[Nautical]

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9593_22-6030011.html

Corel bills its WordPerfect Office software as "the world's leading alternative to Microsoft Office." But when it comes to U.S. retail sales, Corel lost the No. 2 spot in 2005 to a somewhat unlikely competitor: Apple Computer's iWork. According to market researcher NPD, Apple grabbed a 2.7 percent unit share, while Corel had a 1.6 percent share. Microsoft maintained its dominance with nearly 95 percent of unit sales. Apple's share is particularly impressive considering that iWork runs only on Macs, which account for a small fraction of computers, said NPD analyst Chris Swenson. "Apple's success for iWork has been pretty surprising," he said. Looking at the Mac platform alone, iWork accounted for 17.4 percent, compared to about 82 percent for Microsoft. "Apple's iWork didn't overtake Microsoft Office, but I think taking almost a fifth of the Mac Office Suite market away from an entrenched competitor such as Microsoft is quite an accomplishment," Swenson said.

I'm impressed! This contradicts the rumors that were making the rounds a while back saying that iWork was not selling well. Good to hear!

There had been reports, apparently incorrect, on some Apple enthusiast sites that sales of the initial iWork software had lagged. "One rumor that can be put to rest is that iWork wasn't selling well," Swenson said.

[torifile]

I haven't used iWork 2, but I'm making the switch from MS Office to something else when I finish my post-doc. (No need to collaborate on papers, etc. when I'm done, so I can use what I want.)

[Franz Josef]

Good post, Nautical; saw the same news release myself. Let's hope it bodes well for iWork 2 and a future spreadsheet addition.

[MCQ]

The Macintosh share sounds more impressive, but this sounds again like a case of skewed statistics. Not unlike the stuff some people were waving their hands about with AMD supposedly beating Intel on 4Q desktop CPU sales (that study wasn't including Dell sales... go figure).

For its part, Corel said that it has 10 to 15 times more sales than iWork when you add in other channels--such as commercial sales and sales through distributors--and that PC makers, including Dell, sometimes bundle WordPerfect Office on their new PCs.

[Zorn]

iWork is an absolute joy to use, as is Keynote. Anytime I'm doing college papers/presentations, I use them exclusively, unless the professor is strict on a perfectly standard Word paper.

[ghoti]

I have to agree with MCQ, the numbers sound like they were manufactured to make iWork look better. I also wonder how Office and iWork/etc can add up to 100%, since iWork is not a complete Office replacement, and there are also issues with compatibility. Most people I know who use iWork use mainly Keynote, but still have Office and use that for everything else.

[sirnick4]

iWork 2?

I think you guys mean iWork '06. . .

[chucker]

Originally Posted by sirnick4 iWork 2? I think you guys mean iWork '06. . .

I think it's pretty obvious that yes, when people say iWork 2, they mean iWork '06, seeing as it's the second release of iWork and all.

[sirnick4]

Does anyone think that Pages 2 is good enough to replace Word? I'm thinking about buying iWork '06 (thanks chucker ) but I am a little afraid to dish out the money.. ( I know this is a purchasing advice question but, I just want a quick opinion)

[chucker]

Pages doesn't replace Word. It doesn't aim to replace Word either. Pages is more of a mixture between word processing and desktop publishing / layout, aimed at the consumer. Word is almost entirely pure word processing, but aimed at both consumers and professionals.

[torifile]

Originally Posted by chucker Word is ... pure

That's funny.

[chucker]

I was tempted to insult Word, but I figured what the heck.

[ZachPruckowski]

How's OpenOffice doing? Obviously it's impossible to have sales figures, since they don't sell it. This seems sort of systematic. How do you measure a free product by sales? I mean, I doubt it's in 2nd place, but it has the advantage of being completely cross-platform (the Aqua version is called NeoOffice)

[JK47]

Originally Posted by ZachPruckowski How do you measure a free product by sales?

Downloads. However, I have no figures for Open Office.

[shell]

Of course, you need to make some sort of distinction between downloads of OpenOffice and the number of people who actually use it for anything.

[World Leader Pretend]

Would Pages 2 be a good alternative to MS Publisher? I make lots of papers and articles and I really want something that can do more than the norm.

[gomengb]

Originally Posted by shell Of course, you need to make some sort of distinction between downloads of OpenOffice and the number of people who actually use it for anything.

Indeed: downloading and using are two different beasts. I have more than a handful word processors on my computer – supervising Masters and PhD theses sometimes means instructing people in the noble art of word processing on whatever app they have stumbled upon – but rarely use anything but MS Word and Textedit. And I downloaded the latest iteration of OpenOffice twice to get around a problem.

BTW: The latest edition of iWork tempts me to add another one: the reviews have been pretty favourable this time around. Any experiences using it in an academic context? I am constantly using the comment bubbles in MS Word (Page Layout veiw), and Pages now sports something similar. Does it work equally well? What about compatibility for collaboration?

[Dug-OH]

Pages is very good, depending on what you want to use it for. I have written a published book on it (smokes Word for that), and various newsletters and such (the included templates rock). Keynote runs circles around Plowerpoint, both in look and functionality.

However, if you just want to type a letter, or do what most of my family uses a word processor for, then Pages is overkill (though you can make a sharp looking one with it).