# ...and still no update to iWork



## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Seriously. What the heck*?


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2011)

They are all probably too busy scrambling to try and make sure they have some sort of Final Cut Pro release that they have promised. Apple does this quite often, pulling team members off projects to work on more burning projects apparently.


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## Digikid (Jun 22, 2010)

IMHO iWork is fine as it is...does not NEED an update as long as it does what it is supposed to.


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## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

I agree, I think iWork works quite well. It never crashes, it has great integration with supporting software (ie. Endnote).


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## Joker Eh (Jan 22, 2008)

Yeah buy I want to buy it and have been holding off thinking a new release is coming.


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## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

Joker Eh said:


> Yeah buy I want to buy it and have been holding off thinking a new release is coming.


buy it!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!


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## broad (Jun 2, 2009)

doesnt matter if you buy it now or in 5 months...13 days after you buy it the new one will launch

do you need all 3 applications? you can buy them a la carte in the app store (if you are running 10.6.6)


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## gmark2000 (Jun 4, 2003)

Adrian. said:


> I agree, I think iWork works quite well. It never crashes, it has great integration with supporting software (ie. Endnote).


I'm working on a 20-page newsletter right now and it crashed on me once already - losing lots of unsaved data. I wish there was auto-save enabled with Pages.


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## rgray (Feb 15, 2005)

gmark2000 said:


> I'm working on a 20-page newsletter right now and it crashed on me once already - losing lots of unsaved data. I wish there was auto-save enabled with Pages.


Check out Tool Force Software | ForeverSave Lite


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2011)

gmark2000 said:


> I'm working on a 20-page newsletter right now and it crashed on me once already - losing lots of unsaved data. I wish there was auto-save enabled with Pages.


I would check for font conflicts on your machine if that's the case, that's a very common symptom of that type of crashing.


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## Funkynassau (Apr 13, 2008)

I use Pages for our car club's magazine, I am the editor. I save as I go. I dont wait til I get a pile of work done to save. Nothing wrong with doing a Save every few minutes or paragraphs or whatever you are creating. It has never crashed on me and my old G4 desktop.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

It may be a holdover from years of working with Word, but I have an unconscious habit of hitting Command-S with my left hand constantly. I make a change, Command-S. Second nature now.

That said, I can count on one hand the number of times Pages has crashed on my over the past few years, and that includes many looooong sessions putting together a 40-page image-heavy newsletter for a photography guild...

As noted - font conflicts are very likely. Font Book has a built-in font conflict resolution tool - a good first step before moving on to paid font management tools.


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## Guest (Mar 5, 2011)

CubaMark said:


> It may be a holdover from years of working with Word, but I have an unconscious habit of hitting Command-S with my left hand constantly. I make a change, Command-S. Second nature now.


I have that exact same reflex ... and it happens in quite a few apps that I use (but not all of them).



> As noted - font conflicts are very likely. Font Book has a built-in font conflict resolution tool - a good first step before moving on to paid font management tools.


Yep that's a good place to start. I think that if there are black dots beside your fonts in fontbook you have a conflict -- or at least it used to work like that, haven't used it in a while


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## gmark2000 (Jun 4, 2003)

Never used Fontbook before. Resolved several duplicates. Didn't show any conflicts.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Lion is out.

New MacBook Air is out.

iWork: still the same old version '09.

What the heck? 



...and... we were all so sure that at the very latest, iWork would be updated when Lion was released - and that didn't happen. So what about compatibility issues?

For example, a user in the Apple Support Communities posted this query:



> _20-Jul-2011 8:20 AM_
> Can I install quicktime 7 in Lion? (Quicktime X doesn't play the keynote interactive.movs)


Anybody know the answer to that one?

M


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## Tech Elementz (Mar 15, 2011)

CubaMark said:


> Lion is out.
> 
> New MacBook Air is out.
> 
> ...


CubaMark, I notice you like to post a lot of threads relating to productivity software... 

Anyways, I think Mac OS X Lion was the whole point for today, but iWork. Maybe next year...


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## fyrefly (Apr 16, 2005)

At least Apple issued a software update to allow iWork to use Full Screen and Versioning in Lion?


