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Some Power Users Are Unhappy With Lost Features in the New iWork

Apple's trend: iOS to OSX

IJ Reilly said:
This is perhaps Apple's greatest blunder in a decade.
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Clearly you did not experience the Final Cut Pro 7 to Final Cut Pro X debacle, which was a huge step down for video professionals. Unfortunately, Apple has done the same thing with iWork '13. The Apple trend is to transition iOS software to OSX to make software compatible across devices. The iPad is not as powerful as the Mac, and all the power features are being left out of their programs. Apple has yet to restore all the features in FCPX that were left out of FCP7 after three years (over 100 on my count). I suspect it will take more than three years to completely restore iWork to it's professional state.
 
ScottNWDW said:
And where all of a sudden did all these "Power Users" come from. Before the update they were all touting Excel and Word because they had so many more features etc, etc etc. Now al of a sudden they are crying because their small obscure feature is missing. Maybe they just can't find it and they are still probably crying because automakers don't put 8-tracks in cars anymore.
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No, actually, most of us--and I include a lot bigger population than just "power users"--were using Pages and touting its usability for reasonably complex word processing and page layout. It was much a much simpler and more intuitive program than Word without the bloat. Some of us organized our businesses quite deliberately around a Pages workflow rather than Word. We--at least thousands and probably millions of people who used the page layout features to produce documents that were more attractive than anything that anyone other than a design professional (a real "power user") could do in Word or even inDesign--aren't missing "a small obscure feature."
Text flow between boxes and reordering the pages in a document aren't like an eight-track; it is more like tires. We are finding Pages 5.0 as usable as a car without tires, with the added feature that taking it for a test drive may remove the tires from our existing cars. Students who were using Pages to submit projects in .rtf (required for platform-independence by many schools) cannot use Pages 5.0. Editors who need to do a global search-and-replace to eliminate all of the extraneous spaces that authors leave at the beginning of paragraphs cannot do that any more. I could go on, but people like you don't care because they probably only use Pages to write letters to their mommies asking for more money.
 
just a little help

Okay, so I'm not going to go through all the responses - so let me just ask my questions and post my thoughts:

Thought 1: I hate the toolbar being moved. It is so much less efficient. Is there a way to move the toolbar back to the top instead of the right? I might just be missing it somewhere.

Thought 2: I no longer know what page I'm on while typing. I'm a minister, and I use pages to type up my sermons. I have my sermon times based on which page I'm on - but now I can't just glance down at the bottom and see what page i'm on. Is there a way to remedy this?

Thought 3: As someone who has dual monitors and has multiple apps open while studying/preparing - I love the app "Doublepane" which splits documents into two sides of the monitor. It makes things so easy - but now, the new keynote and pages app no longer respond.

My big question: If I choose to delete the new iWork's - how do I go about doing that and will I be able to open up pages and keynote files? Thanks!
 
Night Spring said:
Open Finder, find a Pages document,

Do Get Info.

Find "open with" in the info box.

It shows Pages 5.0 as default. Change this to Pages 4.3 by selecting it from drop-down menu.

Click the "Change All" button under the drop-down box.

An "are you sure?" dialogue box pops up. Cick "continue."

That should do it. Do report back if it doesn't work.
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FWIW, I tried this and it did not work. All documents still open in Pages 5. :cool:

What's interesting is that going through the steps above gave me the impression that it will work but after you click Continue in the dialogue box (last step) the Pages icon inside the open-with drop down button changes from the 4.3 icon to the new 5.
 
ScottNWDW said:
Okay, I've read through many of these posts. before the update people were complaining that iWork had not been updated for years and that the programs were inadequate so much so that if you were a "power user" you were already using MS Office. I heard the complaints that Numbers' features and functions could not compare to Excel, it couldn't handle the complex things that Excel could do. Same types of remarks regarding Pages/Word and Keynote/PowerPoint.
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You say you've read the posts, but your response indicates that you have not read them at all. Many of us have never complained that iWork was inadequate. A good number of us discovered the power features in Pages, in particular, and grew to really appreciate the app. These features are now gone, and what's even worse, the documents that we created with them, obliterated. Just because you were unaware of the number of dedicated iWork users before last week, when Apple poked them in the eye, doesn't mean they didn't exist. Perhaps you did not know that before, but why it isn't completely obvious to you now is the real question.
 
