iWork, seems like apple give the market to MS

[cavi]

**Warning: User frustration**
I assume that Apple done homework about the users needs, but when it comes to a bit complex documents iWork apps are just not there...

I don't see how one can write academic work without cross reference, or share work when there is no track changes to to tables...
I don't know how Apple want to businesses to use iWork (and especially Pages) when there is no document comparison option...
as I wrote, I assume that Apple done the homework, but unfortunately instead bringing users good and usable products they gave us a basic tool that isn't there...

I hope that the collaboration with IBM and the will to enter to the enterprise market will result in better software solutions from apple to this market.

 

[Audit13]

I personally don't think apple can readily complete against MS Office in large corporate markets where office is heavily entrenched.

Despite the existence of free software such as open office, MS continues to dominate the market, as does the windows os.

IBM tried to take on MS Office years ago with the purchase of Lotus products and Corel with WordPerfect; however, neither succeeded.

 

[Partron22]

Pages is less of a WP now than WriteNow was in 1989.

 

[Frankfurt]

MS Office all the way. The 2016 Office for Mac version is as close as it gets to the Windows version. Much better than previous versions I used. The latest builds also support the touchbar on the latest Macbook Pros.
Only watchout is that OS High Sierra in the beginning will be tricky with current Office 2016 versions.

 

[MacGizmo]

You're making two very incorrect assumptions:

• Pages is not a Word Processor application, it's an all-purpose text editor and page layout application.
• Apple isn't trying to compete with MS for office suite users, they're simply providing apps that can cross the bridge between consumer and professional for the sake of selling more Macs.

 

[arefbe]

Pages is less of a WP now than WriteNow was in 1989.

Ah, WriteNow! I miss it!

 

[sracer]

You're making two very incorrect assumptions:

• Pages is not a Word Processor application, it's an all-purpose text editor and page layout application.
• Apple isn't trying to compete with MS for office suite users, they're simply providing apps that can cross the bridge between consumer and professional for the sake of selling more Macs.

That is perhaps the greatest cause for the frustration that some people experience when using iWork apps. They're thinking of their tasks with an MS Office mindset. Some things can be done in iWork that way, many others cannot.

It often requires thinking differently about WHAT needs to get done rather than focusing on HOW it was done in Office.

I have some short documents with advanced formatting that are a breeze to created and edit in Pages but are a bit cumbersome to create/maintain in MS Office. It's an example of having the right tools for the job not necessarily the one with the most features.

 

[MacGizmo]

I have some short documents with advanced formatting that are a breeze to created and edit in Pages but are a bit cumbersome to create/maintain in MS Office. It's an example of having the right tools for the job not necessarily the one with the most features.

I've found MS Office to be quite powerful and feature-packed. Unfortunately, I also find nearly every aspect of all three of the main apps to be obscenely cumbersome and frustrating. Conversely, I find using the iWork apps to be simple, fun and very fluid. They don't have nearly the capability of MS Office, but I think they're infinitely more useful for all but 1% of tasks.

You've hit the nail on the head, though. Because iWork falls under the office productivity genre, people inevitably compare it to MS Office feature-to-feature.

 

[neutrino23]

I never spent the time to learn how to use Word beyond typing a short memo. I actually stopped publishing at one conference because they required submissions in Word. I had laid out the paper easily in Pages, but struggled in Word. I would try to place an image somewhere but it was really hard. I typed some text and it would jump. I typed control-z and it wouldn't go back. I finally exported the paper as a PDF from Pages and used Preview to change that to multiple images and put one image on each page in the Word document.

I don't disagree with the OP. I'll just say that not everyone adheres to that use case. I present at several conferences each year but I don't have to collaborate with anyone so those features of Word are useless for me. I use Pages to make posters and Keynote for presentations.

Also, our sales reps all have iPads for presenting to customers so I need to make Keynote documents for them.

I use Numbers a lot but only for temporary uses. I get data from various apps, massage it in Numbers then export that to a presentation. After that I don't need the Numbers document.

Clearly, I am a population of one. Just pointing out that even in a large company not everyone needs Word.