Pages '08 offers an intuitive way to create beautiful, media-rich documents using impressive features such as Writing and Layout modes, Change tracking, Contextual Format Bar, Automatic list formatting, Graphics tools and templates. Pages '08 supports industry-standard formats to easily open documents from other word processing applications that were created on a Mac or a PC.
Amaze your audience with cinema-quality presentations using Keynote '08 and its new features Text effects & transitions, Action Builds, Instant Alpha, Voice-over Recording, Smart Builds and Apple-designed Themes.
Numbers '08 does everything from setting up your family budget to completing a lab report using Intelligent Tables, Interactive Print View, Flexible Canvas, Import & Export Excel, Charts, Images, Text Labels and Customizable Templates. Automatic list formatting - List and format on the fly New Templates - Use more than 80 new templates Keynotes '08 - Text effects & transitions - Captivate viewers with elegant transitions Action Builds - Move objects along a path Instant Alpha - Change backgrounds with simple click & drag Smart Builds - Add photos with sophisticated animations Apple-designed Themes - 9 themes for creating a professional presentation Numbers '08 - Intelligent Tables - Create multiple resizable tables Interactive Print View - Scale and arrange documents Flexible Canvas - Move objects wherever you like with comments, photos and graphics Import & Export Excel - Share spreadsheets with Microsoft Office Charts, Images, Text Labels - Add 2D & 3D charts, photos or a map Customizable Templates - For Home, School and Business System Requirements - Macintosh computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5 or PowerPC G4 (500MHz or faster) processor, 512MB RAM, 32MB video memory, Mac OS X Version 10.4.10 or later, QuickTime 7.2 or later, iLife '08 recommended, 1GB free space and DVD drive re
With iWork '08 Family Pack, you get three easy-to-use applications in one package. Pages offers powerful word processing and page layout with 140 Apple-designed templates--and all the writing and graphics tools you need to create beautiful documents. Keynote lets you effortlessly create stunning presentations, complete with Apple-designed themes, cinema-quality animations, and voiceover narration. The innovative new Numbers makes it easier than ever to create compelling spreadsheets for everything from family budgets and event planning to invoices and complex financial reports. And all three applications give you import and export compatibility with Microsoft Office. So whatever you need to communicate, do it beautifully with iWork '08.
 Writing comes naturally when you're using Pages '08, the streamlined word processor for the Mac. |
Pages. Word processing never looked this good.
| Jump-start your next writing project by opening one of the engaging Apple-designed templates. |
| If you collaborate with others, you'll find the new change tracking tools invaluable. |
| With the free-form canvas, you can move photos, charts, shapes, and other objects wherever you like. |
| Import your Microsoft Word documents into Pages '08 with ease. |
New in Pages '08.
Letters, reports, resumes, brochures, newsletters, business cards--whatever you write, Pages '08 offers an intuitive way to create beautiful, media-rich documents. With two distinct modes, one for word processing and one for page layout, Pages puts the tools you need right at your fingertips. Powerful page layout tools offer complete control of where objects appear and how text flows, letting you create impressive newsletters, brochures, and flyers. Whether you start with one of more than 140 Apple-designed templates or a blank page, creating beautiful documents is quick and easy with Pages '08. Get started in minutes.
Beautiful Apple-designed templates. Immediate access to your media. Powerful graphics tools. Tables. Stunning 2D and 3D charts. Pages '08 provides the tools you need to create elegant documents that communicate superbly.
More than 140 templates.
Jump-start your next writing project by opening one of the engaging Apple-designed templates. Pages includes more than 80 word processing templates and more than 60 page layout templates.
Your media just a click away.
Thanks to the built-in Media Browser, you can browse your iPhoto or Aperture libraries. When you find a photo you like, just drag it into your Pages document. Powerful graphics tools let you make image adjustments, add frames or masks, or remove backgrounds.
Tables that click.
With a single click, you can add a table to your Pages document. Format numbers in table cells for currency or dates. Enter simple calculations using cell references. Even apply functions such as sum and average.
Charts paint a beautiful picture.
It's easy to create 2D and 3D pie, line, bar, column, area, and scatter charts. Just pick the one that fits your needs. You can customize charts by adding a realistic texture, controlling the lighting, or rotating them. Writing the Mac way.
Writing comes naturally when you use Pages '08. The most intuitive word processing application on the Mac, Pages puts the tools you need within easy reach. Now writing is as easy and enjoyable as using a Mac.
All the tools you need.
The new context-sensitive Format Bar lets you add a personal touch to your document's appearance. Choose fonts, set leading and alignment, and apply paragraph and character styles. All the basics--just a click away.
Pages automatically formats lists on the fly and generates tables of contents on demand. You can insert headers and footers and add footnotes. Apply polish to your documents using the proofing and editing tools. And navigate quickly through even the longest documents with page thumbnails. Powerful page layout.
Newsletters. Brochures. Flyers. When you want to switch from writer to designer, Pages provides the layout tools you need. Suddenly it's easy to build beautiful, media-rich documents certain to impress readers.