As long as you don't press the "Change all" button, each single file you do it to, will open in the old Pages. I Assume it is because they have the same name, as Numbers does the same thing.
 
Michael Goff said:
Then let's continue to raise that stink.
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Okay, but I don't hold out a lot of hope for it working. When Apple is faced with a relatively small problem facing a large number of users, the company moves quickly to acknowledge the issues and fix them (e.g., the Maps fiasco). By giving the iWork apps away for free, Apple seems to be expecting to build a new majority of users who don't even know what they are missing.
 
IJ Reilly said:
Okay, but I don't hold out a lot of hope for it working. When Apple is faced with a relatively small problem facing a large number of users, the company moves quickly to acknowledge the issues and fix them (e.g., the Maps fiasco). By giving the iWork apps away for free, Apple seems to be expecting to build a new majority of users who don't even know what they are missing.
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I hope you're wrong.

Or maybe they're lowering the bar for new users so they can raise it and finally make the Office alternative we all need? *optimism*
 
tjwaido said:
Clearly you did not experience the Final Cut Pro 7 to Final Cut Pro X debacle, which was a huge step down for video professionals. Unfortunately, Apple has done the same thing with iWork '13. The Apple trend is to transition iOS software to OSX to make software compatible across devices. The iPad is not as powerful as the Mac, and all the power features are being left out of their programs. Apple has yet to restore all the features in FCPX that were left out of FCP7 after three years (over 100 on my count). I suspect it will take more than three years to completely restore iWork to it's professional state.
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Granted. Everybody will have their own perspective, depending on what software they use. But as I did mention somewhere back in these many pages, this does seem to be trend at Apple lately. The company appears much more interested in cultivating new mobile users than maintaining their desktop base. Hence, hacking the iWork apps down to fit their mobile counterparts instead of bringing the mobile versions up to their desktop counterparts, because it was easier, and they didn't care about alienating desktop users.

Maybe we'll get our features back, but I am not counting on it.

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Michael Goff said:
I hope you're wrong.

Or maybe they're lowering the bar for new users so they can raise it and finally make the Office alternative we all need? *optimism*
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I hope to be wrong too. What Apple should have done years ago IMO was include iWork with all new Macs, just like they were doing with iLife. That would have increased the user base immensely. Of course that would have made it more difficult to piss them off, so from their standpoint they probably made the right decision by keeping the installed base small.

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ministerman said:
My big question: If I choose to delete the new iWork's - how do I go about doing that and will I be able to open up pages and keynote files? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Not clear on whether you were using the previous version. Assuming you were and didn't delete it, you can simply drag the new version to the trash. Before you do that though, make sure that any document you opened or created in the new version of Pages is exported to the old version, or you will not be able to open it again.
 
I've been using Keynote to design presentations for a medium-sized company for the past couple years. I believe we ended up buying quite a few Macs specifically because we were using Keynote. We've all been eagerly awaiting some kind of update and were deeply disappointed to find that this is a dumbed-down version of Keynote 09. We'll be using the old version indefinitely.

At this point, I'd WAY rather have a paid "pro" version of Keynote (even a fairly expensive one) with a good feature set than what we've got.

Dumbing everything down to the iOS level is a really troubling trend.
 
Yeah I'm not a power user so I'm not missing anything...yet. For me the great thing about Pages was that it had some great templates and I could open one, fill in the blanks and send a nicely formatted letter, CV or invoice quickly and easily. The templates in Pages 5 look even better and then there's the speed! Finally a fresh modern 64-bit app fully optimised for OS X.

I do get the feeling though that by putting out a seemingly unfinished product Apple is kind of waiting for the inevitable torrent of demands and will then develop features based on their popularity rather than bloat the app with features and direction that may be off the mark. Kind of development by consensus?
 
simonmet said:
Apple is kind of waiting for the inevitable torrent of demands and will then develop features based on their popularity rather than bloat the app with features and direction that may be off the mark. Kind of development by consensus?
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What they should be able to do is have one level of easily accessible features for basic use, and then still retain the more complex features for those who need them. Harder design-wise, obviously — but it's just not acceptable to drop a ton of features that an installed user-base might be used to, just to keep everything dumb enough to parallel the iOS version.
 
I do agree with that. I believe strongly, as others have said, that an app can be both simple and powerful; that features will reveal themselves or become available when necessary, and of course key commands are always good!

