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Pages v. MS Word: Whatever you can do, I can do better!


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Pages v. MS Word: Whatever you can do, I can do better!
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SonOfSylvanus
Fro Productions(tm)
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: London Town
 
2005-01-14, 15:13

Unfortunately, regarding iWork (and iLife '05), all we have to go on now and for the next week are Steve and Phil's product demos and the pages at apple.com. But, from what you've seen...

How do you think Pages compares to MS Word?

What can it do that Word can't, and vice versa? To MS Word 2004 owners: you recently bought an expensive and powerful software package, will you buy iWork? If yes, why? If no, why not? To Nissus and Mellel users: are you still happy with your aqualicious third-party apps, or are you kicking yourselves? To TextEdit/freeware users: is this what you have been waiting for? Will you buy it?

What in a word-processing application is important to you? Is this a word-processing application or a typing-layout hybrid?

P.S. I will try to remember to resurrect this thread when iWork is released and some of us have had a play around with it at their local world's largest Apple Store

bouncy bouncy
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The Return of the 'nut
BANNED
I am worthless beyond hope.
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Berkeley
 
2005-01-14, 15:18

I really wish it had Grammar check. It'd be nice if that became a service throughout the OS. I know its not perfect but it certainly helps pick up quickly on mistakes in Word.
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2005-01-14, 15:27

I received Office v.X as a gift a couple of years ago from someone connected with Microsoft (so he didn't spend a lot of money).

I've launched Word probably less than 5 times. I've launched Excel, just to see what it looked like. Same with PowerPoint. I've never even touched Entourage.



I'm a TextEdit kinda guy, when I have to do any typing or writing. Although it's not a priority (won't be buying it on January 22), I'll definitely get iWork in the coming months to check it out. Pages certainly looked great.

For doing inkjet stuff, I imagine it would be great! Steve mentioned "a real estate agent could..." and that's what I thought too, since I know so many and know the kind of things they need to do. With a digital camera, Pages and $99 inkjet, an agent could make her own little flyers or listing pages...and they'd look really nice.

Kinda takes freelancing guys like me out of the equation, but that's okay. I'll adapt. I don't like doing page layout work anyway...

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SonOfSylvanus
Fro Productions(tm)
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: London Town
 
2005-01-14, 15:35

As for me, I only use Word (2004) to type up uni essays.... Yep, that's all I can think of that I use it for. So, I am a light-to-medium Word user (if that?). The only other application in the Office suite that I have used is PowerPoint—to open course-related files created by lecturers that are available only on the uni intranet. And Keynote can import .ppt. Looks like Office is not really worth the price tag for me.

In the past I have created beautiful looking projects in Word (on Windows), but it has always been such a terrible hassle, one thing I know that Pages will NOT be, is a hassle. In fact I am sure that the interface and the workflow will be more often than not a joy to use (ref. all other Apple Software applications). The only special features I use in Word are footnotes and tables and probably only a few other things. I think Pages will handle these eminently.

One thing I am REALLY looking forward to is using global styles and other formatting—I have never worked how to control these properly in Word. The worst aspect of Word is the interface, it is so complicated. I do NOT believe that 'powerful' necessitates 'complicated' and it infuriates me that I feel I have a very capable program in Word, but I just can't find my way around the damn thing.

I think Apple software makes making/doing things on a computer so much easier, to the extent that you will make and do stuff that you otherwise wouldn't (for me: iTunes and iPhoto. God, before Oct 2003 I had and listened to so much less music). With this in mind, I KNOW that I would find creative uses for all those brilliant templates.


bouncy bouncy
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SonOfSylvanus
Fro Productions(tm)
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: London Town
 
2005-01-14, 16:06

Quote:
Originally Posted by pscates2.0
I've never even touched Entourage.
Only recently did I learn that this was an e-mail program

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Return of the 'nut
I really wish it had Grammar check. It'd be nice if that became a service throughout the OS. I know its not perfect but it certainly helps pick up quickly on mistakes in Word.
Well-spotted, but eh—Grammar check is so often wrong. I am a grammarian anyways so...

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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2005-01-14, 16:07

I is too.
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SonOfSylvanus
Fro Productions(tm)
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: London Town
 
2005-01-14, 16:32

OMG OMG!!! This is absolutely fucking hilarious...!



I actually can't type...

...it looks like I'm adding MS Entourage to my list of frequently used applications.



I fired it up *for the first time ever* just now and went through the set-up procedure adding in my hotmail account as the default address for the sheer hell of it. I was sure it wouldn't work because MS has begun shafting people by stopping them from using email client software to download their Hotmail inboxes. (It is this that I assume recently FUBARed my HTTPMail plug-in ).

BUT HEY! It worked, and I have my hotmail again, at least for now, without having to go to the über-shite hotmail.com site.

How very, very, VERY ironic.

Heh heh. Thanks Microsoft!

bouncy bouncy
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Messiahtosh
Apple Historian
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2005-01-14, 16:37

BTW, I think the poster was correct when saying that these design templates will have us doing things that we wouldnt have spent time making otherwise; of course we wish we could do those things, but now we don't have to worry about it, it's automatic.

And I don't think this will take the freelancers out of the equation, I mean look at .Mac. How many people have the excact same looking .Mac site? Tons of people do. This auto-template feature is great for people just looking for a quick but gorgeous layout, that they would otherwise not take the time to create.

Though, there's still a market for people to create their original designs, Apple was just looking to help those who want to just create original content with a better look than they would otherwise have been able to do.

I wish I could program Cocoa, but I can't, I don't even think I'd have time to learn right now. Sort of the same thing. Until I get around to figuring out and having time to make my own designs, I'll just add my own content and let the auto-template do the rest.

"We are reviewing some 9,000 recent UNHCR referrals from Syria. We are receiving roughly a thousand new ones each month, and we expect admissions from Syria to surge in 2015 and beyond." - Anne C. Richard, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration

Last edited by Messiahtosh : 2005-01-14 at 16:42.
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autodata
hustlin
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2005-01-14, 18:23

The two questions I have:

1. can I modify templates however I want?
2. can I have pages display as white text on a blue background?
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Messiahtosh
Apple Historian
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2005-01-14, 18:29

Quote:
Originally Posted by autodata
The two questions I have:

1. can I modify templates however I want?
2. can I have pages display as white text on a blue background?
Yes, and yes.

The templates can be modified in various ways, such as resizing, moving the objects anywhere, etc. You can change things from one column text to two columns worth.

I don't see why you couldnt make white text on a blue background, that's something you can do in keynote.

"We are reviewing some 9,000 recent UNHCR referrals from Syria. We are receiving roughly a thousand new ones each month, and we expect admissions from Syria to surge in 2015 and beyond." - Anne C. Richard, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration
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HOM
The Elderâ„¢
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: The Rostra
 
2005-01-14, 18:51

I've got Office 2004 and I am planning on getting iWork. The notebook feature in Word is fucking awesome. I love it and will continue using it.

And Excel. Don't forget that. Until there is an Apple Cell that can do pivot tables I'll be sticking with Office.

However, I really love Keynote and am looking forward to the update. I also might use Pages for light DTP stuff like updating my resume and such, but not much more.

CARTHAGO DELENDA EST

¡Viva La Revolucion!
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autodata
hustlin
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2005-01-14, 18:54

I don't want to make white text on a blue background I just want it to display that way like every mature word processor has since we first got color screens. Black text on a white background can be really obnoxious. Even my terminal is yellow on black (syntax coloring notwithstanding). Unfortunately, IIRC, it almost always takes a couple of revisions before it's implemented. For instance, openoffice only got the option within the last few months or so.

As far as templates, could you point me to the info you saw? From the description on the Apple page they sound somewhat static. Typically in consumer software like this there are big limitations to what can be done, so it wouldn't be unexpected for Pages to also be limited.
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autodata
hustlin
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2005-01-14, 18:57

Quote:
Originally Posted by HOM
And Excel. Don't forget that. Until there is an Apple Cell that can do pivot tables I'll be sticking with Office.
Have you (or anyone else here) tried gnumeric? (fink page)

I have it installed and have used it for very basic spreadsheets (I use excel at work on windows), but some people (and not just linux nerds) seem to love it.
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HOM
The Elderâ„¢
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: The Rostra
 
2005-01-14, 19:05

Quote:
Originally Posted by autodata
Have you (or anyone else here) tried gnumeric? (fink page)

I have it installed and have used it for very basic spreadsheets (I use excel at work on windows), but some people (and not just linux nerds) seem to love it.
First of all I am extremely nervous of any software that includes 'gnu' in the title. It requires Fink so it's out of the question right there.

However, I poked around their page and found this:
Quote:
Does Gnumeric support pivot tables?


Not yet. There are no fundamental problems; it's just a matter of man power and priorities.
It's a required feature for me.

CARTHAGO DELENDA EST

¡Viva La Revolucion!
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Messiahtosh
Apple Historian
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2005-01-15, 02:30

So does anyone even read my posts anymore?

I'm freaking drunk, goodnight. My first drunk (hopefully last) post, what a way to spend #1600!
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Crusader
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Westminster, MD
Send a message via AIM to Crusader  
2005-01-15, 02:50

Word pisses me off to no end

I've had so many term papers go all screwy on me at the last minute, it's borderline insane. Two years ago I took and passed the Microsoft Office Specialist Exam just so I could use office more efficiently, and then I made the mistake of taking a Pagemaker course. I now lust after page-layout features, and am disgusted at the way 2004 has screwed me over. The only thing I can say in defense of Office is that it cost me 10 bucks with the UMBC discount, I doubt I'll get a price that good with iWorks.

I'm still gonna buy it tho.

"It's a good thing there's no law against a company having a monopoly of good ideas. Otherwise Apple would be in deep yogurt..."
-Apple Press Release
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Crusader
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Westminster, MD
Send a message via AIM to Crusader  
2005-01-15, 02:52

Quote:
Originally Posted by Messiahtosh
So does anyone even read my posts anymore?

I'm freaking drunk, goodnight. My first drunk (hopefully last) post, what a way to spend #1600!
lol, ha ha. I gotta remember to post here the next time I get trashed... I guess I'll see if I can keep it civil or not, and of course, not puke all over my PB...

"It's a good thing there's no law against a company having a monopoly of good ideas. Otherwise Apple would be in deep yogurt..."
-Apple Press Release
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porter
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
 
2005-01-16, 13:11

I got the first version of Office X w/ an education discount so I use Word a lot, and Excel for a few projects. I use powerpoint for reading presentations that teachers give out in class. I don't trust entourage- there has got to be some security flaws in it, so I'd rather just go through hotmail's website.

Do you think iWork will come preinstalled on future Macs?
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SonOfSylvanus
Fro Productions(tm)
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: London Town
 
2005-01-16, 14:48

Quote:
Originally Posted by porter
I don't trust entourage- there has got to be some security flaws in it, so I'd rather just go through hotmail's website.
That's a very good point. I'll have to think about that...
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Messiahtosh
Apple Historian
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2005-01-16, 16:29

I think iWork will be pre-installed as soon as the suite of apps is finished to complete it. Spreadsheet and database apps need to be written first.
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