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## Ottawaman (Jan 16, 2005)

> Apple today released iWork Update 6, which adds OS X Lion functionality to the iWork suite of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote and updates the suite to iWork 9.1. The update is a 90.2 MB download.
> 
> The update is available immediately through Software Update and provides full support for Full Screen mode, Resume, Auto Save, and Versions. You must be running iWork 9.0 or later for the updater to perform its magic.
> 
> According to the notes for this update, the update also adds the Lion character picker feature (holding down a key brings up all accented versions of the letter) and improves compatibility with Microsoft Office. Keynote now has two new builds called Anvil and Fall Apart.


iWork Update 6 adds OS X Lion features | TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Keynote gets a teeny-tiny bump to 5.1.1 today.

Where the H-E-DOUBLE-HOCKEY-#$%^&-STICKS is iWork 12?


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

First of all, I don't see where there's a burning need to upgrade iWork. I'm not saying they won't -- but what SPECIFICALLY are you missing that every other Office-type program in the world has?

Secondly, I'm fully expecting to see you in here come February when iWork 12 IS out (pure speculation btw) complaining to high heaven about how they re-arranged everything and added stuff you don't like and how you're going to stick with iWork 11 till they bring back AppleWorks.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

chas_m said:


> First of all, I don't see where there's a burning need to upgrade iWork. I'm not saying they won't -- but what SPECIFICALLY are you missing that every other Office-type program in the world has?


Why, thank-you for asking, my good man...

Pages needs some major improvement on its Word format conversion capabilities. I have a burning need (evidenced by many other threads and posts on the subject) to toss Microsoft Office off my hard drive. It's becoming pathological, this need... I sometimes wish MSO was a real, living being so that I might satisfy my bloodlust by wrapping my hands around its throat and squeezing. Yeah, I hate Word *that much*.

Likewise, Numbers is woefully lacking in the conversion of Excel files. Anything beyond simple cell calculations is tossed. I have a friend who runs a fairly large business and loves Numbers... but her accountant and other financial types use Excel exclusively. She inevitably has to modify documents they send her, which she does in Numbers, and in the conversion & exchange of files, something always ends up getting messed up.

And then there's Keynote. I love Keynote. Really. But when working on anything complex, the animations and layering of objects is ridiculously cumbersome. Many have called for improvements in that area - perhaps the addition of a timeline structure. And let's not even start on the Audio problems. Building a pre-packaged presentation that includes multiple audio tracks, or audio that bridges slides, is impossible.. and synching issues require anyone doing complex work to export into another program, such as iMovie, to fix things. Lots of little sniggling bugs and feature requests that we'd love to see addressed.



chas_m said:


> Secondly, I'm fully expecting to see you in here come February when iWork 12 IS out (pure speculation btw) complaining to high heaven about how they re-arranged everything and added stuff you don't like and how you're going to stick with iWork 11 till they bring back AppleWorks.


I think you have me confused with someone else in here. Much as I loved AppleWorks (the linked text boxes alone made it a standout DTP program), I wouldn't go backwards from Pages. And I think I'm more of an "embrace the change" kind of guy... or do I have a deluded sense of self-image?


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## Andrew Pratt (Feb 16, 2007)

I just walked away from iWork as well...too many features missing and issues converting back and forth btn it and Microsoft. That last straw for us was not being able to rotate text in a cell in numbers.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

I too switched from Appleworks to Pages and to be frank it sucks the big fat one. Anyone who claims it to be a replacement for either Appleworks or MSW is delusional. Apple really dropped the ball on this one and the sad part is, there appears to be no will to pick it up.


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## Bjornbro (Feb 19, 2000)

Bring back iMovie HD 6! No, wait! HyperCard!


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## okcomputer (Jul 18, 2005)

SINC said:


> Anyone who claims it to be a replacement for either Appleworks or MSW is delusional.


A replacement for everyone? Nope, not at all.

But I do everything for work on a daily basis in Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. I create several documents each day, and two or three presentations a day most of the time as well. 

I think I probably represent the average user - creating text documents, creating layout docs, creating presentations, and doing basic spreadsheets. So for people like us, iWork is a great replacement.

I also convert Word and PPT docs with very few issues, if any.

I know iWork has a long way to go, but it's not delusional to say it can be a replacement for a good number of people.


