[Macworld]

Post your comments for Last call for AppleWorks users here

[AppleHead]

"Select an iWork word-processing file in the Finder . . ."

Shouldn't that be AppleWorks word-processiong file?

[Chris Breen]

AppleHead, on 29 June 2011 - 10:46 AM, said:

"Select an iWork word-processing file in the Finder . . ."

Shouldn't that be AppleWorks word-processiong file?

Yep. Fixed.

[bastion]

Two notes on EazyDraw. They have a very attractively-priced version in the Mac app store that does NOT open AppleWorks' drawing files, so don't go there looking to save money. On the other hand, they do offer a short-term license to the non-app-store version which should be suitable for conversion purpose. Then you can use the cheap app store version when the short-term license expires, and you've still spent much less than $95.

[jimnpatd]

Two questions:
You mentioned Appleworks Paint files can be rescued by using the Save As function. Would it be possible to create an Automator workflow that would search the hard drive for Appleworks Paint files and convert them all at once?

Second question: Appleworks print function can create a pdf of drawing documents. Could an Automator workflow be created to automate this task so it does an entire hard drive at once? Even though the resultant files would not function they could be viewed in order to be re-created in another program.

[JimShea]

Remember MacLinkPlus? The utility was able to convert AppleWorks files to other formats.

[RAWeston]

I've said it before and I'll say it again I'm NOT looking forward to, nor thinking of purchasing OS Lion.

I just recently downloaded a trial version of Bento from Filemaker and in short it aint no Appleworks and I'm not willing to spend $300 on Filemaker Pro. It's beyond my needs, at this point.

My primary use for Appleworks has been the exceptionally flexible database templates and sorting systems.

I certainly wish there were someone out there with enough knowledge and capital to create an Appleworks program for the latest Mac OSs. I'll be one of the first in line to purchase it.

[jfelbab]

I would also add that Apple really screwed up when they failed to upgrade Appleworks. At the very least they needed to add a DB module to iWorks. Nothing is as functional as the AW DB. Bento? Not even close IMO.

[Macsailor]

This news is not unexpected, but it still comes served up with a heavy glaze of irony.

Remember most of us use Macs because the company has convinced us over the decades that they offered Solutions to our problems and not just complicated solftware that required hoop-jumping.
Now, having them label their customers as recalcitrants and Luddites because they enjoy a mature, useful, and trouble-free Apple software product that Just Works Well just seems foreign to the whole Apple Experience.

Frustration. But.... The productivity of the OS still trumps their cavalier attitude towards the usefulness of their software customer. At least it does for now.

Like another poster here, I too would purchase a current version of AW if it were made available.

[bastion]

JimShea, on 29 June 2011 - 11:51 AM, said:

Remember MacLinkPlus? The utility was able to convert AppleWorks files to other formats.

Yep. Great product. The developer is local to me. I don't know why they dropped it. I'm concerned about their apparent focus on the lamentable Passwords Plus.

[afriedma]

I ended up buying EazyDraw a while back, and it generally does a good job of opening and converting AppleWorks graphics documents. As noted, there are other solutions for other types of documents, although you should probably kiss your databases goodbye.

I too am a dedicated AppleWorks user who is sad that the party's over. I get it that Apple has moved on to iWork, but would it be too much to ask Apple programmers to make their current applications able to open AW documents? For example, why can't AW graphics documents be opened by Keynote? Or, AW databases by Numbers?

[ecormany]

note also that Pages just shrugs at older AppleWorks or ClarisWorks (yeah i know, har har) word processing documents. not sure if AW 5 or 6 was the cutoff.

not that i've used AW for years, but read-only access to some old stuff would be handy.

[Howard_Ellegant]

Makes me glad I still use MS Office 2004!

[eromer]

MacWorld has recently had several what-do-you-do-with-your-AppleWorks-documents articles. Another kind of article that would be very useful for readers still using AppleWorks is the what-software-should-the-AppleWorks-devotee-migrate-to article, and I haven't seen that article yet.

In other words, not just "what is a good word processor?," but "what is a good word processor for the user who loves the simplicity, intuitiveness and I'm-in-control-of-the-software-not-vice-versa of AppleWorks?" (Can you tell I like AW? Can you tell I dislike Word?)

For myself, when I decided I had to start to migrate from AW, I thought I would like iWork, but it turned out I didn't. I ended up with Nisus Writer Express, EazyDraw and Excel. An article on the pros and cons of various options would be great.

Evan Romer
Windsor, NY