Complete layout control.
Produce documents that look exactly the way you envision them. With the free-form canvas, you can move photos, charts, shapes, and other objects wherever you like. And place them precisely using the built-in rulers and alignment guides.
Control text wrapping.
To add a photo to a page, simply drag it from the Media Browser and drop it into your document. Turn on Wrap to control how text flows around the photo. Use the format bar to set text to wrap to the left or right, around, or above and below images.
Follow the flow of text.
New to Pages, visual text box links let you follow the flow of text through your document. Say an article starts on page two and jumps to page five. Text links track it and let you see at a glance if you have more copy to place. All it takes is a click to create a new text box into which the remaining text flows. Widely compatible.
Pages '08 supports industry-standard formats, so you can easily open documents created in other word processing applications and share documents with others. Whether they're using a Mac or a PC.
Open for business.
Import your Microsoft Word documents into Pages '08 with ease. Whether they're Microsoft Office 2007 (Office Open XML) or earlier Word files, Pages will open them. Pages imports not only the text, but also the styles, tables, inline and floating objects, charts, footnotes, endnotes, bookmarks, hyperlinks, lists, sections, change tracking, and other elements of your original Word document.
Pages '08 also opens AppleWorks word processing documents, as well as files saved in Rich Text Format (RTF). It imports a wide assortment of audio (AAC, AIFF, and MP3), image (EPS, JPEG, PNG, PDF, PSD), video (MOV), and other media types.
Getting the word out.
When it's time to share Pages documents with friends and colleagues, you can export them as PDF documents, in Word .doc format, as RTF, or as plain text documents. Or send your documents to iWeb for publication on your website as Pages '08 or PDF documents. (For the former, readers will need a copy of Pages; for the latter, Preview or Adobe Reader.)
 Create absolutely stunning, cinema-quality presentations more easily than ever before. |
Keynote. Cinema-quality presentations for everyone.
New in Keynote '08
Want to create presentations that light up the screen--and the audience? Keynote '08 makes it easy to capture everyone's attention from the first slide to the last. Get started in seconds with stunning Apple-designed themes. Apply cinema-quality animated transitions and builds with drag-and-drop ease. Add another dimension to your presentation with photos, music, and video from the iLife media browser. Record voiceover narration for your slideshow and put on a great presentation even when you're not there. With Keynote '08, you've have all the tools you need to make an amazing presentation amazingly simple. Get started in minutes.
Professionally designed templates. Superb organizational tools. Dynamic tables. Elegant 2D and 3D charts. Even comments to jog your memory. Keynote '08 provides the tools to get you started, stay on track, and cross the finish line.
A theme party.
An impressive collection of more than 35 Apple-designed themes means you can create a cinema-quality presentation in minutes--even if you're using Keynote for the first time. Each theme has multiple slide masters with coordinated fonts, textures, and layouts for bullets, charts, images, and more.
Navigate with ease.
With the powerful Slide Navigator and Light Table in Keynote, you can efficiently organize your presentation. Both tools make it easy to review and scroll through slides. Handy controls even let you increase or decrease thumbnail size.
Dynamic tables and stunning charts.
With a single click, you can add a table to any slide. Fill cells with text, graphics, or photos. Format numbers for currency or dates. Or add a calculation--even aggregate functions like Sum--and let Keynote do the math. It's just as easy to add 2D and 3D bar, line, and area charts complete with realistic textures.
| An impressive collection of more than 35 Apple-designed themes means you can create a cinema-quality presentation in minutes. |
| Create images you need on the spot using predrawn shapes. Customize the standard shapes in a variety of ways. |
| Give a presentation without being there using the new built-in recording tool. |
| Keynote imports presentations created in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 (Office Open XML) as well as earlier versions. |
Powerful graphic tools.
Keynote '08 offers a wide selection of easy-to-use tools that let you include rich graphics in your presentations--even if you don't have a graphics department helping you.
Precise alignment tools.
Place text, photos, and other objects precisely where you'd like them to appear using vertical and horizontal rulers. Turn on alignment guides and Keynote offers dynamic feedback, letting you align an object with the center or edge of an existing object.
Easy access to photos and more.
You already have some great media assets to include in your presentation. Using the built-in Media Browser, you can browse and preview the photos in your iPhoto or Aperture libraries, the movies in your Movies folder, and the music in your iTunes library, and add them to your presentation.
Great adjustment tools.
Built-in imaging tools let you adjust photos till they're picture perfect. Without leaving Keynote '08, you can resize and rotate photos, add a reflection or a shadow, and even remove backgrounds with the new Instant Alpha.
Get into shapes.
Create images you need on the spot using predrawn shapes. Customize the standard shapes in a variety of ways. Or grab a pen and draw BŽzier curves and other shapes with perfectly smooth edges. You can even use shapes for photo masking. Put your ideas in motion.
Get used to the unwavering attention of your audience. Keynote '08 lets you capture their interest with cinema-quality animations and effects that are sophisticated yet easy to create.
Show-stopping transitions.
