Why aren't the Apple office apps more popular?

[VitoBotta]

I have been looking into Pages, Numbers and Keynote since yesterday after ignoring them for a long time, and I actually like them! How come they are not popular? It seems that everyone still uses Microsoft Office even on Macs. Personally I have been using OnlyOffice for a few years since it integrates with my Nextcloud instance.

 

[SalisburySam]

I very much like and use the Apple iWork suite as it used to be called including Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. I also have the Microsoft suite for ease in working with documents created in those products by me and others and for the 1TB of cloud storage available for each of up to 6 users. Far less expensive than iCloud and I have compatibility with almost everyone.

But for anything I create, I really like Pages and Numbers. I rarely prepare presentations anymore.

 

[VitoBotta]

Have you had any issues with the formatting of Microsoft documents not being preserved correctly in Pages/Numbers?

 

[turbineseaplane]

Have you had any issues with the formatting of Microsoft documents not being preserved correctly in Pages/Numbers?

Yes - it's the #1 reason I gave up on using them for anything I was going to have to share with others and/or collaborate on.

I just can't have that as a concern.

 

[SalisburySam]

Have you had any issues with the formatting of Microsoft documents not being preserved correctly in Pages/Numbers?

Sure, not all the time, but enough that I try to minimize doing that. I’ll keep MS docs in MS tools/formats and if I’m sharing a Pages/Numbers/Keynote doc with others I’ll save them as MS compatible. I keep P/N/K docs in P/N/K formats and don’t worry about it. Life can be cruel on the edge.

 

[VitoBotta]

I see, thanks. I guess I will stick with OnlyOffice then after all. OnlyOffice has a very good compatibility with the Microsoft formats, they are actually the defaults. OnlyOffice is quite limited though, so it's fine for most basic needs but nothing beyond that.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I see, thanks. I guess I will stick with OnlyOffice then after all. OnlyOffice has a very good compatibility with the Microsoft formats, they are actually the defaults. OnlyOffice is quite limited though, so it's fine for most basic needs but nothing beyond that.

You can also still buy one off "versions" of MS Office if you so desire it (vs subscribing indefinitely to 365)

 

[VitoBotta]

You can also still buy one off "versions" of MS Office if you so desire it (vs subscribing indefinitely to 365)

I don't use these apps as much probably, so I just stick to free apps which are more than sufficient for my needs.

 

[russell_314]

I think it’s just compatibility with Microsoft Office. If you’re submitting something for work or your college professor, the last thing you want is some compatibility issue messing up your document. This is how Microsoft gets their $10 a month or whatever it is now. I use the built-in Apple programs just because I don’t need to share my documents. I make them for me and for my purposes so there’s no compatibility worry.

 

[williamofockham]

I suspect Russell_314 is right. My wife also claims numbers seems odd compared to excel, using neither of them I can't comment. I wrote a financial package in c and fortran back in the k&r c days, it still complies and runs withe the floating point accuracy I wanted so I continue to use it. I am a devoted bbedit to latex user so pages and word don't interest me. I prefer keynote, but font selection is limited compared with power point (blame Microsoft).

 

[Sippincider]

Have you had any issues with the formatting of Microsoft documents not being preserved correctly in Pages/Numbers?

I’ve had issues with the formatting (and other things i.e Excel formulas) not being preserved correctly across the PC and Mac versions of Microsoft’s own Office apps.

Yes they’re 90-99% compatible but when it breaks it’s always the one thing you need (or your client needs). Loved Boot Camp for those situations.

 

[headlessmike]

I think it’s just compatibility with Microsoft Office. If you’re submitting something for work or your college professor, the last thing you want is some compatibility issue messing up your document. This is how Microsoft gets their $10 a month or whatever it is now. I use the built-in Apple programs just because I don’t need to share my documents. I make them for me and for my purposes so there’s no compatibility worry.

As a University teacher myself I'll say NEVER send an assignment in any other format than pdf. Even opening a Word document on another computer running Word causes issues more often than not, so just don't do it. Any modern version of Office, iWork, LibreOffice, etc. can export documents as pdfs.

Yes - it's the #1 reason I gave up on using them for anything I was going to have to share with others and/or collaborate on.

I just can't have that as a concern.

In recent versions the compatibility with Office formats has improved significantly in Apple's apps, to the point where I rarely use Office anymore at work.

 

[OGdrknight]

I have been looking into Pages, Numbers and Keynote since yesterday after ignoring them for a long time, and I actually like them! How come they are not popular? It seems that everyone still uses Microsoft Office even on Macs. Personally I have been using OnlyOffice for a few years since it integrates with my Nextcloud instance

I used to have an Office for Mac student license for a long time, but when they transitioned to a subscription model, I switched to using the native apps and haven’t looked back since. I believe many people use Office because they’ve been exposed to it in school and the workplace. However, I think people resist change and prefer to stick to traditional processes.

 

[LeeW]

Microsoft Office will always be the dominant product, even amongst Apple users. Pages and Numbers are decent but limited; it may be enough for some.

 

[russell_314]

As a University teacher myself I'll say NEVER send an assignment in any other format than pdf.

It’s been a while since I’ve been in school, but don’t some professors want the document in Word format so they can check everything out in the format that it was typed?

 

[headlessmike]

It’s been a while since I’ve been in school, but don’t some professors want the document in Word format so they can check everything out in the format that it was typed?

Perhaps in some fields. I've had colleagues fail students for submitting reports in .doc format as they didn't follow instructions. The biggest issue is when parts go missing when opening a document, which the pdf format is meant to remedy by being truly portable. I'm in physics so most students write in LaTeX instead of Word anyway. The only times I get an occasional Word document is from administrative staff. All om my teaching slides and presentations I make I Keynote though.

 

[cnnyy20p]

• Businesses need support for software they use. They will just use industry standards even though there are free alternatives.
• Some will say plug-ins support.
• Microsoft Word has great grammar correction for other less popular languages.
• Formatting requirements (Nightmare)
• Excel is too far ahead of any competitor.
• I read a conspiracy somewhere that Microsoft made an agreement with Apple to stop competing with the M365 suite so they can sell their software to Mac users.

By the way, I personally use iWork for all my work. All of them, seriously. I feel they are much friendlier to use. Keynote is very professionally designed-oriented. Numbers is more flexible in terms of layout. Pages is okay, I guess. The typography options are more easily accessible, which I like better than Word. But I still have to use Word occasionally for writing assist stuff.

 

[cjsuk]

Consider PDF as an electronic printed copy - that analogy goes a long way.

I'm 50/50 commercial/academic. The commercial side use O365 and confluence, which I do not if I can help it, preferring not to write anything down because no one reads it anyway there. The academic side (mathematics) uses Word and Powerpoint for some reason. This pisses me off no end as it's about the worse tool for the job, they don't even know how to use it properly anyway and usually results in Pages utterly destroying it then a half page long email reply which goes "just send me the damn thing as a PDF".

I use paper (yes that stuff from the last few centuries) and LaTeX (MacTeX+TeXshop) mostly for authoring documents.

Numbers gets used occasionally for personal finances. I haven't found something better I don't have to pay for.

Libreoffice is dire. Impossible to work with people on that. Seems to get increasingly more wobbly after about 50-60 pages (we tried it).

 

[cjsuk]

Excel is too far ahead of any competitor.

Maybe. Excel has momentum. Most people use Excel for the wrong things because it's a hammer. But it's this hammer.

 

[Regulus67]

I use both Pages and Numbers every single day. For personal use, and if I need to send a document to someone, I'll export it to pdf.

 

[GrassShark]

I've used them for years. Pages and Keynote are great, and in many ways much nicer to use than the MSFT alternatives. I will say that even as a very basic spreadsheet user, Numbers is kind of trash compared to Excel and Google Sheets.

Ultimately though, I think it comes down to cross-platform compatibility. You can open Office files in Apple's alternatives, and export them again, but it's an extra step. Plus if you don't work exclusively on a Mac, you'll end up needing another tool on whatever other platform you use, so you might as well use that everywhere.

 

[baconcat_8964]

When I only need to share PDF files, I use Pages. When I have to share docx files or cooperate with other people, I use Word.

When I doing presention for myself, I use Keynotes. When I doing presentaion for teams or company, I use PowerPoint.

 

[Isamilis]

I have been looking into Pages, Numbers and Keynote since yesterday after ignoring them for a long time, and I actually like them! How come they are not popular? It seems that everyone still uses Microsoft Office even on Macs. Personally I have been using OnlyOffice for a few years since it integrates with my Nextcloud instance.

1. Lack of marketing.
2. Only available on Apple platform (Mac & iOS).

 

[triptolemus]

1. Lack of marketing.
2. Only available on Apple platform (Mac & iOS).

3. They are trash (especially Numbers)

 

[dizmonk]

I use Keynote and Pages all the time. I stopped using PowerPoint and Word years ago. Microsoft apps have always been too bloated for me.

When I need to share something with someone, I just save it as a pdf.