iWork '09 Family Pack
by Apple Computer
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List Price: Our Price: $78.57 You Save: $20.43 (21%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Software See more product details and other editions |
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Software Reviews of iWork '09 Family Pack
Customer Review: Apple improves their office suite yet again!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Did you know that 77% of all mac users still use Microsoft office? I am one of them. I have been trying to find something that will take me away from the grips of using MS products on a MAC. (I am a cross platform type of person...so MS on a PC is the BEST! but on a Mac, I beg to differ). iWork is a great package that does what it does for a low cost and for people with all skill levels.
I am sure you all know what is in iWork...so I will tell you my thoughts.
Pages - Great beginners/advanced word processor - it is not a MS Word replacement but it is a great word processor for Mac's
Numbers - Great beginners/advanced spreadsheet program. Very easy to use and comprehensive. Dont expect it to do complex formulas and or equations... Again...not a replacement for Excel.
Keynote - Here is where iWork shines. It is a great powerpoint type program to create slides for presentations. It works GREAT on a MAC. Presentations made easy, and efficiently. There is now an iPhone application that will actually allow you to control your slideshow from your phone while you are on a stage or in front of people....very impressive stuff... I am sure with time it will only get better.
Now for the newest feature of the iWork 2009 suite. iWork.com. When you purchase this software you are instantly given access to a web based sharing platform. To put it simply...you create a document that you want your assistant/family member to see and give you advice on....simply tell pages to publish it online in a secure fashion and email the link to the other person...and yourself. Both of you can now look at, discuss, and make notes on the document all via a web browser.
Awesome stuff....I can go into a lot of detail..but I am sure a review is not the best place for it. Apple does plan on charging for this service in the future...but I am not sure of the details.
Please note that as of this version, serial numbers are not used when purchased in a retail box. You simply install it on up to 5 machines (with the family pack).
Thanks.
Customer Review: Not a difficult decision...
Summary: 3 Stars
I've been wanting to get rid of my increasingly glitchy copy of Office 2004 for some time, but have been holding off because Pages didn't have an outlining feature. This year, they added it so I delved in, just because I'm an Apple fan really. The price is the same as Office 2008 Home and Student (though you get 5 vs 3 licenses.)
It's a well designed suite, nice interface, reasonably easy to use, though there is a learning curve coming from office--probably no more so than moving to Office 2008, though. If you're thinking about buying this, there are really only three things you need to consider as near as I can tell:
1: Does it have the features you need? Office 2004 is the standard by which everything is judged and it is still more feature-rich than iWork (and in some cases Office 2008.)
2: If you need to exchange files with Office users, iWork really isn't appropriate. I opened a simple word processing document and a simple Excel spreadsheet, and found that both had compatibility problems. A warning came up describing them and saying that the features would not be supported or would be converted. It was a number of things, but I remember specifically the table in my Word document and the print range in my Excel document. Office 2008 doesn't have perfect compatibility with 2004 either, but it's significantly better.
3: If you're a fan of having a written manual for your software, iWork has been poorly supported. Office has a Missing Manual.
So, that's it. Pretty much everything else is just Mac vs PC noise.
Post Script: I wasn't able to confirm how the licenses work for either iWork or Office. Not sure if you can run all the computers at the same time on a network or one at a time.
Post Post Script: I didn't try Keynote.
Customer Review: Good Value for money
Summary: 5 Stars
I think iWork should not be compared to Office 2007 or 2008. They are in a different category.
if you are in a Mac only environment and there is no need to export files into .doc or .docx or .xls or .ppt then you can absolutely use it.
If you intend to use it for business purposes, then iWork may not be the best 0ption(depends on the document's complexity). A lot got lost in the translation when converting a PPT 2007 into a Keynote PPT.
Customer Review: Excellent! Apple again shows their uncanny ability to know what users really want.
Summary: 5 Stars
iWork '09 offers a few small improvements on the already brilliant balance between ease of use and powerful features achieved in iWork '08. iWork, in general, is a masterful suite of productivity programs. I am an engineer and work with Excel, Word, and Powerpoint on a daily basis. While the office is officially "PC", I use my Mac to produce the best looking spreadsheets and presentations around, in a fraction of the time it would take in a stingy Excel spreadsheet or Powerpoint presentation. Of course, I must develop some things in Office for 100% compatibility, which is unfortunate. Many of the creative features in iWork do not make the transition very well to MS Office.
One of the coolest new features in iWork '09 is iWork.com. I have already started using this to send out draft iWork documents for peer review. Marketing materials, spreadsheets, and Keynote presentations can be uploaded. People you choose can comment on the document, and download it in any number of formats (I prefer limiting downloads to PDF so that the original formatting is left in tact).
To get a feel for iWork '09, watch the tutorials on the APple web site. This will give you a flavor of how easy it is to use this great suite.