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No Serial Number Required for iWork '09 Retail Box

Honestly robbed!

Ok, so, in a fit of honesty I paid for the iWork family pack instead of iwork. Now I discover that there is no serial number to type in so I could have saved $24 by buying plain iWork and installing on all the Macs in the house. So, having iWork family makes me feel honest but robbed.:confused:
 
LOLROTFL said:
Ok, so, in a fit of honesty I paid for the iWork family pack instead of iwork. Now I discover that there is no serial number to type in so I could have saved $24 by buying plain iWork and installing on all the Macs in the house. So, having iWork family makes me feel honest but robbed.:confused:
Click to expand...

Well if you had bought iWork standard, you would have only been able to install it on 1 computer. You would have illegally installed it on any additional computer.

Even with previous iWork, you could install iWork with the identical serial number on multiple computers, but it would have been illegal.

Be honest.
 
When I installed iWork over the weekend, I launched Pages and cringed waiting for the dialog to type in that impossibly long string. Very pleased to see it didn't happen. Good call, Apple. I buy family packs for iWork, iLife and OS X, regardless of the copy protection. The only thing the copy protection does is piss me off.

Now, if you'd just back off on the insistence that I register Aperture 2 (and now apparently iWork as well). I'm tired of clicking Register Later.
 
When I opened up the packaging I got a little worried that there was no serial, but that was quickly taken care of after I launched the program. It is a nice change of pace not to have to enter a SN. iWork is a great price especially when compared to MS Office, but does anybody actually use all the programs in the suite. I, myself, primarily use Keynote. I never use Pages (Mellel instead), and I find Excel to be more useful for me in terms of statistics formulas. One thing about '09 that I am hoping will change is being able to connect iPhone/touch via Bluetooth or some other kind of connection instead of WiFi. Connecting via WiFi over an encrypted school network does not work too well.
 
Hmm this may sound dumb at first but might actually be a good idea..

What if apple made a iWork 08' windows version and distributed it free via download to anyone who wanted it. Im sure a lot of small business/people would use it (maybe even large business's) when you think a $200 (bulk discount) program time 500 computers in your company... By simply using iWork you could save $100k..

Then make iWork 09' available as a purchase upgrade option.
 
Analog Kid said:
When I installed iWork over the weekend, I launched Pages and cringed waiting for the dialog to type in that impossibly long string. Very pleased to see it didn't happen. Good call, Apple. I buy family packs for iWork, iLife and OS X, regardless of the copy protection. The only thing the copy protection does is piss me off.
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aafuss1 said:
I'm quite happy to see retail copies needing no serial number-makes installing and running iWork very easy.
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Seriously? Really? "impossibly long string"? "makes installing and running iWork very easy"?

People: it's a few numbers that takes all of 20 seconds to enter. Once per machine. I truly do NOT see the big deal. The way you guys are carrying on, you would think Apple was forcing you to call up iWork customer service to activate it upon installing in your computer and... Oh wait.. that's Microsoft and Windows. Sorry, all the complaining about Serials made me think I was in an M$ forum.

These serials weren't that serious. You cats need to get over yourselves.
 
iWorks 09 .pages files not supported by current iPhone OS

And the best part, folks, is that iWorks 09 .pages files are not supported by the current iPhone OS!
 
Ok, my guess is that there are unique serial numbers encoded onto each CD/DVD (which ever it ships on), upon installation it goes online and determines if you can install it or not. This is how I would handle activation processes, then the user never gets to see the serial number and it actually reduces the chance of the program being pirated as it would be a lot harder to find the serial number to figure out the rules of it. In this day and age it would not be hard to set such a thing up.

Now this has the added advantage of not having to require a user to enter a super long string of text and numbers into a box. (And most of the time it is hard to distinguish O from 0 and such due to the font and you have to retype it 3 or 4 times, add to that if you are supporting multiple computers, which many who purchase iWork will be doing, perhaps 20-30 computers or more)

Honestly this is a very smart move, believe it or not it is one that may make it more likely that my work will buy more Macs in the future. I already use them at home, I also use my personal Macbook at work from time to time for presentations that I have to give because it works so much better than the laptop that we have at work.
 
illegallydead said:
On the mac you are absolutely right. There is no reason whatsoever (other than the occasional formatting differences when you save from iWork to .doc, etc.) to buy Office, especially considering its obscene price. On a PC however, Office '07 actually has all the good features and could be considered worth the money... Though for the ~$300+ they want for it, there is a certainly an explanation as to why people like to pirate it... :D
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The $300 package is the Professional version. There's also an even more expensive Ultimate version for businesses.