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## DempsyMac (May 24, 2007)

for me the biggest request is speed, I find it VERY slow, as soon as I open Pages I find my entire computer slows down, now I am usually using it to make small posters or brochures that either have many photo's or have a few large high-res photo's but that is what it should be able to that is how Apple markets it!


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## crawford (Oct 8, 2005)

CubaMark said:


> I have a burning need (evidenced by many other threads and posts on the subject) to toss Microsoft Office off my hard drive.


I share that sentiment. And, like you, I make most of my living using MS Word (and Excel and PowerPoint), mostly because I collaborate with others who have standardized on Office. As much as I would like to use Pages all day, I just don't think it's realistic to expect iWork to effectively convert Office docs back and forth reliably, particularly when using advanced features, complex documents, etc. 

Probably more realistic to hope for a version of office that fixes what doesn't work. Or maybe that's a dreamworld...


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## fjnmusic (Oct 29, 2006)

Bjornbro said:


> Bring back iMovie HD 6! No, wait! HyperCard!


HyperCard rocked. It was like the precursor to the interwebs.


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## Tech Elementz (Mar 15, 2011)

gmark2000 said:


> I'm working on a 20-page newsletter right now and it crashed on me once already - losing lots of unsaved data. I wish there was auto-save enabled with Pages.


Why did you not save? :lmao:


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## bryanc (Jan 16, 2004)

I'm with CM on this one. Office *owned* the market for a long time, but became bloated, buggy, and increasingly unpleasant to use throughout the late 90's and early 00's. So when Apple released Keynote and then iWork I was very pleased. Keynote in particular was *lightyears* ahead of PowerPoint.

But, not surprisingly, Microsoft responded. PowerPoint improved (indeed, most of the features that PowerPoint has gained in the last 5 years are copies of Keynote features).

I suppose Apple doesn't really make much money off of iWork, but if they're not going to keep working on it, they should spin it off and let it flourish as an independent software company like FileMaker.

I can think of dozens of ways to improve Keynote (to start with, buy Humble Daisy, incorporate ProfCast, and axe the windows version... suddenly Keynote is the best teaching/distance ed tool in the universe). Better interoperability with Word would make Pages something that I could really use for collaborative authoring of papers. Non-useless graphing and/or decent built in statistical analysis would make Numbers worth learning.

It just seems _criminal_ to let iWork languish for so long.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

branc, I just don't get it. iWork / Keynote on the iPad seems to be very popular (as evidenced by it's ranking in iTunes)... it would seem to make sense that the computer-based counterpart also be given some attention (including a more logical way to move documents between iOS and OS X, not to mention compatibility).

If I were a user of Pages or Keynote on an iPad, I'd be pretty miffed at Apple... well, more than I already am...


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## Glipt (Aug 7, 2003)

Apple probably discovered that too many "professionals" were starting to use iWork (maybe as part of their video production businesses) and realized that because they didn't make as much profit from the professional market as they do from igadgets they just better back off and leave it alone.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Well, now, what do we make of this?*



> *Apple removes trials of iWork and Aperture from its website, sends users to App Store*





> As pointed out by MacStories, Apple recently removed trials for the iWork suite and Aperture 3 from Apple.com. The webpage formerly home to the iWork trial now includes a message informing users that iWork apps, such as Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, are available through the Mac App Store. Apple removed the trial for a short while last year before returning it; however, the company also informed users last month that the iWork.com Beta service would shut down July 31. Apple does not currently offer trial versions of the $20 Mac Store apps.



(9 to 5 Mac)


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## Tech Elementz (Mar 15, 2011)

CubaMark said:


> *Well, now, what do we make of this?*


It means that there are no more trials. This means that they are sending users to purchase the app on the Mac App Store. At least there was some attention on iWork. :lmao:


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

It *could* be a sign that iWork is about to be updated.


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## goosnarrggh (Jan 11, 2012)

Tech Elementz said:


> It means that there are no more trials. This means that they are sending users to purchase the app on the Mac App Store. At least there was some attention on iWork. :lmao:


The trial version of iWork '09 was a Universal binary with compatibility with both PowerPC and Intel Macs. However, the PowerPC build of iWork stopped receiving security and bugfix updates after January 2011 (Pages 4.0.5; Keynote 5.0.5; Numbers 2.0.5).

