iWork 08' Trial

iWork 08' is perfect for me as long as Numbers can be used flawlessly with Microsoft Excel. The only way for me to know for sure that it will work with the [very] complex spreadsheets that I use would be for me to try it. However, I cannot find a trial anywhere on Apple's site. Does anybody know if this is possible?

 

If you're looking for flawless compatibility with Excel, including VBA, etc. your best bet is goign to be running Excel 2007 in Parallels.

As far as I know, any complex scripts, etc. you have aren't going to translate over (this is true of the upcoming Excel 2008 as well, which won't have VBA support).

 

As Zadillo said, the biggest issue with reading Excel files outside of Excel has always been macros, since they're coded in Microsoft Visual Basic, a proprietary programming language. Microsoft seems to be moving away from this with the new versions of Office though (which includes Office 2007 for Windows), so if you have a lot of complex spreadsheets I would say your best bet is actually to use Office 2003 either in Parallels or via Crossover Office. This will also ensure the best compatibility across Word and Powerpoint, etc as well since Office 2007/2008 use an xml-based file format that doesn't always translate so nicely from old files.

 

http://www.apple.com/iwork/trial/

 

Ayron thanks for the link. I am currently running Excel 2004 for Mac OS X with no problems (other than it being slow sometimes). When Office 2008 comes out I will be using it as long as it is compatible and better than iWork Numbers. I'm gonna give this trial a shot and then decide what to do.

 

Well I just tried the trial version of Numbers and it's not even close to being as capable as excel. There were MANY features that Numbers does not support. Guess I'm back to waiting for 2008...what's the new ETA?

 

early next year... probably february or march

 

Well just tried out the trial, and I have already uninstalled it. For those who need basic stuff, its probably great, but for me its no good. For one, it screwed up my excel and powerpoint files, especially graphs...for eg numbers decided that my line graphs no longer needed lines. Sure I could spend a few days reconfiguring all my stuff but why bother when I still have a functional albeit slow office04. Guess its back to waiting for office08... or should that be 09?
a

 

Do I have to uninstall iwork 06 in order to install the trial??

 

no you do not

 

Numbers looks like a joke.

Spreadsheets aren't supposed to look pretty. Sometimes I think Apple weighs aesthetics over functionality too often.

 

I agree in a way and want to make a point as well.

Yes, the apps found in iWork (especially Numbers) isn't Microsoft Office at all (although Keynote is beautiful). Office is the standard in the industry and nothing seems to be challenging that.

But I don't think Apple ever targeted iWork to take over Office. iWork is meant for those that need a simple productivity suite, but don't want the price of Office, or the 80% of features in Office that they'll never use. I guess you could call it an "alternative" to Office for those that just need a word processor and do some spreadsheets every now and then. For the power user Office is still the way to go.

 

I don't think I'd agree that Apple weighs aesthetics OVER functionality. I do agree they put an emphasis on that, but it doesn't mean they don't care about functionality.

As Sam said, no, it isn't meant to replace Office.

Pages and Numbers are not going to match the pure functionality of Word or Excel, to be sure.

But they are meant to do what they do as well and as cleanly as possible, and to make it simple to make nice looking documents, charts, etc.

Numbers is really probably more of a consumer-oriented spreadsheet program (and I do like stuff like the checkboxes in cells, for example). It's designed to be easy to use, while still offering the core functions many people typically use spreadsheets for.

Same thing with Pages; no, it isn't going to replace Word or Quark for that matter, but it provides a nice word processing/page layout package without quite so much complexity.

-Zadillo

P.S. Also, "spreadsheets aren't supposed to look pretty"? Says who? I remember the same thing being said back when the Mac first came out, and the first GUI-based version of MS Word appeared for it, making it much easier to do "pretty" documents than typical DOS-based word processors.

Just because something is primarily for business doesn't mean it can't look "pretty"; same thing with presentations, for that matter.

 

And actually, just playing around with the iWork trial, I don't see what your basis is for saying Numbers "looks like a joke".

Again, yes, it isn't Excel, but it seems to have a pretty nice featureset for a spreadsheet app, and just from looking at all the sample templates, it seems like it could easily be used for a lot of the things people use spreadsheets for (business and personal uses).

