Apple's productivity suite for the Mac, iWork '08 includes three applications: Pages '08, Numbers '08, and Keynote '08
Powerful word processing and page layout with 140 Apple-designed templates with Pages
Effortlessly create stunning presentations, complete with Apple-designed themes, cinema-quality animations, and voiceover narration with Keynote
Create compelling spreadsheets for everything from family budgets and event planning to invoices and complex financial reports with Numbers
Import and export compatibility with Microsoft Office
Rating: - Apple iWork '08
Apple iWork '08 Family Pack Excellent upgrade for iWork. More templates, more powerful and easier to use. Now the package includes the long awaited Spread Sheet program which now makes iWork a complete and easily useable package. The new Spread Sheet program brings a fresh new perspective to spread sheets and in typical Apple fashion brings fun to working with spread sheets.
Rating: - More Mature
I work in a highly integrated setting with Windows/Mac and mostly MS Office generated media. I have both Office and iWork on my computer. Up to the most recent release of iWork, Office has pretty much been my workhorse because there are no document conversion issues and Office still did the job better.
Now with the most recent iWork release, I am using the Apple product for a greater percentage of my work. The conversion from Word, Excel and Powerpoint is about 90% accurate. Pages still has the most formatting foibles - mostly misplaced tabs and indents leading to unsightly spacing. Keynote does a fine job of importing Powerpoint with few formatting problems. Numbers does a great conversion of Excel files though my spreadsheet needs are limited.
As far as generating new documents, iWork has finally surpassed Office and is less bloated for features I never use. The automatic appearing, context sensitive format bars are very friendly, very Apple. I t has really matured as a stand alone product and I would convert to iWork exclusively if not for my need to seamlessly convert to Office documents. Very happy with this release and would recommend it to users who do not need to work in mixed environments.
Rating: - Not a great update
This is a quirky upgrade that doesn't address the shortcomings of the previous version. There are some new features that are helpful, but I find myself (darn it) going back to Excel and Word, though, being an Apple freak, I'd like to avoid them.
As an example, in "Numbers", it is impossible to print just a section of a spreadsheet (as in Excel "set print area" command.
The graphics in all 3 programs are awesome, but Apple seems to have ignored functionality for presentation. I'm not happy that I upgraded.
Rating: - OK, but not Great
After receiving Apple iWork 08 I am impressed with what you can do with Keynote,Pages and Numbers. However, even though Apple says it will work with MS Word and Excel, it really only reads those files. If you create or edit a document in either Pages or Numbers users of Word or Excel will not be able to open or view your changes.
If on the other hand all you want is a way to print hard copies to be shared (or shared with other Mac users) iWorks is a wonderful program. If you need to share your work with MS Office users than I suggest purchasing MS Office for Macs. I will.
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