This sounds promising, but it's not exactly an office suite (not that Apple necessarily calls it that). I don't see how a word processor and a presentation app constitute a replacement for AppleWorks.

Were you expecting a spreadsheet as well? I suspect Apple are studying what people do with Excel and will be adding a tool that handles data in a somewhat different way (for those who really need that kind of a spreadsheet, there are plenty of alternatives). I suspect the third arm of iWork will have some kind of data manager ("Capture"?) that combines the idea of a database app with the utility of a spreadsheet in a way that is handier to use that either by itself (and will integrate with Pages).

So far I am not particularly impressed with this "suite" (especially the notion of "we give you lots of cool templates") - I am beginning to get the feeling that it is the Apple community more than the company, that makes the Mac experience great.

BTW, edu price for iWork is $49.

...think of it this way:

Keynote = PowerPoint Killer for $99

iWork = PowerPoint & Word Killers for $79!!

What's rather interesting is that the specs for the Mac Mini indicate that it includes *AppleWorks*, not iWork--which may just be a delay in updating the code (though I doubt it), or may be because iWork doesn't ship for another week or so (although that seems silly).

Are they *not* bundling iWork on any systems at all? AppleWorks is still listed as the bundled app on the hardware spec pages...??

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Sydde wrote:

So far I am not particularly impressed with this "suite" (especially the notion of "we give you lots of cool templates") - I am beginning to get the feeling that it is the Apple community more than the company, that makes the Mac experience great.

What do you expect for $80?

I know a lot of people (myself included) who have the MS Office suite and only use Word.

I think $80 sounds pretty freak'n awsome for something that will replace Word and work with the same files.

Hmm ... no entertainment server.

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Mace wrote:
Hmm ... no entertainment server.

I continue to believe that we won't see anything like that until they have worked out some way to buy or view movies legally over the internet.

I imagine you'll see that kind of product announced at the same time as 'movies for iTunes' or whatever they want to call it.

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Small White Car wrote:

What do you expect for $80?

I know a lot of people (myself included) who have the MS Office suite and only use Word.

I think $80 sounds pretty freak'n awsome for something that will replace Word and work with the same files.

Sure, it's a great deal for what it is. It's just that if I were to buy this, I still would not be able to erase AppleWorks from my system, unless I found replacements for my databases and spreadsheets. (Obviously this would be true for many, many AppleWorks users.)

But for the price--especially the Edu price--it's a steal.

Question: For somone who really needs the functionality of Word (versus AppleWorks' word processor), is this really a "Word killer?"

Take another close look at Pages.

This may be a sneaky trojan horse kind of product.

It is not just a word processor. The name is "pages"

What we seem to have here is a sort of object oriented wysiwyg layout program with export capabilities in multiple formats including not only .doc and .pdf, but also .htm

If any of you had the oportunity to play with a program called Freeway you may see that the potential for true wysiwyg print/web page layout design in an elegant fashion with conversion AFTER design completion is the seed of something genius.

Obviously you are not going to replace the high end programs which you and I an many others own and use, but think of the many "users" or more importantly potential users who would like to build a web page or print a newsletter or restaurant menu.

Most of them don't have those high end programs and wouldn't know how to use them or even the ones they have to get what this apears to be able to provide them with ease and elegance.

This once again is empowering technology with the potential to transform large groups of computer owners into computer users.

Think of what iMovie did for video editing. And for that matter think of how desire to make a movie drove mass purchases of macs solely to acquire iMovie.

This is a good move, together with the Mac Mini apple is doing some really smart strategic placement.

re: Hmm ... no entertainment server.

How much do you want in one day? The thing is to not reveal everything at once, otherwise you lose the impact ... Apple have more stuff up their sleave - the next couple of months will be very interesting

As good as a Powerpoint and Word killer these programs may be, most people still need a spreadsheet program for one thing or another, or just would feel really naked without one. Sure you could get iWork + Excel, but buying an Office app by itself is really expensive, and probably worth just getting the whole suite together.

It's also interesting that it doesn't totally take over the AppleWorks stuff like databases.

Keynote already was a PowerPoint Killer. Pages is not a Word killer because Apple does not want Microsoft to stop OS X development. This pattern has been going on now for quite some time. Why do you think it took Apple so long to come up with a replacement for AW6? It looks to me like Pages is a simple, elegant, low cost page layout program akin to InDesign or Pagemaker, rather than a word processor like Word. InDesign for the masses, if you will. Apple, Adobe, and Microsoft are carefully not stepping on each others' toes and effectively cooperating in their very succesful attempts to empty our wallets. This being the case, we still don't have a comprehensive suite that uses all of OS X's outstanding typography, graphics and computing power. I own CS and Office and although they are great, they could be much better. No doubt, I'll end up with Pages at some point for my wife and kids.

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Anonymous wrote:
... It looks to me like Pages is a simple, elegant, low cost page layout program akin to InDesign or Pagemaker, rather than a word processor like Word. InDesign for the masses, if you will ...

Agree. I just watched the SJ's keynote. From the demo, Pages seem more like a page layout application than a word processing application. Pages is to InDesign as iPhoto is to Photoshop.

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Mace wrote:
Pages is to InDesign as iPhoto is to Photoshop.

Bingo. From the demo I saw today, and from the discussion I had at the Creative Suite Power Tools seminar, that's exactly what Pages is. Mr. Jobs wouldn't dare say that in public (They have pissed off Adobe enough already!), but that's really what it is. I almost think it would be a better fit into iLife 05 instead of iWork... except it would be more likely to be used in a small office situation than the other iApps.

Now all the prepress people are cringing at the thought of what they will be getting from Pages users!

My advance hopes were that this new "word processor" would take a new and defining direction in the nature of the word processoring itself, much like Apple computers did with the nature of personal computing. Although I've only seen it briefly, what Pages seems to lack is integration with Address Book and iCal. I think this capability would take care of almost everything.