Derrick
ლ(ಠ_ಠ )ლ
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2010
- Messages
- 5,085
- Reaction score
- 5
iWork ‘09 is a powerful office suite and it’s made for Mac - what more can an Apple fanboy ask for?
iWork is Apple’s productivity suite and consists of Pages, a word-processing and desktop-publishing application; Keynote, a presentation package; and Numbers, a spreadsheet application. iWork ‘09 is an update to iWork ‘06 and features various updates and some new features. The appeal of iWork lays in its neat Apple-inspired visuals and - naturally - its price. At R899 for a single-user licence and R1,200 for the iWork ‘09 Family Pack (a five-licence version of iWork ‘09), iWork ‘09 presents great value for money.
iWork ‘09, once installed, is tightly integrated with other Apple applications such as QuickTime, iLife and - of course - OS X’s brilliant Dictionary. The only shortcoming of iWork ‘09 is that the suite still doesn’t feature a database. On the positive side, iWork ‘09 supports Microsoft’s Office file standards.
PAGES
Pages is iWork’s desktop-publishing and word-processing application. It’s really easy to use, with an intuitive and attractive-looking interface, and the 180 templates that are incorporated into Pages are more than enough to keep any Apple user happy. On start-up, you are presented with a splash page containing these templates, and you can use the template of your choice to produce a great-looking letter, résumé, brochure, newsletter, report, flyer, poster and more. Alternatively, you can start with a blank document and create your own masterpiece.
Pages can read Microsoft Word file formats, including .docx, and you can edit a Word document directly from within Pages. Moreover, although all Pages documents are saved in a proprietary format, you can - once finished with your masterpiece - save a copy of your document as a Word document and e-mail it to a colleague or someone else who uses Microsoft Office.
NUMBERS
Numbers is iWork’s spreadsheet application with the same functionality as Microsoft Excel. But Numbers is definitely easier to use and looks better than its Microsoft counterpart. The application features 30 striking-looking templates to choose from, all featuring that clean Apple look we’ve become used to and love. You can also open Excel files and save a copy of your work as an Excel spreadsheet.
KEYNOTE
Last but not least is Keynote, Apple’s presentation application. Once again, it’s easy to use, features 44 ‘Apple-licious’ templates and packs a punch. Want to give Al Gore and his PowerPoint a run for their money? Then Keynote is every Mac user’s friend. Use Keynote just to show off why your Mac is better than your friend’s PC. Why? Because everything you do using Apple’s software looks so much better than that of your friend using open source applications.
CONCLUSION
Okay, this review may seem a bit biased, but it’s not. I’m a Microsoft Office user (I use Office 2008 for Mac) and I swear by it - for obvious reasons. However, until this review I’ve never really ‘looked’ at Apple’s offering, and - as a Mac user - I must admit: iWork ‘09 is a powerful office suite and it’s made for Mac - what more can an Apple fanboy ask for?
iWork is Apple’s productivity suite and consists of Pages, a word-processing and desktop-publishing application; Keynote, a presentation package; and Numbers, a spreadsheet application. iWork ‘09 is an update to iWork ‘06 and features various updates and some new features. The appeal of iWork lays in its neat Apple-inspired visuals and - naturally - its price. At R899 for a single-user licence and R1,200 for the iWork ‘09 Family Pack (a five-licence version of iWork ‘09), iWork ‘09 presents great value for money.
iWork ‘09, once installed, is tightly integrated with other Apple applications such as QuickTime, iLife and - of course - OS X’s brilliant Dictionary. The only shortcoming of iWork ‘09 is that the suite still doesn’t feature a database. On the positive side, iWork ‘09 supports Microsoft’s Office file standards.
PAGES
Pages is iWork’s desktop-publishing and word-processing application. It’s really easy to use, with an intuitive and attractive-looking interface, and the 180 templates that are incorporated into Pages are more than enough to keep any Apple user happy. On start-up, you are presented with a splash page containing these templates, and you can use the template of your choice to produce a great-looking letter, résumé, brochure, newsletter, report, flyer, poster and more. Alternatively, you can start with a blank document and create your own masterpiece.
Pages can read Microsoft Word file formats, including .docx, and you can edit a Word document directly from within Pages. Moreover, although all Pages documents are saved in a proprietary format, you can - once finished with your masterpiece - save a copy of your document as a Word document and e-mail it to a colleague or someone else who uses Microsoft Office.
NUMBERS
Numbers is iWork’s spreadsheet application with the same functionality as Microsoft Excel. But Numbers is definitely easier to use and looks better than its Microsoft counterpart. The application features 30 striking-looking templates to choose from, all featuring that clean Apple look we’ve become used to and love. You can also open Excel files and save a copy of your work as an Excel spreadsheet.
KEYNOTE
Last but not least is Keynote, Apple’s presentation application. Once again, it’s easy to use, features 44 ‘Apple-licious’ templates and packs a punch. Want to give Al Gore and his PowerPoint a run for their money? Then Keynote is every Mac user’s friend. Use Keynote just to show off why your Mac is better than your friend’s PC. Why? Because everything you do using Apple’s software looks so much better than that of your friend using open source applications.
CONCLUSION
Okay, this review may seem a bit biased, but it’s not. I’m a Microsoft Office user (I use Office 2008 for Mac) and I swear by it - for obvious reasons. However, until this review I’ve never really ‘looked’ at Apple’s offering, and - as a Mac user - I must admit: iWork ‘09 is a powerful office suite and it’s made for Mac - what more can an Apple fanboy ask for?