Dear Apple,

iWork was a terrific package: Keynote, Pages and Numbers.

Yes these have almost fully replaced MS-Office in my work.

But, as so often occurs with Apple, the package progresses little. I am a power-user. So I am less concerned about iWork apps on iOS or the web. I am also an older user. So I recall when MacWrite, MacDraw and MacProject led the field in software innovation. I also recall how Apple let these great products in their time languish and die. Apple was in its heart, after all, a hardware company. The software had done its job. Finito.

And what about Filemaker Pro, which languishes even more?

Will the same fate best the iWorks apps?

If so, who will take up the slack?

The problem is, no investor with $$$ will take up the slack.

Only small under-resourced developers are left. The web-based SAS model, still in so many ways flawed (not to mention inherently insecure), has driven investors out of the desktop application space. And who wants to compete against the likes of Google, Yahoo, SalesForce, Apple, etc in that space?

We live in a world where software development is all too often driven by a mass market, lowest common denominator mentality. Those of us who are power users find our needs are met less and less. There is just not enough net revenue after the less power-needy users are taken care of. So it seems.

I do hope I am proved wrong, and a significant iWorks apps feature upgrade appears this fall. But I am skeptical.

Yours sincerely ...

Hi i need a good office suit for my macbook pro it will be for general use really maybe a bit of work to . i need to know which is better iwork 09 or microsoft office for mac
hope someone can help :-)

Для моих нужд хватает.

Few usability issues compared to Excel & Word like keyboard shortcuts, but Keynote is the best presentation software out. Overall, it's a great suite and at the price, it really can't be beat.

Just expect to have a minor learning curve to understand how it works if you're used to Microsoft Office.

/

One of my reasons for using iWork is that I have yet to be able to scroll a MS window that's in the background. The ability to scroll a window that's behind an open window is exceptionally useful, and I'm sure Apple did that for good reasons. If someone knows how to make MS programs do that, I'd like to know.

Apple has removed the standalone updater for iWork '09 9.3 so this link is broken.

A case of outright bastardry IMHO.

There are users who can not update their Macs to the latest OS, who have paid for boxed sets or bought iWork from the prior Apple Online Store or had it pre-installed on their Macs when they bought them (by Apple) or don't have DVD drives now, or for multiple reasons, are now denied access to necessary updates.

I am not surprised, I always download and retain my own library of updaters for this very reason, but this is the Apple I am beginning to largely loath and detest. They see their customers as nothing but cattle to be herded into whatever slaughter yard Apple chooses before despatching them when they have served their purpose.