In the mean time, a subsequent substantial update was released in July 2011 (Pages 4.1; Keynote 5.1; Numbers 2.1), compiled only for Intel Macs running Snow Leopard or later. This release included the changes necessary for compatibility with OS X Lion, but it also included several bugfixes -- bugfixes which never made it out to PowerPC systems.

That means that, as long as Apple continued distributing the original iWork Trial package, they were effectively distributing new software, with an implied warranty, despite the fact that it contained known defects that would never receive fixes for a certain subset of their potential users.

That was clearly an untenable situation.

Their options, as far as I can see, would have been to either:

1) Go through the effort of re-spinning the trial package to drop the unsupported architecture (PowerPC) from the binaries, or

2) Get rid of the trial package entirely, and redirect potential customers to the alternative distribution method (the Mac App Store), which would already be guaranteed to be completely inaccessible to the subset of users which would have been subject to the lack of official support (PowerPC-based Macs).

Option (1) would have required some amount of engineering effort. Option (2) would only have required an administrative exercise, with no additional engineering effort.

I think it's clear that option (2) would have been the better choice on these grounds alone, regardless of whether or not another new major release may or may not be on the horizon.


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## crawford (Oct 8, 2005)

Or perhaps Apple will introduce free trials to the App store, which was a major omission from the start.


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## fyrefly (Apr 16, 2005)

The free trial of iWork '09 is still available from Apple, if you have the right link:

http://appldnld.apple.com.edgesuite...al/2Z693-6764.01022009.awq23/iWork09Trial.dmg


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

fyrefly said:


> The free trial of iWork '09 is still available from Apple, if you have the right link:
> 
> http://appldnld.apple.com.edgesuite...al/2Z693-6764.01022009.awq23/iWork09Trial.dmg



And of course Apple supplied that URL link right??? - I think NOT!! 

And any updates are where???


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## fyrefly (Apr 16, 2005)

pm-r said:


> And of course Apple supplied that URL link right??? - I think NOT!!
> 
> And any updates are where???


Huh? It's an apple link... Updates? You mean the ones that'll appear in Software Update once you have iWork installed? Or the ones you can get from Apple.com/support/downloads?

iWork 9.1


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

Good find BTW, but I was referring to Apple's software/download site that has no mention of any iWork '09 trial and one needs to use Goggle and then find at their site Apple - iWork - Trial
and then read their statement:
"The trial version of iWork is no longer supported. But you can easily purchase Keynote, Pages, and Numbers from the Mac App Store to start creating beautiful presentations, documents, and spreadsheets today."


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

What on earth is going through the minds of Apple's execs regarding the iWork suite?

Seriously!

Today an incremental update was released for Pages and Keynote (not Numbers, as far as I can tell) to bring Mountain Lion compatibiity - and not much else.

And they're still marketing it as "Pages '09" and "Keynote '09". It hasn't been '09 for THREE YEARS, APPLE!

Not cool.


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## ldphoto (Jul 9, 2009)

Retina compatibility also added to iWork, which is nice.


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## milhaus (Jun 1, 2004)

CubaMark said:


> What on earth is going through the minds of Apple's execs regarding the iWork suite?
> 
> Seriously!
> 
> ...


Office for Windows still on 2010 version, so not that far ahead. Office 2013 in beta now, likely to arrive in early 2013; Apple still has some time. What features do you want from Pages and Keynote that aren't there right now?


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## Tech Elementz (Mar 15, 2011)

An iWork main upgrade is certainly bound to come eventually. I think next year would be a great time to. iWork seems to be the desktop counterpart that will work with iCloud to sync with iOS (which is now possible via Mac App Store updates to the iWork suite). 

However, Apple is likely to push out some great features in the iOS version and be able to integrate it into the desktop versions, most likely making sure it'll stay remain a feature packed, well-designed application. Apple has surprised us with many different things and a new iWork is bound to be one of the next things upcoming.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

milhaus said:


> What features do you want from Pages and Keynote that aren't there right now?


