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iWork to Become a Web Application at Macworld?

It would probably work the way Mobile Me does. You can use the desktop applications and they sync with the web applications. So you could create a document with the desktop version of pages and it would be on your hard drive. It would also be synced with the web service where you can edit it from another mac.

I could also see the web version supporting editing fro the iphone/ipod touch.

It would work as an extension to the current functionality but they cannot get rid of the desktop app yet. Not everyone has an always on internet connect.
 
I bet there will still be a desktop version, and the web thing will be a sharing functionality plugin. I deeply doubt Apple would change these apps to only web-based - they have no prior experience with such apps, and the closest thing they have ever done in such direction wasn't very succesful (as me.com has had so many problems and drawbacks fron he original concept). I agree with others that web-based apps are unreliable, usualy lack quality and quite lame... but just a note to developers in case they are even considering making iWork a purely web based app: DON'T DO IT.
 
ortuno2k said:
I really hope this isn't true, as it will be very disappointing. As a MobileMe subscriber and GoogleDocs user, I've gotten a feel of how web apps work, and I'm not too fond of them. MobileMe has a hard time keeping up with itself a lot of times, and it's not as fast and as responsive as native apps.
Please keep iWork on OS X.
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For that matter, iWork is pretty slow (especially opening the apps) compared to other native apps. I'd like to see them speed things up with iWork on OS X instead of making it even slower on a web app.
 
I would imagine they would probably release the web apps as a companion product to iWork. There is no way they would abandon the whole iWork application suite as stand alone applications.
 
I could see it being a good thing, but having a desktop version and an online version, because if I didn't have my MacBook Pro with me, then I could use the schools PCs and still edit it, and when I get home, it would sync up and I'd have all my edits from online.

I could see you needing MobileMe for it though....
 
Me1000 said:
I would imagine they would probably release the web apps as a companion product to iWork. There is no way they would abandon the whole iWork application suite as stand alone applications.
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Agreed. Like the "Editing" portion of Pages, where you could send the document to someone else and they can show what they would do to the article. But I don't have internet every second of my life, so what would I do if I needed to write an article on the bus/train?
 
Spades said:
Given Apple's poor history with web apps, that is entirely possible. Web apps are something they just do not do well.
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Assuming iWork does go to the cloud, you seriously think Apple has not thought of the question about what to do if there is no internet connection available?
 
slu said:
As usual, IJReilly is the voice of reason around here.

Keep fighting the good fight. I know it keeps getting tougher around here.
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I suppose we can always sit back and enjoy the spectacle of people running around like the proverbial chickens with their heads cut off.
 
how about as a iphone app?

How about it being part of an online app, an iphone app, and desktop app? Think how easy it would be to use wherever you are. Talk about kicking Office (which I don't have on my mac) to the curb for a while. Buy a projector for your iphone and you have a mobile presentation studio with you for all your projects.
 
yeah, right...

...they put all that effort into their cocoa frameworks and apps so they could replace them with web apps! Riiiiight... :rolleyes:

Supplement, perhaps. But replace?
 
Spades said:
No. Just, no.
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You probably haven't seen to many good web apps. Most of the ones that you use public kinda need to work for IE as well, A huge stumbling block for development. With just having it work with Safari/WebKit you are able to use web standards that newer then 5 years old. I have made a bunch of really cool web apps that did a lot of things... However once I need to get IE to make it work I needed to strip out features or make things differently to get it to work.

I am rather confident that iWorks via the Web will actually be a very well designed and useful web application (Much better then Google Docs).
 
IJ Reilly said:
I suppose we can always sit back and enjoy the spectacle of people running around like the proverbial chickens with their heads cut off.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm doing, I've read every post in this thread and 90% of them seem to say "they will not make it all web based but supplement it with web based apps" but I really don't know who they're arguing against since the original article doesn't say that it will be completely web based, only Arn's shortened version of the article says that, which I figure he will correct soon.
 
Sounds good

Sounds good to me. A cometetor to Microsoft and Google with an oportunity to revamp Safari. They have been trying to move to the cloud with mobile me and the iPhone
 
I'll keep my data local, thank you. I use iWork for business, and really don't want proprietary data going over the 'Net.
 
I definitely do not think this will be a replacement for iWork. It would be too unreliable. Plus, there are many places which would not have internet, and many others where internet is not always reliable or too slow. It would have to be just a supplement, like MobileMe is for Mail, iCal, Address Book, etc. However, this rumor does seem like likely to be true, and would increase the amount of users for iWork.
 
I'm willing to give Apple the benefit of the doubt for right now.

Besides, maybe Apple and AT&T will allow iPhone tethering at long last!

And yes, EDGE is dog slow, but it's better than using dialup OR no Internet connection at all.

BJ
 
I really doubt that Apple will make iWork only web-based. I don't find it hard to believe that they are going to make a web based companion for iWork. If they do make iWork fully web based I will just stay with '08.
 
MasterNile said:
That's what I'm doing, I've read every post in this thread and 90% of them seem to say "they will not make it all web based but supplement it with web based apps" but I really don't know who they're arguing against since the original article doesn't say that it will be completely web based, only Arn's shortened version of the article says that, which I figure he will correct soon.
Click to expand...

I dunno, I just re-read the first 25 posts and at least two-thirds assumed that the article accurately represented the rumor.

Maybe he'll fix it, maybe not. I frequently make suggestions for clarifying the meaning of front page articles. Almost none of them are accepted.
 
It may go to all cloud, but I doubt the next version will be only cloud. They will have a transition. They may use the save as web app function in Safari 4.

Everyone should keep one thing in mind, Apple makes hardware. And there hardware sales are up, why would they want to push people away from hardware. It will be a tie in to a desktop version of iWorks.
 
Apple Hates Me!

Why does Apple hate dial-up users like me? I live in the woods in the middle of nowhere, I can't get broadband or even satellite here at any price; I'm lucky if I can get a reliable 33.6kpbs download on my 24" iMac. First Apple took the built-in modems away. Then their average Software Update ballooned from 30MB to 300MB. Then they introduced iTunes Genius, which (for me) means a 90MB download every week. And now even my beloved iWork will soon require broadband? ARRGH!!! All my Mac does anymore is download -- 24/7/365 -- just trying to get caught-up. I would give my left nut for a 128K ADSL line but instead Apple gives me "The Cloud". Hey Apple, a million dial-up users don't want "The Cloud" -- we just want our telephone lines free again!!!
 
I think Apple is just trying to add more value for Mobile Me users. I think they had planned to make the service more than what it currently is but the launch problems forced them to slow down their plans. A local version of iWork will continue to exist.

I'm encouraged to hear iWork rumours associated with MacWorld. I hope they address some of the short comings in the desktop version of iWork. I would like to see a more robust version of Numbers, for example.
 
I agree that hopefully Numbers sees a nice upgrade. It is currently the worst of the iWork apps (the only reason I still use Office is because of Excel).
 
Don't forget there is a growing trend towards web apps that can be run offline, if I remember correctly Google and Apple (via WebKit) have been working on this for a while. There is a big difference between a browser based app and an internet app, with the former not requiring an internet connection.

Its only a matter of time before there is a browser based version of iWork as that is what everyone else (including Microsoft) is working towards. I can't see it meaning the end of the desktop version though, even if this means just an offline web app to run through Safari.
 
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