[Moof_in_Charge]

that was pretty funny /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[danmusician]

From the article, I find the comment about iWork being a Mac-like experience to be less than accurate. I haven't had much time to use the 08 version, but using previous versions of Keynote drives me bonkers. Having to constantly go to that annoying font tool drives me crazy and I find using it to be less than intuitive.
From previous posts, I completely agree that a database is needed. I have always enjoyed using the Appleworks Database over Filemaker. In fact, I was unable to get Filemaker to do some of the tasks that I did in AW. (Sorry, I can't give you specifics, it's been years since I tried.)
I also completely agree that much of Office is overkill for the average user. There are features I haven't even tried to figure out how to use.
Most of my document sharing with people in my day job (where I am the only Mac user) is done in PDF format. Since Apple added that as a print option, I find it much easier than sending a .doc since I never know what fonts are on the other machine. Obviously, I'm not working collaboratively on those docs.
I tried to import a .doc for a brochure for my music ministry into Pages. It has a table with cells describing each of my albums and a graphic of each album cover in the same cell. Pages could not import the graphics because it said graphics were not allowed in tables.

[hayesk]

Based on the comments here, there is still a market for a flat file database application. Surely some enterprising developer must be reading these and working on a database app right now.

[pwrbkdude]

man you didn't PAY for that did you??? NeoOffice rulez man! And it's FREE! And there is an OpenOffice beta for Mac as well!!! PAY for an Office suite? Who are you kidding?!
But on the other hand, Pages 08 just opened a completely bastardized flyer a PC weanie sent me to print, and it did it with no problems whatsoever. shrug

[galley]

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Based on the comments here, there is still a market for a flat file database application. Surely some enterprising developer must be reading these and working on a database app right now.

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Panorama? <http://www.provue.com/>

[baeck]

Maybe a bit off the iWork topic, but I am very disappointed with the Mac writers community (yes, you forks at MacWorld and others) for not making a bigger issue about M$ dropping VBA in the next release.
peter

[sigma8]

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Consider that 10 years ago this month, Bill Gates appeared at Macworld Expo in Boston to announce a deal where Microsoft would buy $150 million of Apple stock.

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Wow I wish I had 150 million of Apple stock that I had purchased 10 years ago. I'd even be happy if it had been $1000 of stock.
Actually, 10 years ago.. this month.. hm.. Well, depending on whether it was the beginning or end of August, I would have been back in Boston.. But I wasn't buying macs yet. Too bad, I missed Steve Jobs AND Bill Gates on stage without having to travel /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif Darn you Steve for abandoning the hub!

[lantzn]

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He's got to be British to rattle off such world-class understatement. "Still pretty entrenched"?

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No [censored] Sherlock. What an observation. haha

[charlieartist]

Some interesting comments here...
But keep in mind, in the early Apple days, Gates was willing to create Apple apps, while WordPerfect and other software leaders wouldn't give Jobs even the time of day. Shows the business sense of leaders. I feel that if there had been more of Gates at Apple, and Mac OS were the dominant OS today as a result, MS would probably still be the largest sofware firm (at least in business apps) because of this business savvy.
Yes, I'm not rushing to defend Microsoft--they have gotten plenty of well-deserved flak. But considering the shenanigans of some of their long-gone competitors--such as WP, Lotus, and Banyan, it does give some pause.
I personally use Office for Mac apps every day...

[bigpics]

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Based on the comments here, there is still a market for a flat file database application. Surely some enterprising developer must be reading these and working on a database app right now.

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Why flat?
PC software companies have been selling easy to use relational data bases at reasonable prices for years, e.g., Alpha Software. And while you can use a relational DB as a flat one and not get into anything deeper, the reverse is not true. So I'd hate to see Apple saddle us with another pretty offering with such a low ceiling for user growth.
Also, tho' it's hardly cheap, Claris File Works pro (which is still an Apple subsidary, no??) is a mature, extant product. Any indication that iWork and File Works will be improving their compatibility or that Apple might integrate some or all of the product into a future iWork release?

[PSM]

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From the article, I find the comment about iWork being a Mac-like experience to be less than accurate. I haven't had much time to use the 08 version, but using previous versions of Keynote drives me bonkers. Having to constantly go to that annoying font tool drives me crazy and I find using it to be less than intuitive.

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In general, I agree. It's only Mac-like in the sense that a lot of current Mac apps have it, which is what I hate about the direction the UI is going. I think the inspector and the giant font menu that are always either completely in the way or nowhere to be found are absolutely maddening. This is why I'm so excited about the contextual formatting bar in the new Pages. I think that makes it usable enough that I can stop using Word for my day-to-day needs. If you dislike Pages for the same reason I did, you might find it a lot easier to get used to now. I have a little review of Pages on my blog that discusses the same kind of things.

[Steve_S]

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Also, tho' it's hardly cheap, Claris File Works pro (which is still an Apple subsidary, no??) is a mature, extant product. Any indication that iWork and File Works will be improving their compatibility or that Apple might integrate some or all of the product into a future iWork release?

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They'd be better off putting a GUI front end to the SQLite database that's already installed on the Mac OS.

[drummstick]

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Also, tho' it's hardly cheap, Claris File Works pro (which is still an Apple subsidary, no??) is a mature, extant product. Any indication that iWork and File Works will be improving their compatibility or that Apple might integrate some or all of the product into a future iWork release?

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It think you answered your own question. I don't have time or interest in keeping up with corporate merger madness, but as far as I know, if FileMaker is not an actual Apple subsidiary, the two of them are at the very least quite chummy.
I don't expect Apple to put out any product that would tend to bite into FileMaker's sales. Plus, the the filter function in Numbers obviates many of the reasons I still use Filemaker 5.5.
Of course, I'm usually wrong about these things, so don't be surprised if "Records" shows up in iWork '09.

[deasys]

The arrticle mentioned that Apple has $7.1 billion cash in the bank. That's about half right--as of the most recent fiscal quarter, it had just under $14 billion cash on its Balance Sheet.