As you move from one slide to the next, keep their eyes riveted to the screen using more than 25 transitions, including Confetti, Blur, and swap. You can control duration, delay, direction, and other transition effects.
Text that sizzles.
Once you have their attention, keep it with amazing text and object animations. Make words drop like confetti. Build your slide one bullet, table row, or chart series at a time. Or have it all appear at once, entering stage left or bursting suddenly into flame.
Spectacular animations built smart.
With Keynote, you don't have to be a graphic designer to create eye-popping animations. Thanks to Smart Builds, you can add compelling animations in seconds. Simply drag photos into the drop zone and define Action parameters, including direction, angle, and perspective.
Going from A to B.
Keynote helps you tackle advanced animations--like defining an animation path and setting the timing of the animation as an object moves from point to point or along a smooth BŽzier curve. Want to change its opacity as it moves? That's easy, too. Flexible delivery options.
Whether you plan to give your presentation in person or have your audience view it on a kiosk or an iPod, Keynote '08 provides you with a variety of ways to deliver presentations to audiences of any size.
Built-in voiceover recording.
Give a presentation without being there. Using the new built-in recording tool, Keynote captures your audio voiceover and timing as you step through builds or move from one slide to the next.
Save presentations as interactive slideshows that allow viewer participation. By embedding hyperlinks in next and previous buttons, you can let a viewer move effortlessly through a presentation.
Present with total confidence.
If you present to a live audience, you can do so with total confidence thanks to Presenter Display. While your presentation appears on the main display for your audience, you can see the current and next slides, your slide notes, a clock, and a timer on a second display.
New delivery options.
To reach a wide audience, export your Keynote presentation directly to YouTube, send it to iTunes, or post it on your website with iWeb. Or use GarageBand to include your slides in a video podcast. Easy to share.
Keynote '08 lets you import PowerPoint and AppleWorks presentations and share your presentations with others, by exporting them as PowerPoint presentations or a variety of other formats.
Open to possibilities.
Versatile in so many ways, Keynote imports presentations created in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 (Office Open XML) as well as earlier versions. It also imports AppleWorks presentation documents.
Keynote is open to a wide variety of media types, including JPEG, TIFF, PNG, PSD, EPS, PDF, AIFF, MP3, AAC, MOV, and others.
Thoughts to share.
Once you've completed your presentation, you can share it with colleagues who use Windows by exporting your presentation in .ppt format for use in Microsoft PowerPoint. You can also export it as a QuickTime movie, a Flash movie, or as a PDF, HTML, or image file.
 Introducing Numbers, the familiar yet revolutionary new spreadsheet application. |
Numbers. Spreadsheets the Mac way.
New in Numbers '08.
Introducing Numbers '08, the spreadsheet you've been waiting for--and already know how to use. Innovative, powerful, and intuitive, Numbers '08 lets you do everything from setting up your family budget to completing a lab report to creating detailed financial documents. Intelligent tables.
Turning the tables on other spreadsheet programs, Numbers '08 offers a fundamentally better way to organize data and manage lists. And it goes a step further by establishing an entirely new paradigm with its innovative and intelligent tables.
Easy table setup.
Because each Numbers table has its own grid of rows and columns, you can format each table independently to solve specific needs. Adding, moving, and adjusting row and column size has no effect on other tables. And making those adjustments is easy. Grow your table by grabbing a table corner and pulling it to the right for more columns or down for more rows.
On each table's address tabs, you'll find pull-down menus containing frequently used tools for adding, deleting, hiding, or sorting rows and columns in the row and column reference tabs. A handy Format Bar offers one-click data formatting.
Highly flexible.
Traditional spreadsheets lock you into a rigid matrix of rows and columns. Numbers lets you create multiple resizable tables on a flexible canvas. Each table is a fully functional spreadsheet that can consist of hundreds of cells or just a few. Add a header or a footer row for summary calculations with a single click.
Navigate quickly and easily.
Because Numbers lists every sheet, table, and chart as an outline in the Sheets pane, it's easy to swiftly navigate through your document.
| An impressive collection of more than 35 Apple-designed themes means you can create a cinema-quality presentation in minutes. |
| Create images you need on the spot using predrawn shapes. Customize the standard shapes in a variety of ways. |
| Give a presentation without being there using the new built-in recording tool. |
| Keynote imports presentations created in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 (Office Open XML) as well as earlier versions. |
Analyzing data intuitively.
From entering formulas to filtering data sets to creating "what if" scenarios, Numbers '08 offers new ways to interact with and analyze the data in your spreadsheets.
Highly calculating.
Numbers comes with more than 150 ready-to-use functions. Adding one is as simple as dropping it into a cell. And when you create tables with header rows and columns, Numbers uses the data you enter in header cells to create cell names like "2007 Gross Sales" instead of "L26."
What if?
Numbers offers a variety of novel data input methods, allowing you to format cells as sliders or steppers. These offer a great option for "what if" scenarios, letting you quickly change variables and immediately see the results.
Add data from Address Book.
Why enter data contact by contact? Working seamlessly with Address Book, Numbers lets you drag a list of contacts from Address Book into a table. In minutes, you're working with data rather than entering it.
