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Why not combine iWork Applications?

Do you think combining iWork Applications makes sense?

  • Yes

    Votes: 2 8.3%

  • No

    Votes: 22 91.7%
  • Total voters
    24
F

fultimemonti

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 13, 2012
3
0
Saint Louis
I was just using a table inside of Pages 5.5.3 and realized that in today's day and age, and with Apple's level of innovation, it is pretty silly to separate Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. When you look at applications like Evernote, Acrobat, Dropbox, etc, they have so much functionality in one place.

Apple should combine the three into one iWorks app that gives you a canvas that you can resize to the size of a piece of paper for documents, or widescreen format for presentations. Tables and graphs could be inserted on the page and have the same functionality as numbers. Now that the apps are practically free, I think it makes more sense then ever.

A few side comments as well, using an all encompassing name like "iWorks" would make support web searches easier. Try searching for solutions for "numbers" and you will see what I mean. Also, in would make my life a lot easier. I don't know how many times I have opened pages looking for a numbers file and vice versa. My mind just doesn't automatically think word-processing or spreadsheet anymore. There is so much overlap, at least in my workflow.
 
Why stop there? Combine iMovie, Photos, bloated iTunes, and Garageband. Trying searching for "Photos" and you will see what I mean. AppleWorks and Microsoft Works and at least one open source project used that approach and it has never been successful.
 
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Apple would end up sticking all your files in one large database where you couldn't get at the individual files. "Docs" would sync, or mysteriously not sync across half the observable universe, and then be impossible to ever delete completely.
 
D1STORT1ON said:
Clarisworks used to be awesome and that combined it all.
Click to expand...
Clarisworks/Appleworks is one of those "forgotten" gems. I was a big fan of Clarisworks (on Windows) back-in-the-day. Not only did it combine word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, and database, it offered unparalleled consistency. And even on the "ported" Windows version, it had an amazingly small footprint. The things that I was able to do with Clarisworks (and with Appleworks for a short time after that) made MS Office jocks envious.

By the time I started buying OSX devices, CW/AW had been discontinued. I had hopes that iWork '09 + Bento would carry on the tradition. It did a decent job until the great downgrade was released (and Bento discontinued). I continue to use iWork 09 (with growing usage of LibreOffice).
 
Jessica Lares said:
You're choosing the wrong programs/services to make a comparison with. It should be Microsoft Office and Google Drive, and if you notice, they have each program separated aswell.
Click to expand...
Yes, Jessica, those programs do the same thing, but I am writing about innovation and multifunction. Microsoft doesn't innovate and Google is just copying the functionality of MS and Apple.

What I was specifically referring to is the fact that how Evernote has done a great job of combining archiving, annotation, collaboration, presentation, and contact storage into one application. They are the best example. Dropbox and others have some combined functionality, but Evernote is definitely the champ.

As I write this, I am realizing that if Evernote actually allowed you to do some more in depth word processing and datasheets, they could be the solution. Maybe I will go email them.
 
fultimemonti said:
Yes, Jessica, those programs do the same thing, but I am writing about innovation and multifunction. Microsoft doesn't innovate and Google is just copying the functionality of MS and Apple.

What I was specifically referring to is the fact that how Evernote has done a great job of combining archiving, annotation, collaboration, presentation, and contact storage into one application. They are the best example. Dropbox and others have some combined functionality, but Evernote is definitely the champ.

As I write this, I am realizing that if Evernote actually allowed you to do some more in depth word processing and datasheets, they could be the solution. Maybe I will go email them.
Click to expand...
I disagree. I believe that Evernote has become a bloated mess. I used it back-in-the-day when it was leaner, cleaner, and meaner. I don't think it is a positive example of function integration done right.
 
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Significant1 said:
I really wish they would remove it from OsX and put it on MAS insted. I never use it, and it is an annoyance having to update it and that it start if accidental or on purpose hit one of the playback keys.
Click to expand...

I agree with you completely. Last time I updated iTunes (ver. 12.2), it messed up my whole system, I had to restore everything. I never use it either. Got fedup when iPhones needed this application for everything.
 
Evernote is for notes. It's for storing them, editing them, annotating, etc.

I was just reminded about this by the way: http://recode.net/2014/09/02/evernotes-phil-libin-has-come-to-bury-microsoft-office-not-praise-it/

The only part of the Office suite Libin said is actually good software is Excel. Even there, though, he said it is more often used for making lists than for doing the kinds of financial modeling that Excel is actually good at.
Click to expand...

They're competing with OneNote.
 
Ulenspiegel said:
I agree with you completely. Last time I updated iTunes (ver. 12.2), it messed up my whole system, I had to restore everything. I never use it either. Got fedup when iPhones needed this application for everything.
Click to expand...

How did an iTunes update ruin your entire system?
 
I can't recall the name, but there was a push in the mid-1990s for an alternate form of software design. Rather than having a program which owned a particular data type you would start with a document, like having a clean sheet of paper on a drafting board, then call up the relevant software to operate on your document. Maybe I'm thinking of Open Document Architecture.

If you need to edit text in a box call up a word processor. If you need to check spelling call up an app for that. If you need to place a drawing or a chart or a video then call up that relevant software. Meanwhile you had just one open document.

It was an interesting concept that eventually faded away but which influenced other format designs.

I would rather keep the applications separate, but with strong support for sharing documents. For example, I can create a presentation in Keynote but add it to and display it in an iBook make with iBooks Author. I can calculate results in Numbers and display the resulting table in a Pages document which winds up in a PDF.

By the way, it is called iWork, not iWorks.
 
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