It's pretty inexcusable that a company as big as Apple is making these mistakes. It sure adds weight to Microsoft's criticisms.
 
ScottNWDW said:
For "me" the new versions of Numbers and Pages is far better than the old version.
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Most of us who actually make a living using iWork disagree with you. As do most of the users posting reviews in the App Store. Check out the amount of 1-star ratings for Pages.

You are clearly in the minority. And your post is too long ;-)
 
dysamoria said:
What has happened here is no less important to iWork users than if Microsoft suddenly released a version of Word missing all the same features, without telling anyone, and allowing it to destroy people's existing documents.
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Totally agree. The lack of communication is appalling...especially for a company that prides itself on customer relations.

If Apple intends to create parity between OS's, then at least run an effective beta program that includes day-to-day users, while leaving the existing models alone. I'm pissed there is no way to downgrade the IOS versions to what existed before this fiasco began.
 
Not Ready for Prime Time

Did no one ask users what they actually want and use? I know that Steve Jobs said that people don't know what they want until they see it, but I've seen Pages 5.0 and I don't like it. It's like the folks who put it together don't use Word Processing and don't like it. I'm not asking for MS Word here. Pages was fine with the features that it had, so why make it LESS friendly? Apple needs to send this crew to Microsoft, where they can work on MS Office, and then bring in some folks who actually have an idea of how these applications have been used. Get yourselves together!
 
mabhatter said:
That should have been writing on the wall.because they kept dumbing down Bento so far it couldn't even talk to the other iWork apps. They never really made it a "first class" suite member.. And obviously had no plans to.
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Which is a shame - I have Bento 3 and I love it. I am also one of the many that looked at Bento 4 and said "You have got to be kidding...."
 
Write to the Board of Directors

The recent abomination and release of the "new" iWork supports what I have been posting on various blogs and websites for nearly a year: Tim Cook is totally obsessed with the iPhone and iPad and is attempting to turn Apple into the new AT&T (Apple Telephone and Tablet). Cook lied to the Board of Directors when he told them he is still committed to the Mac. If he is, then why is iWork a cheap and dummied down version of iOS? Simple: He is trying to phase out the Mac with the iPhone and iPad. And perhaps the stupidest idea yet - an iWatch! The Board of Directors needs to hear from the Mac faithful. Cook doesn't answer e-mails any more than Apple's Feedback: Don't waste your time with them, write to the Board of Directors to express your disgust and disdain for the direction Cook is taking Apple, particularly with iWork - a bona fide "gold master turd" (which caused many of my older iWork documents to lose data).
 
TrumanTown said:
Did no one ask users what they actually want and use? I know that Steve Jobs said that people don't know what they want until they see it, but I've seen Pages 5.0 and I don't like it. It's like the folks who put it together don't use Word Processing and don't like it. I'm not asking for MS Word here. Pages was fine with the features that it had, so why make it LESS friendly? Apple needs to send this crew to Microsoft, where they can work on MS Office, and then bring in some folks who actually have an idea of how these applications have been used. Get yourselves together!
Click to expand...

Let's face it, iWork has always been Apple's redheaded stepchild. It aways seemed like it wasn't so much released as it escaped. I remember talking to someone at the Apple booth on the floor of MacWorld '06 about it and my impression was that the iWork development team was really small. He was one of the programmers, and he actually listened to my suggestions. Nobody at Apple seems to do that anymore.
 
melendezest said:
Hahaha, yes. I simply have a VM with Windows on it for that. I struggled with Pages and Office for Mac during college. People want Word docs, so I just decided to use the real thing. Problem solved. :)
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I have VM with Windows as well so I use that if I'm doing lots of work for college as I do IT and most programs are only on Windows.

I generally like using pages cause I now get annoyed with Windows in general and I've found it can be easier to make something that looks a lot nicer but yes it becomes annoying when most people need a .doc file.
 
Night Spring said:
Open Finder, find a Pages document,

Do Get Info.

Find "open with" in the info box.

It shows Pages 5.0 as default. Change this to Pages 4.3 by selecting it from drop-down menu.

Click the "Change All" button under the drop-down box.

An "are you sure?" dialogue box pops up. Cick "continue."

That should do it. Do report back if it doesn't work.
Click to expand...
Reporting back... it doesn't work.

I did this AND did a Get Info and changed it from there and both keep listing Pages 5.0 as the default. :(
 
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