Apple’s iWork ‘08 a MS Office Replacement?
August 23rd, 2007
No. iWork is not a replacement for MS Office…for most people who use Office. That being professionals and really anyone who regularly trades documents back and forth between other users of Office (read: Windows Users), which is 90% of the computer-using world.
BUT, for some of us – for the select few – iWork will be all we need and more.
This isn’t a review. I have been using the software since it first became available for download, and I am very impressed. But I haven’t really taken it through its paces and reviews take a lot of actual work and research. I think I just yawned typing that…
However, I am a longtime user of MS Office on both Windows (ewwie) and Mac, as well as a user of iWork since ‘05. And I’ve been PRAYING for an iWork spreadsheet application because I have been using Excel for this, that and the other thing for years upon end. With the arrival of Numbers, my prayers have been answered.
If you’re building spreadsheets to track P&L trends for Google, Numbers absolutely will not replace Excel for you. If you regularly open very complex spreadsheets created in Excel or if you collaborate with Excel users on the same spreadsheet, then the import/export function will be frustrating for you. However, if you’re like me, and you use spreadsheets to create a budget for a new PA system for your band, or maybe make a list of possible motorcycle purchases and compare them, and you occasionally need to share your spreadsheets with Excel users, then Numbers will do you just fine. In fact, more than fine. I would say that the feature set in Numbers will likely suit your needs even better than Excel.
Pages is also now a suitable replacement for Word. It includes merge, collaboration tools like tracking changes, and as I’m sure you’ve heard, it includes a more robust page layout engine than Word, making it a fantastic multi-tasker. Of course just like Excel, Word will have many more features for the professional set and if you’ve used Word for years like me but are remiss to make any unnecessary changes, you may want to stick with that.
I won’t even touch Keynote. In so many ways, it’s far superior to it’s ugly, bloated cousin, PowerPoint. Like Pages and Numbers, you can export to the Office counterpart and import as well. And like any export/import system, there are inherent problems like formatting glitches and incompatible transitions. But if you’re creating presentations that only you or another Keynote user will be viewing or showing…then PowerPoint is the very first Office app that I feel I can say with confidence that you should dump.
In summary, if you are an Office expert, interact with other users of Office regularly, or need an incredibly large feature set, then Office is for you. Office is still the biggest kid in town and the Mac Business Unit has done a tremendous job making an excellent suite of applications. (did I just say that?)
But if you’re a micro business owner, running a household, or just like to tinker…feel free to let your Mac flag fly and dump Office in favor of iWork. You’ll save yourself about seventy bucks in the process.
C’mon. All the cool kids are doing it.
PS…if you’ve been wanting to buy iWork, do it here and I’ll get some scratch.
Filed under: web, work, writing
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