Most home users don't need all the extra software they never use. You can get a Home and Student version for about $80 retail. For the average users, the four programs included in the Home & Student version is adequate. So in comparing with iWork's Pages, Numbers, and KeyNote, the version Office HS 2007 is quite affordable.

Included in Office Home and Student 2007:

Installable for up to 3 computers
Word 2007
Excel 2007
PowerPoint 2007
OneNote 2007 (not sure what iWork's equivalent is)
 
ravenvii said:
I just installed iWork '09 today, and noticed that it no longer required a serial! iWork '08 required a serial.

I'm pleasantly surprised that Apple decided to remove it. Bravo and hurray!

(And before someone asks, yes I bought iWork '09, ordered it from the Apple Store a week back).
Click to expand...

This was so unexpected; especially since the demo shows Serial Number.

I bought the Family Pack (why, I don't know) as soon as it was announced & my CD installs without a key needed. I searched the box in & out expecting those Key stickers, nothing. I assumed it was only b/c it was a boxed Family Pack. I guess this is for all.

Now I'm just awaiting my iLife '09 Family Pack & we'll be back in business :)
 
spaceballl said:
I downloaded the trial and decided to pay for it. I work for a software company and don't like the idea of someone stealing our software... so I went the honest route and paid for theirs. I'm proud of having zero pirated programs on my computer :D
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I used to use a pirated version of Vista, Office, Quicktime Pro, ALL the Adobe products, and then I got the pirated version of the latest Nero. I have cleaned all those things off my computer (I know you're reading this at the FBI, my computer is clean now)
 
spaceballl said:
I downloaded the trial and decided to pay for it. I work for a software company and don't like the idea of someone stealing our software... so I went the honest route and paid for theirs. I'm proud of having zero pirated programs on my computer :D
Click to expand...

Of course, you have to say that with your face posted on the Internet! :)
 
This, to me, is good news. I understand it, but I don't like software that limits your ability to install on more than one computer.

I'm not really an iWork user (I'm fine with OpenOffice for my limited needs)... but if I was going to get it, I wouldn't want to pay for the family version, but I would want to install it on my desktop and laptop. I'd be the only user of the software at any given time anyhow...

Don't know the specifics of the iWork license, so maybe the comments here are just leading me to a false conclusion, but even Adobe has licensing terms that allow people to install the software they use professionally at work to install the same software on a secondary (home) computer.
 
Apple wants you to copy it.

Office is everywhere. Why not get iWork 09 out there. But do it sneaky style.
 
Thanks for the torrent :D Actually, no I can torrent it and install it with no problems.... I don't want to :S

not worth it though - not different enough from iWork 08 for me, and the fact you have to pay (in the end) for less functionality with iwork.com than I get with google docs is a joke.
 
Arcadie said:
Hmm this may sound dumb at first but might actually be a good idea..

What if apple made a iWork 08' windows version and distributed it free via download to anyone who wanted it. Im sure a lot of small business/people would use it (maybe even large business's) when you think a $200 (bulk discount) program time 500 computers in your company... By simply using iWork you could save $100k..

Then make iWork 09' available as a purchase upgrade option.
Click to expand...

Because OpenOffice.org among many others is already there. What does iWork bring to the table apart from the prospect of paying to upgrade? Look how Safari for Windows has set the browser world on fire.


aafuss1 said:
I'm suprised Apple legal hasn't taken any actions sites offering torrents recently-like for instance, iWork being distribuated via torrent files.
Click to expand...

Take what action exactly?
 
Apple knows/is hoping that they will make more money from the fee-based iWorks.com. I have a feeling that sooner or later, Apple probably would just bundle iWork altogether on new Macs, or give it for almost free. Just look at the Mac box set. It's like buying Leopard with iLife+iWork included.