Predictable sorting and filtering.
Easily organize and analyze lists of data. With Numbers, you can sort complete rows in a table by column, or filter rows based on the numerical, text, or date values in their cells. Impressive results fast.
With its flexible templates and a powerful set of easy-to-use tools, Numbers '08 lets you build exceptional spreadsheets--impressive to look at and simple to understand--in minutes.
Apple-designed templates.
You can be crunching numbers quickly if you start with one of the Apple-designed templates that come with Numbers. Templates include preconfigured tables and charts with built-in formulas and sample data.
Control the way your spreadsheet looks.
Numbers lets you arrange tables, charts, text, and graphics anywhere on its free-form canvas. Design the perfect spreadsheet using alignment guides, rulers, masking, and other tools.
Add a slide of iLife.
Turn your spreadsheets into persuasive documents. Use the built-in Media Browser to browse and preview your photos, movies, and music. Then drag the files you want into your spreadsheet.
Stylish tables, impressive charts.
Each Numbers spreadsheet comes with a list of predesigned styles that make it easy to create beautifully formatted tables. You can add 2D and 3D charts with a single click, customizing them with more than 20 sets of chart textures.
Print without surprises.
When it's time to print a spreadsheet, use the interactive print view to scale and arrange your document to print exactly as you like. Widely compatible.
Numbers '08 gets along famously with Microsoft Excel, letting you import Excel spreadsheets and export Numbers '08 documents for Excel users.
Numbers excels at Excel.
Numbers handily imports spreadsheets created in earlier Excel formats, as well as Excel 2007 documents created in new Office Open XML formats.
If you have AppleWorks documents, you can give them a brand-new home in Numbers. They import quickly so you can take advantage of all the flexibility and power of Numbers '08.
Parlez-vous "OFX"?
Truly multilingual, Numbers imports documents in many common file formats. That includes text documents saved in Comma Separated Values (CSV), tab-delimited files. And you can even drop onto your Numbers table Address Book cards, and Open Financial Exchange format files.
Sharing your spreadsheets.
Since you can export spreadsheets created in Numbers in the Excel .xls format. Excel users on either a Mac or Windows PC can open your exported Numbers documents.
You can also export your documents in PDF or CSV format. If you'd like to publish your spreadsheets on the Internet, send them to iWeb as a PDF or Numbers document.
MPN: MB625Z/A - UPC: 885909140459
|
Customer Reviews
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Spreadsheets redefined  
By A1UK8TLTHUZPG5 on 2007-08-14
I didn't purchase this from Amazon, as I didn't want to wait that long. I went to an Apple Store instead.
This is an amazing product. Keynote, which is quite possibly the best application available on any platform has gotten even better. Pages finally added a much needed word processing mode, which means I can finally throw out Word.
The real shining jewel here, though, is Numbers. Numbers takes the concept of the spreadsheet and adds a sort of publishing spin to it. Instead of sheets of cells being the default paradigm, you have canvases with embedded blocks of cells, giving you amazing flexibility over the layout of the rest of the document.
Since many documents are more than just spreadsheets, this opens up a world of possibilities for documents that are heavy with tabular data but need flexible layout options.
The included templates give excellent examples of ways to use Numbers that should help you explore the possibilities.
That being said, I have found some things in regards to filtering and coloring items based on dates to be counterintuitive, and there are a couple of other minor quirks. But for a 1.0 product, Numbers is astounding.
I can't think of any way to improve on Pages and Keynote though. I'm giving the suite 4 stars because I can't give it 4 1/2. The next version of Numbers in another year or two should put this over the top. The price for a 5 user family pack is incredible. I bought it, even though there are only two users in our house. The price is significantly better than even two educational licenses.
Great improvement on Pages, worthy initial release for Numbers
By A1BIUX1OVAE5N8 on 2007-09-14
For the price, this office suite is a good choice for any Mac user. The family pack - for households like ours, where we have three macs - this is an obvious choice.
I'll not review Keynote - I abhor presentations and just avoid them like the plague. Nothing against the powerpoint (or in this case, Keynote) jockey - I just am not one and don't care for it. No, not even to open a presentation. I just don't.
Pages has advanced a lot as a word processor, and it is the most intuitive page layout system I've ever seem. In minutes you learn how to use text boxes, move them around, and add graphics to produce documents that look amazing. Pages is a ton better than neooffice's (free software) word processor and it holds its own to MS Word (that costs much more and has the usability and performance of a hog swimming in molasses). Apple provides a ton of useful templates, but I wish there was a community effort to produce more (there are some third parties selling templates).
