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markrox7

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 17, 2011
252
0
I want to get iWork on my iPhone and Mac, so when OS X Mountain Lion and iOS 6 come out, I'll have all my documents in the cloud and everything will just work (I.e. any changes made on my Mac will show up on my iPhone and vice versa). Should I hold off on buying the current iWork apps and wait for iWork '12 to come out? I understand iWork hasn't been updated in a while and so I'm wondering if I should just go with the current version now or wait for Apple to update iWork?
 
I want to get iWork on my iPhone and Mac, so when OS X Mountain Lion and iOS 6 come out, I'll have all my documents in the cloud and everything will just work (I.e. any changes made on my Mac will show up on my iPhone and vice versa). Should I hold off on buying the current iWork apps and wait for iWork '12 to come out? I understand iWork hasn't been updated in a while and so I'm wondering if I should just go with the current version now or wait for Apple to update iWork?

How do you know next is iWork '12 ?
 
How do you know next is iWork '12 ?

I'm just assuming if Apple releases a new version of iWork this year (maybe alongside the release of Mountain Lion?) they'd call it iWork '12. I might be wrong, but that's not really the point. I just want to know if I should buy the current iWork or wait it out to see if Apple releases the next version sometime soon?
 
They didn't release a new iWork when Lion came out, but offered a free upgrade that incorporated Lion's features. They might do the same for Mountain Lion.

Also, don't expect it to "just work" since iWork doesn't have feature parity between the platforms.
 
They didn't release a new iWork when Lion came out, but offered a free upgrade that incorporated Lion's features. They might do the same for Mountain Lion.

Also, don't expect it to "just work" since iWork doesn't have feature parity between the platforms.

By "just work" I mean that all of my iWork documents are in the cloud and if I update a document on my Mac it'll automatically update on my iPhone and vice versa.
 
Since Apple has moved away from physical media for software distribution, they aren't going to do an iWork '12. It will probably be an update on the app store. Once you buy the app you should get updates for life (based on what I have understand).
 
They dropped the '09 mark on their iWork apps for a reason, there won't be any more major upgrade releases like they did in the past. They'll just keep updating the apps on the App Store, no matter how small or big the updates are.

The only problem is that they haven't been doing any major updates to the apps for a long time (last update was June 2011, just to add Lion's minor features like auto-save/resume and os on). It's not 64-bit optimized (not a big problem), it could be faster, get some graphic refreshes and deeper integration with iCloud.

Also, it's not even Retina-ready. It's blurry on rMBPs.
 
I'm just assuming if Apple releases a new version of iWork this year (maybe alongside the release of Mountain Lion?) they'd call it iWork '12. I might be wrong, but that's not really the point. I just want to know if I should buy the current iWork or wait it out to see if Apple releases the next version sometime soon?

Microsoft Word and Excel is much better than Pages and Numbers. Only keynote is better than Powerpoint which I believe is having some issues in ML.
I'm not generalizing it. Its only my personal choice. .

Then again you are getting Microsoft Outlook and some other tools.
 
I think I remember a leak from someone at Apple that they already have a fully completed new version of iWork, so if they are going to release it, we will probably have to wait until ML ships. I do wonder what is holding them up (if they really have the next iWork version).
 
I think I remember a leak from someone at Apple that they already have a fully completed new version of iWork, so if they are going to release it, we will probably have to wait until ML ships. I do wonder what is holding them up (if they really have the next iWork version).

Maybe it's a surprise inclusion in mountain lion, lol.
 
I want to get iWork on my iPhone and Mac, so when OS X Mountain Lion and iOS 6 come out, I'll have all my documents in the cloud and everything will just work (I.e. any changes made on my Mac will show up on my iPhone and vice versa). Should I hold off on buying the current iWork apps and wait for iWork '12 to come out? I understand iWork hasn't been updated in a while and so I'm wondering if I should just go with the current version now or wait for Apple to update iWork?