I want 

(a) bug fixes (many - check out betalogue.com for an ongoing rant about Pages (but mostly Office) bugs); 

(b) improved import/export of Word files; 

(c) in Keynote, there are many users, myself included, who would like to see an overhaul of the interface, particularly as it pertains to managing complex animation builds. Some have talked of a timeline feature. Keynote also suffers from a lack of audio capabilities. We don't need any more gee-whiz effects, we just want to be able to do things better.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Apple, VMware Team On iPad Microsoft Office Killer*



> As Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) readies its version of Office for iPads and iPhones, Apple (NSDQ:AAPL) and VMware are teaming to build an iPad cloud-hosted office suite that will let organizations ditch Office entirely, CRN has learned.
> 
> According to sources with knowledge of the project, the iPad app combines VMware View virtual-desktop software with cloud-hosted versions of Pages, Keynote and Numbers -- known as the iWork suite -- running on Apple infrastructure. VMware's Horizon Application Manager, a management tool that has been likened to an enterprise app store, is also included,





> Bob Venero, CEO of Future Tech, a Holbrook, N.Y.-based solution provider, said he sees an enormous appetite for a cloud-hosted iWork suite in the small to medium business market.
> 
> "The world has become impatient with the monopoly Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) has around its Office productivity suite,





> "For an SMB account, you are talking cost savings of 20-30 percent minimum, which adds up conservatively to millions of dollars in savings across the U.S. SMB marketplace,"





> One sign of the challenges that Microsoft faces with its Office suite franchise in the current market, said Venero, is the fact that customers can buy a brand-name notebook for less than the cost of the Microsoft Office Professional suite.





> "When the price of the software exceeds the price of the device that the software will run on, you have an enormous challenge of justifying the price of that application when there are alternatives out there like the Apple (NSDQ:AAPL) iWork Suite, Google (NSDQ:GOOG) Apps and OpenOffice."


(CRN)


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## crawford (Oct 8, 2005)

It's a confusing article... the writer starts out talking about mobile apps, then ends up talking about desktop apps. What is the point?


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*yawn*

Apple touts Office compatibility with iWork for iOS updates | Ars Technica

sigh. Back to twiddling my thumbs...


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## fjnmusic (Oct 29, 2006)

CubaMark said:


> *yawn*
> 
> Apple touts Office compatibility with iWork for iOS updates | Ars Technica
> 
> sigh. Back to twiddling my thumbs...


Office blows. Always has. That is all.


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## eMacMan (Nov 27, 2006)

At this point iWork 09 is no longer fully supports Snow Leopard, even though the original version supported as far back as Tiger on a G4.

Admittedly there have not been very many real changes but modifying which OSs will run iWork is worthy of a new version number by itself.


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

CubaMark said:


> *yawn*
> 
> Apple touts Office compatibility with iWork for iOS updates | Ars Technica
> 
> sigh. Back to twiddling my thumbs...



Maybe they could start over and go in another direction and create a completely NEW fully integrated application and call it - are you ready? - "AppleWorks X"!!!

I still don't understand why they killed it, or was it a thorn in SJ's side?

At least AW 6.2.9 still works in OS X SL 10.6.8 for those of us who still use it sometimes.


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

They killed it because it had an ancient codebase that would have been impossible to modernize. They were going to kill off the other modules anyway because so few people ever used ANYTHING but the word processor and the slideshow.Had they clunked together what became Pages and Keynote into one program and called it AppleWorks X, would you have been happy? 

HA!!!

No, you would have screamed bloody murder and led the hate brigade as you currently do on various other (perfectly good) programs.

And please do keep using Appleworks if you enjoy it ... I'm making a FORTUNE off people who waited too long to convert their documents and find themselves up the creek without a paddle when their old machine dies, doing conversions to still-supported programs ...


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

Hmmm... yet another typical unsupported and opinionated, unsubstantiated chas_m reply post comment. Again.

Yawn..

I'm glad to hear you're "making a FORTUNE off people", it must be quite satisfying for you.

My ethics are obviously quite different.

Amen.


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## eMacMan (Nov 27, 2006)

chas_m said:


> They killed it because it had an ancient codebase that would have been impossible to modernize. They were going to kill off the other modules anyway because so few people ever used ANYTHING but the word processor and the slideshow.Had they clunked together what became Pages and Keynote into one program and called it AppleWorks X, would you have been happy?
> 
> HA!!!
> 
> ...


Hmmm having thrown AppleWorks under the bus, is there any reason I should believe iWork will not suffer a similar fate?

BTW the spreadsheet and Database modules were also used and AW Draw is still superior to Pages as a lo-cost page layout app.


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## rgray (Feb 15, 2005)

This today...................


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