Numbers is an interesting thing. It changes the idea of a spreadsheet by making the sheets independent of the printed page. You can have many independent or related sheets in the same page and arrange that in the most amazing layouts. My only complaint is the keyboard support - If you are entering a formula you will be required to use the mouse. For anyone that has used a spreadsheet application it is just natural to press the = sign and start moving around with the arrows to select cells. That simple, mindless act, is prevented in Numbers by the choice of having a formula editor that floats over the sheets. I suppose that makes sense since you can have disconnected sheets and the keyboard would not help navigating them, but I would prefer to have some keyboard navigation (maybe in the sheet where I'm placing the formula) than none. I've put in a request for a software update, but I'm not holding my breath. The conversion from and to Excel formats seems to work just fine (saving excel files has a small issue that is solved by running a command in terminal). If you need (or want) spreadsheets that look beautiful, you can't beat Numbers. If you are just looking for a quick way to munch on tabular data and make some calculations, neooffice (free software) is a better choice. Heck, if your needs are simple even Google spreadsheet will do the job. Nobody needs excel, since even Neooffice (and Google, and everyone else) does a good job opening that format too.
So easy to use
By A2JMJVNTBL7K7E on 2007-09-04
I bought the 06 version and loved it.
I downloaded the trial version for 08 to see if it is worth the new price, afterall, I bought the 06 just not so long ago (maybe less than 3 months).
The new Numbers and Pages are just wonderful. It is so much more intuitive than MS Office. I have the Office for Mac and I have been using Office in Windows for the past 10 years. But ever since I started using Pages and Keynote, and now Numbers, I have to say hands down, iWork 08 is near perfection for 99.9% of all office needs.
I wish there were even more templates for all three apps. But with the included templates, one could modify them to create new templates fairly easy and quick.
My trial period is coming to an end in a couple of weeks. I will buy the iWork 08 for sure.
Why no upgrade path?
By A1ZXMMQPYC3Z9I on 2007-08-12
Having just purchased iWork 06 a couple of months ago, I'm disappointed that I'm being asked for another $99 to upgrade to iWork 08, even though I've already purchased much of its functionality in Version "06". I'm surprised and saddened that Apple is showing Microsoft-like greed in not allowing people who just purchased the previous version a discount on Version "08".
Finally ready for prime time
By A2ET18MVYRVRNG on 2007-09-17
I used iWork '05 and '06 since they came out, and let me tell you, the upgrade to '08 is startlingly packed. I started using iWork when it became clear that Apple intended to dump the long-suffering Appleworks that I had so enjoyed for years and years. It always seemed unfair that such a feature-packed piece of software was left to languish in the OS X era, so I was excited to see what Apple had to offer in the way or a replacement when the original iWork was released.
I was sorely disappointed. Where was the spreadsheet module? Where were the drawing and painting modules? Why was word processing so slow and clunky? Granted, Keynote was great, but Pages left a whole lot to be desired. From the beginning, it didn't really seem to know what it was. Was it supposed to be "lite" desktop publishing? Were you supposed to be able to use it for standard word processing?
The '08 version of Pages changes all of this; finally, Pages is a worthy competitor to Microsoft Word in addition to its now-formidable desktop publishing abilities. It borrows the best ideas from both the Mac version of Word as well as the Windows version, and it's gained a truckload of features, like change tracking (finally!), grammar checking, easy Wikipedia lookups, a super-useful context-sensitive formatting bar, and what feels like a five-fold increase in performance.
Granted, Word has plenty of features that Pages lacks. But for that matter, Pages is full of things that Word goes without, like easy integration with iPhoto, the context-sensitive formatting bar, and the high price point. The basic point is that Pages is a stable, mature, full-featured word processor, and it feels a hundred times more like a proper Mac application than Word. If you're just now looking for a word processor, I strongly recommend you to take a look at Pages. It's got the features to stand up to the 800-pound gorilla or Word, and its compatibility is top notch; it can natively read and write the new .docx files, which the current Mac version of Word still can't do, embarrassingly enough.
As for Keynote, it just keeps getting better and better. It already blew PowerPoint out of the water in terms of ergonomics, usability, and output quality, so Apple just loaded it up with features. The non-linear animation in particular is just mind-bogglingly well implemented. I'm used to it through Maya and modo, but Apple has somehow managed to make it seem 100 times more comprehensible and accessible. I don't use Keynote ad much as Pages and Numbers, but it's also been substantially improved.
And now finally iWork includes a spreadsheet. Numbers is simply wonderful, plain and simple. It's just packed to the gills with useful time-savers, like the ability to drag in common mathematical operations, such as sum, average, min, and max. What's blindingly obvious is that Apple didn't just want to clone Excel. What they did was look at common usage patterns among spreadsheet users and make the common tasks amazingly easy. Need to sum up a couple of cells? Easy as pie, no typing required. Want to quickly find out the average of some other cells? Simply select then and you'll see that it's already been computed for you, and you can even drag that live average count into a cell to paste it as a formula. Genius! I can't even begin to express how much time this routinely saves me.
Numbers even includes an easy way to figure out the printable areas of your tables and easily adjust them accordingly. I remember this being a problem in the ancient version of Excel I used in middle school, and that Microsoft still hasn't really done anything about it is just embarrassing. Numbers also lets you make multiple charts and drag them around relative to each other, and Apple spends an awful lot of time going on and on about this feature. Really, it's cool, but to me, the much more valuable aspects of Numbers are the shortcuts I listed above that save truly enormous amounts of time. Numbers doesn't skimp. iWork finally has a spreadsheet, and it's not just another spreadsheet--it's my Excel killer. Finally!