As for buying individual license vs family pack, it's not like the family pack cost that much more. It's only $20 more. If you shop around, you can actually buy the family pack of Apple software at the same price as the individual pack directly form Apple. This is what I love about Apple. I have never seen this kind of generous licensing for regular consumers from any other major software companies (Adobe, Microsoft, etc).
 
pika2000 said:
Apple knows/is hoping that they will make more money from the fee-based iWorks.com. I have a feeling that sooner or later, Apple probably would just bundle iWork altogether on new Macs, or give it for almost free. Just look at the Mac box set. It's like buying Leopard with iLife+iWork included.

As for buying individual license vs family pack, it's not like the family pack cost that much more. It's only $20 more. If you shop around, you can actually buy the family pack of Apple software at the same price as the individual pack directly form Apple. This is what I love about Apple. I have never seen this kind of generous licensing for regular consumers from any other major software companies (Adobe, Microsoft, etc).
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but we pay a lot more for our macs!! and that's our choice!!
I'm on the lookout for a new mac and will wait until ilife 09 is on them before buying!
 
spaceballl said:
I downloaded the trial and decided to pay for it. I work for a software company and don't like the idea of someone stealing our software... so I went the honest route and paid for theirs. I'm proud of having zero pirated programs on my computer :D
Click to expand...

Are you also proud of not picking your nose in public? I think having zero pirated applications is the norm.

Sorry for picking on you but I think it is attitudes like yours that perpetuate the piracy problem, as long as people, in some circles, think it is the exception to buy all their programs, then people believe it is socially acceptable to pirate programs.
 
stainlessliquid said:
They are probably hoping to push the format.

The more people using iWork, the more people they have making iWork documents. If it becomes popular enough they could make a ton of money from selling the software as well as licensing the "codec" or whatever documents use to other software like MS Office so they can read iWork stuff.

Of course they also might understand that serials dont deter piracy at all so its not worth the development costs.
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Agree.

And I have to re-iterate, iWork.com is what Apple really wants to push! See my last post... :rolleyes:
 
Oh my god this thread is delusional, man.

First: I have never ever seen a pirated copy of iWorks in any torrent site I have visited. Many of Office.

Second: you can give iWorks in schools for free and still nobody would use it. I am surrounded by people using Macs and I also go often to conferences where 99% of the people use Mac (I am a scientist). I am yet to see someone using Pages or Keynote instead of Word or Powerpoint. Furthermore, I bet that if I ask around, more than half of the people wouldn't even know what Pages is.

Third: I have limited experience with NeoOffice, but I have used for a while the database tool. It could be worse, but then they would have to pay you to use it. It crashed like crazy, had scrolling problems, it was counter-intuitive and plain ugly. The one in Office (Access if I remember properly) is several million times better. As someone said, you get what you paid for.

Fourth: people use Office because other people use Office. I don't want to mess around file extensions, compatibility issues, etc. I just want to save and send by email knowing the person on the other side will be able to open my powerpoint. Full Stop.

Fifth: any software is "pirateable". The ones with codes or requiring an internet connection or limiting the number of installations, etc., on top of being "pirateables", are a pain for the legal user who paid for them. The person that downloaded them from the internet ends up having a better experience than the legal users. Copy-protection systems should be eliminated right away: they cost a lot of money to develop and in practice they don't protect against piracy. They are just "legal-user-pain-production-systems"
 
pika2000 said:
I have never seen this kind of generous licensing for regular consumers from any other major software companies (Adobe, Microsoft, etc).
Click to expand...

That is because Apple is primarily a hardware company. It makes s/w to support it's expensive hardware because, especially 10 years ago, few other companies did. Apple needed to give people a reason to buy their machines so they came up with the iApps, Final Cut, etc to get people interested in their hardware. Without the iApps there would be no Apple today. Even the iPod didn't really gain traction until the iTMS came along.
 
pmpknetr21 said:
Seriously? Really? "impossibly long string"? "makes installing and running iWork very easy"?

People: it's a few numbers that takes all of 20 seconds to enter. Once per machine. I truly do NOT see the big deal. The way you guys are carrying on, you would think Apple was forcing you to call up iWork customer service to activate it upon installing in your computer and... Oh wait.. that's Microsoft and Windows. Sorry, all the complaining about Serials made me think I was in an M$ forum.

These serials weren't that serious. You cats need to get over yourselves.
Click to expand...

And you think THEY are taking this too seriously?
 
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