What exactly is it that makes you say Numbers is a "joke"? Surely it isn't just because some of the graphical effects, etc. that are available?

-Zadillo

 

After using iWork 08 i have to agree with what has been said about the program suite (numbers in particular). For anyone who uses spreadsheets every day with detailed formulas, numbers is def NOT the way to go. It is meant for the average user who want to create non-complex spreadsheets for their personal use. It is a great simple spreadsheet program that can serve it's niche market very well. For any power users, Excel is not going anywhere anytime soon and there is no real practical alternative.

 

Excellent points.

And I mean, yeah...... seriously, if Numbers was just an Excel clone, there wouldn't be much point to it. I think that there is something to be said for a sort of consumer-oriented spreadsheet app. There are a lot of people out there using about 5% of what Excel is capable of.

For a suite of apps that combined retails for $79, it seems like a nice little package.

-Zadillo

 

Wonder if anyone still remembers MS Works

Anyway, it does seem like a nice package for $80, but that would be $80 on top of what I pay for MS Office (yes yes, MS sucks and all that, but it's still an industry standard and absolutely necessary for my work)...so it looks like I'll be passing on this one.

 

I am not going to make a reply to everyone that responded to my post, and just would like to state that I don't own iWork and it was my initial impression that it was supposed to be Apple's alternative to MS Office, hence my high standards that led me to my previous statement regarding Numbers.

 

i haven't delved into the trial yet, but i am going to throw out the fact that this is version ONE of numbers from apple. within the year i assume they will make quite a few changes, e.g., just look at how iweb evolved from its 1.0 days.

 

I actually just bought it earlier today. I tried the trial yesterday and it's exactly what I need. Like pantman said, for someone who just needs the basic things, it's a great suite of apps, for only $80 it's a bargain, which is almost half the price of the least expensive office suite.

But still, after using iWork 06 extensively and now with 08, especially with keynote, I can definitely say that I won't go back to powerpoint again. I love the way my presentations look on Keynote. I used to swear by ppt 2007, and slowly but surely I started using Keynote more, and now it's my main app. Everytime I make one someone always comes up to me to tells me how good the slides and animations look.

So yeah, I'm heavy on presentations, but light on word processing and spreadsheets, so I guess iWork 08 is perfect for me. I only use office now when I REEEALLY absolutely have to..

 

Just curious, 00fez, how is the compatibility between Keynote and Powerpoint? Apple claims it is compatible, but would I be able to use Keynote and give me presentation from a PC? Would the PC need some sort of add-on to use a Keynote-created presentation? Would the transitions not display or anything? Thanks .

 

Fonts look different and sometimes will be moved around so you might have to adjust fonts as well as their sizes. Themes are exported flawlessly, but transitions and animations suck. Most of the times ppt will not have an equivalent animation or transition, especially if you use one of the fancier ones available in keynote. Some letter animations almost made my macbook crash (under xp boot camp)

Font anti aliasing will not work, and font shadows wont look as nice.

Tables and charts have exported properly for me, the only thing I've had to rearrange are font sizes so they can properly fit the tables again.


So in my opinion, if you want to use keynote, then its better to do your presentations with keynote itself. Exporting can be a big pain in the ass. One of the downsides is that keynote files are incredibly large. When you asked me your question I exported a 13-slide presentation with moderate animations and effects and various keynote pro themes with 1024x768 resolution on all slides, it is 220MB in size, and it took my 2.0 1GB ram macbook 15 minutes to export. Your mileage may vary if you have more ram, and faster processor.

Ii guess if you really had to, and had some patience you could do it (I certainly dont. lol!). Apple's claims are not spot on, but they arent lies either. Once you export, all you have to do is adjust font sizes, and change transitions and animations to the craptastical ones that powerpoint has, which i guess beats the point of using keynote in the first place anyway, but you will have the skeleton (or whatever) of your presentation.

So my advice is, if you plan on presenting with powerpoint 2003 or 2007, then just stick to using powerpoint. unless you REAAALLY digg the themes in keynote and want them transported.