You might have noticed the word "finally" an awful lot in this review. That's because iWork 08 is really the first version of iWork I confidently recommend to my friends when they ask me whether or not they should buy the Mac version of Word. iWork is really and truly ready for prime time for the first time in its life. To be honest, I can hardly contain my joy at Apple's phenomenal progress with iWork '08. It truly seems like iWork is a worthy competitor to Office, and the word that was put into iWork is shiningly obvious. iWork '08 is a diamond in the rough. No, scratch that, it's the diamond you've always wanted to replace the roughness of Microsoft Office with.
- Very good product, especially for the price
By A27LPM09LK33NX on 2007-08-18
Keynote is the star of this suite. I routinely use it to create presentations that people can't believe. I work in an all -Windows shop, but I'll bring my Mac to do presentations with Keynote because I want to make sure I do as good a presentation as is possible, and I always have people telling me that my presentation is the best they've seen and that their presentations never seem to look as good. (Then they complain that their department doesn't let them use Apples.)
Pages is a decent page layout and word processor program. I usually use MS Word, just from habit, but I'm slowly converting. Numbers is the newest and weakest part of the package, and it will need an upgrade before I use it. But the suite is easily worth $99, even if Keynote is the only product I use.
And I know that some people complain about not having an upgrade price from earlier versions, but for those people, my recommendation is just to treat the $99 price as an upgrade price; it's still cheaper than a lot of other applications' upgrades. (And when you sell your machine someday, you can legally include the older version on the machine.)
- A great suite of apps....almost
By A3DYU8BOFVW5BQ on 2007-12-31
I converted to the iWork suite a couple of years ago, and this update is a nice improvement.
I use Keynote to do presentations constantly; presentations are easy to create and edit, allowing the user to define multiple "master" slides to control the design (PowerPoint, on the other hand, only allows the user 2 masters - the title slide and a bulleted text slide). The text editing options are very flexible and the presentation a snap. There's no way I would go back to PowerPoint or OpenOffice after using Keynote -- does save to .ppt if necessary, though.
Pages is a nice design app - a bit over featured for simple form letters (TextEdit is simpler to use and free with the Mac OS), but works very well when dealing with graphics and text. I've used Pages to design large posters and longer documents with figures and have been very happy with the results. The only complaints I have are table editing (slow and cumbersome still :() and the default font (Helvetica. I can change it, but it's not that simple). Converts easily to .doc and .pdf if you need to share your results with others.
Numbers (the new addition for '08) is not quite enough to replace Excel...but I expect it will be in the next revision or so. It just doesn't have the calculation/analysis options (creation of histograms, for example) that Excel does. The view options and charts are a bit more flexible than Excel, so this app shows promise - its just not there yet. Fine for balancing checkbooks or creating lists, but not quite for data analysis.
This is a good start -- and it will keep MS Office off of my Mac, with the exception of Excel. Word and PowerPoint are no longer necessary. Pages and Keynote alone are worth the cost...the only reason this is 4 stars instead of 5 is the limited features in Numbers.
- Apple gets it, Microsoft doesn't
By A35PE6GS966EPN on 2008-01-24
I hope Apple understands what they are doing right and keeps doing it. I have multiple computers at home, they used to be windows machines but recently switched to Macs. One of the reasons I switched was the cost to keep legal with my families licenses was outrageous with Microsoft, not just the OS but the Office suite too.
The Mac has a nice port of OpenOffice called Neooffice, but with how cheap the family pack of iWork is I went ahead and got that too. It does exactly what I need it to do, for the most part I create basic documents and spreadsheets and it works great.
I'm pretty excited to use Keynote also for some presentations, but have not done so yet.
Overall a good product at a great price.
- Recommended
By A6I86YY4OQO4J on 2007-08-18
The iWork 08 family edition which let you install it on 5 Mac's for only $99, so for those who are complaining about not having an upgrade then try buying MS Office. MS Office cost around $400 depending on which version you buy and if you want a upgrade it will cost you around $300. So I really don't understand what people are complaining about having no upgrade. This iWork 08 is very easy to use and easy to convert to for people who use MS Office. You just can't go wrong with buying iWork 08 for the price.
- No ODF support
By A13QQ357WG0XHF on 2007-10-23
iWork can't open ODF documents or save to ODF format. Saving to more other common formats such as RTF is a bit more difficult than simply setting a one time user preference.
- I agree. Bought iWork 06 with Mac Pro and no upgrade?
By A3VLS0WRCWZRKW on 2007-08-14
I have only one thing to say now to Steve Jobs: No upgrade? That seems totally out of character. I've had Macs since the 128K which practically came out of a gargage. I remember when system upgrades were sent out free. Sure this isn't the same world. And Apple is no longer poor--except now in spirit. To milk loyal customers this way is whacky. Steve, come back to your original spirit. When you're hardhard, that tough spirit will come back and the consequences are never good. Enough said! Steve, it's only money, cool it. Isn't that what you told Bill Gates?
