Author Topic: iWork adds Numbers & other updates  (Read 3974 times)

Offline Paddy

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iWork adds Numbers & other updates
« on: August 07, 2007, 01:43:25 PM »
QUOTE
"When you think of a productivity suite, you think of a third app," said Jobs. "It's our spreadsheet, and we call it Numbers. And it's the spreadsheet for the rest of us."

A spreadsheet "done in the style of Keynote and Pages," according to Jobs, Numbers touts features like "intelligent tables," which enable you to sort and filter by clicking on headers; "flexible canvas," which lets you put multiple sheets on a canvas, tied together in formulas but not tied together by formatting. And it has the requisite set of features like chart creation, image management, text labels, the ability to add photos and diagrams, and so on.

Numbers supports the ability to import and export "almost all" documents from Microsoft Excel, said Jobs.


Improvements to Pages as well - including adding tracking and 2 modes; one for word processing and one for page layout.

All the details here: http://www.apple.com/iwork/

Note for any of you eager beavers out there - the stores are all being updated as I post, so can't exercise those little rectangular bits of plastic just yet!
« Last Edit: August 07, 2007, 01:48:26 PM by Paddy »
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Offline Gregg

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iWork adds Numbers & other updates
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2007, 07:58:55 PM »
I see a heading that says "Import and Export Excel" but nothing about AppleWorks.

iWork Numbers is an Apple product, right? Thinking.gif
Why don't they act like it?
Ya gotta applaud those bunnies for sacrificing their hearing just so some guy in Cupertino can have better TV reception.

Offline Xairbusdriver

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iWork adds Numbers & other updates
« Reply #2 on: August 07, 2007, 08:25:42 PM »
Yikes! Did you watch the "Instant Alpha" video in Keynote?! WOW.gif Unfortunately, I was hoping the "tracking" you mentioned was there instead of Pages...oh well, there's still something that they can improve! smile.gif

"A to B" animation looks really nice, also!

I suppose if I can't watch the demos in 'real time' on my 2002 iGloo I may not be able to use the features, either! smile.gif My poor "activity" light on the cable modem doesn't even flicker, it's on solidly! laugh.gif
« Last Edit: August 07, 2007, 08:38:03 PM by Xairbusdriver »
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Offline krissel

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« Reply #3 on: August 07, 2007, 11:30:52 PM »
JIM...It may be your cable connection or the time you visited the Apple site. My DA ran all the videos fine later this eve. (1.5 Ghz processor, 64MB video)Yeah, that Instant Alpha is really nice. yes.gif
QUOTE(Gregg @ Aug 7 2007, 08:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I see a heading that says "Import and Export Excel" but nothing about AppleWorks.iWork Numbers is an Apple product, right? :thinking:Why don't they act like it?
From Apple site:
QUOTE
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.
QUOTE
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.
« Last Edit: August 07, 2007, 11:31:22 PM by krissel »


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Offline Gregg

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iWork adds Numbers & other updates
« Reply #4 on: August 08, 2007, 07:46:06 AM »
Thanks kris. That's not quite as definitive as I'd like it to be, but it seems to imply that AppleWorks spreadsheet documents can be converted. Why didn't they just say that??? One more word...
Ya gotta applaud those bunnies for sacrificing their hearing just so some guy in Cupertino can have better TV reception.

Offline krissel

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« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2007, 01:30:54 AM »
Seems there are many grumblings about the new iMovie. Many people consider it a step backward since it removed the timeline and dual audio tracks. Geesh, I can't imagine that. When I use iMovie those two features are sooo important.

fool.gif


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Offline Parker

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« Reply #6 on: August 09, 2007, 07:46:04 AM »
Finally... some iWork updates!
They haven't really made any major enhancements to iWork until now (in my opinion)
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I'm actually back from hiatus (and its about darn time too)!

Offline Paddy

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iWork adds Numbers & other updates
« Reply #7 on: August 09, 2007, 12:20:44 PM »
Numbers first look from Rob Griffin:

http://www.macworld.com/2007/08/firstlooks...mbers/index.php

Lots of interesting comments after the article too...
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Offline danf63

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« Reply #8 on: August 09, 2007, 02:43:18 PM »
G5 iMac running Tiger 10.4.5, dual-USB iBook 500 mhz running Panther, iBook G3 500 mhz running Panther in my daughters' room-- all connected to wireless Network.  Road Runner cable Internet from Time Warner.