As far as addons go I am not aware of any, but will do some searching today to see if I can find something for you.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

Hmmm, thanks for the comments and opinions, 00fez. I really like Keynote; the transitions and effects are just stunning, but the problem is I will always be doing the presentation on the school PC. So I guess I have to stick to Powerpoint until that's better.

 

Actually, doesn't Keynote have some option to export as a quicktime movie or something? Seemingly one could give a presentation as a quicktime movie, as long as the had the ability to pause and play.

 

Yes Zadillo that is correct. It is a much better option which I forgot to mention. The problem for me is that for some reason, all the animations and transitions are not automatic. Let me explain:

In iWork, when playing my presentation using the apple remote, I just press next and the complete animations or transitions occurs. However, when I export it to quicktime, if I press next, it won't do a thing, or at least it seems that way. The problem is that it performs the animations and transitions frame by frame, so you have to hold the next button on the apple remote, and when you do, all the animations occur at much, much faster frames per second than what you would see in keynote, which is very awkward.

I haven't bothered to try to resolve it because ive yet had to present on a windows pc, but if anyone can tell me what Im doing wrong maybe we can help sam.

 

Hrmm, does it work with a simple play/pause option? Holding down the next button on the apple remote would fast forward like you say, but I would think playing and pausing would do the trick.

-Zadillo

 

hah!!! you know I actually dont remember what I tried, but I guess that makes sense!! I will try exporting something right now to see how it works. wow, lol. i cant believe i missed that...

I'll post back in a bit. (there may be some hope for you sam )

 

OK I tried it again, and my conclusion is that the first time I tried it I was probably drunk...lol. Anyway, it works well by tap clicking on your trackpad, or by using the play button. The play button works like the next button in keynote, as in, pressing play will not play the entire presentation, just the next slide/animation/whatever.

When you export, make sure you select manual advance from playback uses, and select full quality under format. Also make sure transparency and audio are checked. And you're set! The only other thing would be to find out how it would work with the remote you use on a windows pc, but other than that, you're set. Just make your presentation with keynote, export to quicktime, and use on a windows pc!

sorry i didnt mention it before!! lol (hopefully you didnt spend 400 bucks in office, hahah)

Anyway, try it out for yourself and see how it goes.

 

Ahh, that's cool that it will automatically play just the next portion of the slide (I was thinking you'd have to pause at the right moment, etc.).

I would imagine it should work well with a PC presentation remote; most of the ones I've seen often have support for the QuickTime player, so it should work pretty well.

-Zadillo

 

That's great news, 00fez. Thanks for helping me out . So the Quicktime movie, in a way, is split into "sections", then? So you click play, it plays to the end of that slide, and then it pauses and you have press play again to reach the next slide, correct? If so then that's great. And no transition, effects or text issues?

One more thing; the Quicktime movie would play in Quicktime player now, wouldn't it? That means it needs Pro for full screen...

 

Yeah I guess you could say it is split into sections, but these sections are not divide by slide, but by animation or transitions. Say you have a slide, press play, slide appears, press play, some text animation, press play, another text appears, press play, next slide with transition. It's something like that. It's the same as powerpoint except instead of pressing next you have to press play, but this is with the apple remote, im not sure how it would be with others. I'm guessing it has to do with the fact that its a quicktime movie.

And no, there are no issues at all. Everything from the colors to the animations are all perfect and smooth.

Something worth mentioning is that file size is decreased dramatically so that's a plus if you have your usb drive almost full. A 230MB presentation decreased to about 22MB, so that's good.

And you don't need to worry about full screen, I think it was last month that apple issued an update for quicktime which lets you use fullscreen for free now, so you don't need to buy quicktime pro.

 

Has it? Very nice! That's a good thing. I haven't done Software Updates in a while because my internet connection was very unstable for a long time.

 

iWork 08 with Numbers especially is the perfect solution for most home and small business users. Only complex spreadsheet designing would be happening in the corporate market in which Excel would really be needed. I run an insurance business and my partners and I all use Macs and only create spreadsheets to keep database for our clients and Excel has been okay but I really like Numbers better. iWork 08 has a much nicer and professional looking UI than the 06.

This is a perfect suite of apps for anyone that was waiting for MS Office 08 and doesn't want to spend a King's Ransom on a Microsoft license.