- Buy It
By A1BR32ZIGFHITC on 2007-08-18
I just bought iWork 08 today and getting to know the in and out of iWork 08. But for the price of this software and compare to MS Office which is 4-5X as much in cost, iWork 08 is a bargain. Also, Family edition let you install it on 5 computers at home. iWork 08 just need a database software to make it complete.
- Highly recommended
By A1V769LFOFH2KY on 2007-10-01
We own 3 iMacs and considered buying Microsoft Word. But when I learned that Pages will convert a Word document and has an easy-to-use spreadsheet, I decided to buy iWork. My 15-year-old daughter used Numbers to produce a graph showing the boiling/melting points of elements. It was finished in a matter of minutes and it really looks professional! I've used Pages to convert Word documents, without any trouble at all. I've yet to use Keynote, but I understand Al Gore used this program to produce his presentation on Global Warming in the documentary, " An Inconvenient Truth." Everyone has been impressed with this software.
- WOW!
By A2V10EG16ZNHW0 on 2008-03-15
I bought this program because I was looking for a word processing and spreadsheet suite. I now use a Mac (and won't go back). When I finally opened this product and used it for the first time, I was astounded that I could save the documents in three separate formats. I could save as a .PDF, MS Word, or a Pages document for word processing, and in Excel, .PDF, or Numbers for the spreadsheet. How versatile is that?!? I can write on my Mac and take the document to work and run it on my PC in Word...
I haven't used Keynote as yet, but if your concerned that you won't use it because it would be too difficult to figure out, you couldn't be more wrong. It has an awesome tutorial. I wish there was a program just as format friendly as iWork for the PC....
- iWork '08 vs Microsoft Office
By A2P5RXCBRD1ZV on 2008-03-18
I believe this product to be just as good, if not better, than Microsoft Office. Plus, it's got a better price. I have noticed a few functions from Office that I can't seem to find out how to do on iWorks, but I'm sure with time I can figure it out. I would definitely recommend this product to anyone looking for a good and inexpensive word processor/spreadsheet program for the Mac. I'm wishing now that I had a similar program to this for my PC.
- It's a great progam, but transitioning over may take a little time
By A2G0IXGK2CAU25 on 2008-05-13
Great product for basic users ... easy to use, but may take a little time to get used to if you're used to using Word or Excel. Keynote is WAY better for slide shows than the microsoft version!
- IWork 08 excellent product
By A316LLSM7YZL72 on 2007-09-19
I find iWork 08 to be an excellent product. I am using Pages in lieu of WORD and now Numbers replaces Excell and even AppleWorks. Great value.
- Fantasticly classic
By A3N9YX04XGO7OR on 2007-10-14
I REALLY like iWork '08 because it is a very capable office system. Numbers is a fantastic new concept in spreadsheet organization and data management. Keynote is wonderful compared to...errr... the competition which I have used for years. My only issue so far is the the graphing capability is extremely rudimentary compared to the other major competing office suite. One thing I really like about iWork is that it does not constantly get in my way by trying to always anticipate what I want to do. Instead it does only what I ask it to do. Oh yeah...and it's really inexpensive compared to the other major competing product line. Thanks Apple!
- Finally free from Microsoft
By A14N4M6YB6B1ZA on 2007-12-02
The Microsoft Office collection stopped being useful as it become more complicated. Functions that used to be readily accessible were buried several layers of dialog boxes deep. I believe that the commonplace functions should be easy to access, while the complex should be possible, but no more than a few layers deep. The Apple iWork suite has adhered to this approach and has made reports, presentations and spreadsheets a pleasure to work on again. The software is productive and intuitive in use.
- It does what I want it to do
By A99AC7UERI09X on 2007-12-12
Apple iWork '08 Family Pack
I upgraded from iwork '06 in order to get the spreadsheet. I had been using Appleworks and Neo Office for my spreadsheets, but they weren't doing what I needed them to do. So far Numbers is doing what I want it to do. Pages is easy to use and I really like the new templates. I don't have much occasion to use Keynote, but it does open the MS Access files that are sent to me. If you want easy to use applications at a fraction of the cost of MS Office I recommend iWork.
- iWork works the way I work.
By A3IC176YQY6PUX on 2008-02-16
I finally uninstalled everything Microsoft from my computer, and wow! What a difference. iWork opens Word, Excel and Powerpoint files that you already have or receive from other people. iWorks can also export everything you create in Word, Excel and Powerpoint formats so if you need to share a file with someone using Microsoft Office, it's a snap.
The programs are so much more intuitive than the Microsoft suite. iWorks handles fonts, colors and text the way you would expect as a Macintosh user-Apple quality throughout. You have the features and tools that you use most clearly displayed in the icon bar in a very intuitive, efficient arrangement (the folks at Apple actually think about how people use these products).
If you already have the iWorks trial installed on a new Macbook or Pro, all you need is the serial number from the package you buy here to unlock it-you don't need to install from the disks. That said, it is always a good idea to have the disks, just in case.