Offline sandbox

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« Reply #9 on: August 10, 2007, 01:02:00 AM »
What I see as a nice start lacks the one item that I and many are looking forward too and that is a data-base. Now I think one could be found in a template, but I haven't seen the list of templates yet. The hype in the Keynote certainly blurred the truth enough to bring people to the product only to leave them with a bitter taste in their enthusiasm. It does not handle Excel spreadsheets as advertised so the application isn't transferable or compatible which is a requirement for the 21 century. Many out there have been apologists for the program saying "it's only 1.0" but it was sold as a compatible product when in fact it should still be in beta. Since it's not a stand alone product and the money spent can be justified in the other offerings, I see the early release of Numbers as a Public Beta Project.  whistling.gif

Offline Shades of Gray

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iWork adds Numbers & other updates
« Reply #10 on: August 10, 2007, 11:32:22 AM »
After looking at it, that is the way that spreadsheets have been handled in Ragtime for years. Ragtime, of course, is a high-end combination program containing: page layout, word processor, spreadsheet, and projection. Since I have Ragtime 6 full version, I don't think iWork 08 is an option yet for me.
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Offline Xairbusdriver

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« Reply #11 on: August 10, 2007, 03:18:42 PM »
In my opinion, the iWorks suite was never meant to be a replacement for either a database nor a spread sheet. Nor even a word processor, for that matter. It is a "presentation" suite. It can now be used to display many Excel spreadsheets. But I would very much doubt many will want to do that. When making a presentation, one wants to keep things focused on the import details, not by highlighting a few cells out of several hundred.

Likewise, a database should be much more than a collection of data. Unless it can be displayed in a usable ways, it's just a collection of numbers, text, images, tunes, etc. Some people even use Excel to create databases! eek2.gif But I can't imagine anyone making one easy to use, especially where it may be used by someone with absolutely no understanding about what a DB/spreadsheet really is. Any decent DB will produce some kind of report ( if not hundreds of them ). But it may be much better to use Keynote/Pages to display the information in a much more readable and effective way than a three page black and white text document.

I'm not an apologist for iWorks, I just wish people would see the suite for what they are instead of comparing them to what they are not. If you need a database, FileMaker is the easiest to use, easiest to modify and nicest to 'play with' of any I've seen. But there are several others if you have the time/personnel to use them. If you need a 50 by 50 cell (or even 10 by 20) spreadsheet, I would never suggest doing it in Numbers. wallbash.gif

And for 80 bucks, what do you want! Some shareware is more than that! smile.gif
« Last Edit: August 10, 2007, 03:19:39 PM by Xairbusdriver »
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system
CAUTION! Childhood vaccinations cause adults! :yes:

Offline kps

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iWork adds Numbers & other updates
« Reply #12 on: August 10, 2007, 09:19:36 PM »
QUOTE(sandbox @ Aug 10 2007, 02:02 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
What I see as a nice start lacks the one item that I and many are looking forward too and that is a data-base.


Why wouldn't you just spring for FileMaker?

To be honest, I hope Apple doesn't include a 'dumbed down' version of FM with iWork.

Anyway, I'm downloading the trial 'cause I'm curious about 'Numbers 8', but I don't hold much hope of it ever replacing Excel in any major capacity.

Offline sandbox

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« Reply #13 on: August 10, 2007, 11:06:42 PM »
QUOTE(kps @ Aug 10 2007, 10:19 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
QUOTE(sandbox @ Aug 10 2007, 02:02 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
What I see as a nice start lacks the one item that I and many are looking forward too and that is a data-base.


Why wouldn't you just spring for FileMaker?

To be honest, I hope Apple doesn't include a 'dumbed down' version of FM with iWork.

Anyway, I'm downloading the trial 'cause I'm curious about 'Numbers 8', but I don't hold much hope of it ever replacing Excel in any major capacity.


Kps i have Filemaker and a Gig of Appleworks files but as you know they are not compatible. Many folks that have AW databanks have been hoping for an Apple solution since both pieces of software are Apple's. They continue to not make life easy for those who used Appleworks databanks.

My needs were simple, just time& billing which both programs use. I have moved on to Filemaker exclusively but it would have been convenient to have Numbers work as an intermediary between the two apple products just so I could shore the old files in a compatible format.

I didn't expect it to replace Excel, which I have both mac & pc versions of in Office Suites but.....in the Keynote address Steve made the point that it was compatible, and as you move around the web you will discover that it is not, 95% but maybe 30%, leaving folks with the same impression that I have. It is what it is but it is not compatible .......was my point.
« Last Edit: August 10, 2007, 11:10:53 PM by sandbox »

Offline kps

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« Reply #14 on: August 11, 2007, 08:05:52 AM »
QUOTE(sandbox @ Aug 11 2007, 12:06 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Kps i have Filemaker and a Gig of Appleworks files but as you know they are not compatible. Many folks that have AW databanks have been hoping for an Apple solution since both pieces of software are Apple's. They continue to not make life easy for those who used Appleworks databanks.

I see your problem. My quess is that AppleWorks is no longer in development and pretty much dead,  and since Apple spun-off FileMaker into a subsidiary, neither one is interested in creating a simple method of converting between the two. Perhaps there's a third party solution or a kludge someplace that can at least transfer the data?

QUOTE
I didn't expect it to replace Excel, which I have both mac & pc versions of in Office Suites but.....in the Keynote address Steve made the point that it was compatible, and as you move around the web you will discover that it is not, 95% but maybe 30%, leaving folks with the same impression that I have. It is what it is but it is not compatible .......was my point.


That's the general gist of what I have been seeing on the net. Seems some of the functions and formulas do not transfer well between Excel and Numbers. A complex excel file may end up being minced meat in Numbers..lol.

I've been playing with it this morning and it's sure "slick".