial ties to the platform. They're not propping up apple but could easily kill it if they discontinue virtual pc and office.

Kill Apple by discontinuing VPC and Office? Maybe last year, but not if this rumor is true.

If they kill off VPC, the open source emulators will get more attention (such as QEMU), as will the DarWine project. Furthermore, people can continue using the current versions of VPC for years.

If they killed off Office, it would have crippled the Mac. But if Apple comes out with this iWorks, with full compatibility with MS Office...and if Open Office for Mac ever arrives...then MS can leave and there will still be no trouble.

MS dumping Mac might cause some bumps, but certainly not kill it.

Furthermore, MS makes MORE money off Mac users than Windows users.

 

[Blackheart]

Kill Apple by discontinuing VPC and Office? Maybe last year, but not if this rumor is true.

If they kill off VPC, the open source emulators will get more attention (such as QEMU), as will the DarWine project. Furthermore, people can continue using the current versions of VPC for years.

If they killed off Office, it would have crippled the Mac. But if Apple comes out with this iWorks, with full compatibility with MS Office...and if Open Office for Mac ever arrives...then MS can leave and there will still be no trouble.

MS dumping Mac might cause some bumps, but certainly not kill it.

Furthermore, MS makes MORE money off Mac users than Windows users.

First, Open Office is already available for Mac. Second... Ha! to the idea that MS makes more money off Mac users than Windows users... Ha!

I have no idea where you got that idea, or from witch bizzaro-world hat you pulled it out of, but I have a STRONG feeling that you're VERY wrong.

 

[animefan_1]

First, Open Office is already available for Mac. Second... Ha! to the idea that MS makes more money off Mac users than Windows users... Ha!

I have no idea where you got that idea, or from witch bizzaro-world hat you pulled it out of, but I have a STRONG feeling that you're VERY wrong.

OOo is not available for the Mac in a Native form. We still have to use X11, which is not an intuitive process for the average user.

As to making more money, I think he was referring to profitability, not revenue.

 

[pubwvj]

Forget Microsoft Office, it's dead in the water. OpenOffice is rising and going to dominate.

I've been using OpenOffice for several months. I do not like it. I wish it liked me. It has a long way to go to be a M$Orafice replacement.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

Status of OpenOffice for Mac both X11 and Cocoa.

http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/

 

[desdomg]

UPDATE: ThinkSecret is now saying that Sugar is a sweet whilte powdery substance used for sweeting tea and coffee, etc. It is also the sound of tills ringing as it checks in extra advertising dollars. kaching!

Reliable sources my ass! If Apple cant make money out of a $100 iPod mini they sure as hell can make money out of a $500 computer! And who can? Nobody - IBM just sold their PC business cause there is no money in it anymore.

The Apple Keyboard and Mouse alone cost $100, so are we saying they can make money out of a $400 computer?

 

[mdriftmeyer]

The cost of the mouse and keyboard to Apple isn't $100. But with their 28% margin on the product, you do the math.

UPDATE: ThinkSecret is now saying that Sugar is a sweet whilte powdery substance used for sweeting tea and coffee, etc. It is also the sound of tills ringing as it checks in extra advertising dollars. kaching!

Reliable sources my ass! If Apple cant make money out of a $100 iPod mini they sure as hell can make money out of a $500 computer! And who can? Nobody - IBM just sold their PC business cause there is no money in it anymore.

The Apple Keyboard and Mouse alone cost $100, so are we saying they can make money out of a $400 computer?

 

[mcmav37]

Apple doesn't need huge profits on miniMac

Reliable sources my ass! If Apple cant make money out of a $100 iPod mini they sure as hell can make money out of a $500 computer! And who can? Nobody - IBM just sold their PC business cause there is no money in it anymore.

The Apple Keyboard and Mouse alone cost $100, so are we saying they can make money out of a $400 computer?

It is true that Apple probably won't make a ton of money on a computer like this, but I think that it will still be good for them. How many happy new miniMac users will want to fully utilize the features of iChat AV and end up buying an iSight? Same goes for future iLife and OS X upgrades. Apple can still make good money there. Not to mention the fact that if Apple can start selling millions of additional computers per year, their component prices will average down and they'll still be able to make money.

I think this is a great idea... it worked for iTMS, right? Very little profit in and of itself, but it is helping to drive high margin iPods.

 

[zamyatin]

spelling it out

I can't believe you wrote that. MS Office is dying off?? HA!

Negative, I did not say MS Office is dying off. By "dead in the water," I mean that it is not growing, nor shrinking. It can certainly be said that it has not changed or improved much in many iterations. However, it actually is on the verge of losing significant market share.

As OpenOffice prepares to launch 2.0 in about three months, MS Office is going to face very stiff competition for which it has no ready response. At the same time, the EU is about to declare OpenDocument its official required format for digital communications.

Note also how MS Office's price has dropped in response to OpenOffice (the educational pricing without any check into whether the purchaser really is a student, and the 90% discounts for the Thailand version). If the price of MS Office had merely remained constant, it would indicate a loss of market power, as a few years ago analysts were predicting the suite would rise to an average cost of $700!

Make no mistake, the reign of MS Office is coming to a close. Follow these and other indicators closely, and you cannot but come to the same conclusion.