- I just love it!!!!
By A2PXGYCYRCD8UY on 2008-03-10
I wasn't so sure at first if it was worth to upgrade from iWork 06 to the new iWork 08. And even after the 30 day trial I couldn't make up my mind. But I am so glad I did. There are a lot of improvements that are worth the money. I love the fact, that I no longer have to transform a Pages-File into a PDF-File to send it to my friends that don't own a Mac but a PC. I simply export the desired Pages-File into a Doc-File-Format and can send it to my Friends that own a PC. And they can not only read this file but also write (change) in it. Same goes for the new NUMBERS and Excel. There are so many great things and improvements, that it is impossible to list them all.
The only issue I have with PAGES is, that I am still unable to hyperlink files to one another. :-( Maybe next time...
- Most people don't have a need for office mac
By A86C05J2J8LDZ on 2008-03-15
Like in the title MOST people will have no need for Office 2008 for Mac, iWork 08 features three applications, two previously distributed and one brand new application, Numbers. The three applications:
Keynote: Many people call this a comparison to or complement of Microsoft's Powerpoint, but I see this the other way around, Keynote "blows Powerpoint out of the water" the transitions, design features, instant alpha, builds, fonts and colors are completely superior to Powerpoint
Pages: Previously in iWork 06, Pages was primarily used for design templates, but in the new iWork 08, Pages has been "beefed-up" in the new iWork as well as adding simple word processing features that you would see on Microsoft Word
Numbers: The new-comer for Apple's iWork, Numbers is making spreadsheets look good. Apple is well know for their design, look, and attention to detail and Numbers does exactly that. Although it lacks some of the features that can be seen in Excel such as Macro support, it many other ways it is superior to Excel.
- Worth Every Penny!
By A3CXN475O5VF61 on 2008-03-28
I am a recent switcher to the Mac and, knowing I needed a decent spreadsheet app and word processor, I ordered iWork '08 when i ordered my Mac. I have been almost completely satisfied with it. The one missing feature that Numbers doesn't have, the ability to freeze rows while scrolling the rest of the spreadsheet, is something I'm sure will be in an upcoming update.
- Solid Product
By A47VUHGWSTDUX on 2008-04-06
iWork has been improved greatly. While the spreadsheet module is not going to knock Excel out of the box, it is a good solid program. The real gems are Pages and Keynote. Pages has been improved nicely and I feel is a lot easier to use than Word when it comes to doing things like newsletters and other items with graphics. Anyone wanting a nice easy program for doing a newsletter should consider this bundle for that alone. What can I say about Keynote other than it is better than Powerpoint on many fronts. If you want the best presentation program on the market, get keynote along with a very value packed bundle in iWork.
- Think Different! Escape your Office!
By A32SY8LB4OOTYH on 2008-04-07
For most users, MicroSoft Office is overkill. They're talked into using by people that tell them that HAVE to run it to be compatible with the rest of the Office world. Not necessarily! Unless you're an Office Power User that needs and uses the extreme features of Office, iWork will do everything you need it to, and still be compatible with your Office workmates.
It's much faster on the Mac than Office, MUCH cheaper, and much more reliable. I write semi-professionally, and have never had any problems with using iWork, or had any problems with being compatible to my Office users.
You can download a free trial of iWork to see if it's what you need before purchasing. Granted, it will not work for all, and there is a small learning curve that is required with all new software applications. But, if you are willing to give it a try, you may find that there is life after Office and you can save that money for something else!
- Not the answer to all my problems
By A3T1J6ZJ2IWX2B on 2008-08-02
Keynote is a great presentation package which I have no qualms about using. Besides standard presentations I also use it to make title slides for slide shows and movies.
Pages won't substitute for Word when you really need it, which happens frequently with collaborations. It does a very good job otherwise, only failing in the details when you really need a professional documentation/layout package. For me that would be long document support.
Numbers is a first effort, but is pathetic. The major defect for me is that you can't lock the top row and left column titles to scroll around large spreadsheets. It's the only spreadsheet program I've ever used that doesn't do that. Even the early 1980's Visicalc did it! It's also very poor for function and graph support and is missing solvers.
Finally, this product replaces and extends upon Appleworks. So where are the drawing, painting, and database programs. Especially the first two which I could use for any document. Also there is no equation editor in iWork, while that is present in Word, OpenOffice, and AppleWorks.
- Works fine.
By A3FBL32YLQUKZ7 on 2007-10-11
It's nice to be able to output .doc and .pps files, not just read them.
- iWork '08 review
By A1YA92653G1UDX on 2007-10-17
I have not used Keynote or Pages yet, but I have used numbers and for a non-spreadsheet user, it is very nice - by itself, worth the purchase!
- Very nice package
By A1SLXO1X3WMU5R on 2007-10-18
I have stopped using Micro$oft Office 2004, am using iWork's Pages'08 word processor, numbers'08 (anExcel killer) and Keynote'08. Keynote'08 displays emailed presentation better (easier and faster)than the m'$oft product
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