Well, there are a couple of things here you could think about and maybe you find a good answer to your question:

The Mac AppStore does NOT have an option for paid upgrades. And iWork is the perfect example for the incentive that developers have to upgrade their applications when you cannot charge for upgrades. Right, the answer here is: Developers have ZERO incentive to work for free. And that includes Apple.
The "buy once get all updates for free for life" approach only works for the OWNER of the market, which is Apple. They can still sell Macs and subsidize their software development costs with hardware sales. Unfortunately, that business model only works for them and nobody else.

Just read Wil Shipley's blog about this topic:
http://blog.wilshipley.com/2012/03/mac-app-store-needs-paid-upgrades.html

Then, there is this other curiosity: At least in Germany, you can order a new Mac from Apple's website with Microsoft Office 2011 pre-installed. But you CANNOT order a Mac with iWork pre-installed. What does that tell you?

Just for the record, I own a Microsoft Office license pack and I also own iWork, Scrivener, StoryMill, Montage, Mellel and a couple of other applications in that niche. For creative writing, Scrivener is THE killer application. Nothing beats Scrivener in that niche, end of story. For scientific and technical writing, Mellel is great.

For business purposes, Microsoft Office is AND REMAINS the king of the hill. Nothing beats MS Office in the business world. Also: End of story.

iWork...? I don't know. It looks nice at the first glimpse and it might be good enough for simple home use, but then it runs quickly out of steam.

So would I wait for a new version of iWork? No. Not because iWork is bad, but because I don't have the feeling that Apple will EVER give that software a major upgrade. They will indefinitely keep it in maintenance mode, but I doubt that there will ever come a mind blowing new killer version of the suite. If they were still serious about iWork, they would not bundle Microsoft Office with their Macs, but they would still sell iWork along with them (as they have in the past, by the way).

Maybe you should rather wait for Microsoft's next Service Pack for Office 2011 and the rumored iPad version of Office. Maybe.

The thing for me is: I don't participate in the waiting for an upgrade game. If I --NEED-- some software or hardware today, then I buy what is available today and upgrade later if I NEED the upgrade. If I don't NEED it, then I don't have a reason to buy it today or tomorrow or next year and the whole discussion is moot.

NEED has something today with business requirements and using my machine park as tools to make a living. So my attitude towards shoveling money in the direction of Cupertino certainly is different than the ideas of most other people who hang out here.
 
Then, there is this other curiosity: At least in Germany, you can order a new Mac from Apple's website with Microsoft Office 2011 pre-installed. But you CANNOT order a Mac with iWork pre-installed. What does that tell you?

That's because it's sold through the App Store. Apple doesn't require an AppleID when you place your order, so they can't tie it to your account. Office is still sold on a disk, so they simply include it.

jW
 
Microsoft Word and Excel is much better than Pages and Numbers. Only keynote is better than Powerpoint which I believe is having some issues in ML.
I'm not generalizing it. Its only my personal choice. .

Then again you are getting Microsoft Outlook and some other tools.

Excel is much better than Numbers. Keynote kills PowerPoint and Word has the edge over Pages but iWork costs almost a third of Office....
 
So from what I've been hearing and reading, iWork will not be relaunched as iWork '12 (or '13 or whatever,) there'll just be an update to the existing apps in the Mac App Store. This update will probably come along with Mountain Lion, and it'll include support for ML along with iCloud integration. Just my thoughts, but they seem reasonable and realistic. :apple:
 
So from what I've been hearing and reading, iWork will not be relaunched as iWork '12 (or '13 or whatever,) there'll just be an update to the existing apps in the Mac App Store. This update will probably come along with Mountain Lion, and it'll include support for ML along with iCloud integration. Just my thoughts, but they seem reasonable and realistic. :apple:

Hope it's better with ML than it is with Lion. I noticed Pages since lion has become a very heavy resource hog, especially if a file contains a lot of photos and graphics.

I have a 16gb Mac Pro 2.8 OctoCore and it turns it into a dog since Lion..... With SL it's much smoother experience.

I really hoped for a full on refresh tbh.
 
I'm also waiting for a new release of the iWork apps. Is only for personal use, so I don't need all the expert features of Excel. And the iCloud integration they showed looks really like a convenient feature for home use. Wouldn't put any sensitive documents there,though...
 
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