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- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 40 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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6 out of 7 people found this review helpful
2.5 stars
"Huge Apple fan, It does some things nicely, but falls short"
Pros: Keynote, excellent graphics
Cons: No e-mail client, Word is deeper, Excel is deeper
Summary: As a user of Powerpoint, when Keynote was released, it was a breath of fresh air. Keynote is the absolute standout in this office suite. Keynote is easier to use, looks prettier, has better transitions, and it's easier to add photos and multimedia than Powerpoint. It's the best presentation software I've ever used.
Pages is Word... lite. If I'm typing a letter, I'm going to use word. If I'm typing a paper, Word's formatting is stronger. Apple does have great templates, and on-line video help is strong. But Word really rules the word-processing world. The notebook in Word is fantastic, and I use it often, especially when keeping notes on a meeting. I love its audio recording capabilities. If I were Apple, I'd strenthen Pages in specific areas. Word is a very poor environment to write a script for video or film. I'd make Pages very script friendly. Allow a user to access columns independent from each other. Apple has stong video apps, allowing script integration through Pages, linking scripts to Final Cut or iMovie easily would make Pages more acceptable. Pages just falls short in a lot of areas.
Numbers is missing templates, there are only a few. The charts look great, but for basic spreadsheets, Excel is wonderful, and I'm not certain of where Apple is trying to place these apps in the market. Perhaps they have better small business and hope application than in an actual office setting.
Entourage. Where's the Apple answer? Certainly Mail is nowhere near as fleshed out as Entourage, and I still can't bring myself to switch.
Where's the project management software? Entourage is great at keeping documents and e-mails, addresses and phone numbers pertaining to a project linked up for easy access. To do the same in just an Apple environment, I'd be opening iCal, Address Book, Mail, and Pages, just to do the work of Entourage.
So it gets a 5, because the select things it does it does well, but it's not an Office killer. Keynote is the really the best entry and worth the 80 bucks. I love Apple, I work exclusively on the Mac, but these apps are more like toys and amusement than actual productive applications... except, of course, Keynote.
- 1 reply to this review
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While your review is thorough and unbiased for the most part, somethings just do not make any sense.
Your line of arguement is that it does not create enough features to match what Office has therefore it falls short. This makes no sense. Why does iWork need an apple version of Entourage? This makes no sense because you can still perform all the functions without it.
I think too many people want to use a mac like a PC, cant do it and then they say apple falls short. (not refering directly to you, reeltime). I have heard people say keynotes is stupid because they cant find their favorite powerpoint template?! The same sentiment is reflected in this moronic cnet review.
Apple iWork '08:
