I have to agree. i have Word and Pages....Pages is still a bit "raw" around the edges. It has great potential though! Word is a refined, tried and true application for word processing that is hard to match.
Here's why I switched to Mac in 2003: I started keeping notes on how many crashes and freezes I had on my Windows machines in order to determine whether it was really a problem or just a perceived one. After a few days of this, the utter absurdity of it hit me. I was focusing entirely TOO much on the tool (and its crashes), not on getting things done with it. It was a pleasure to become accustomed to Macs' stability.
I find the same with Word vs. Pages. I like Word's ability to view 3 pages wide on my cinema display, and Word may be slightly better at finding some spelling errors (such as "hollywood" with lowercase "h"). But Word 2004 with the very latest service packs still crashes annoyingly often on my various computers. Removing redundant fonts from Font Book didn't help, fixing file permissions didn't help... nothing will help. Pages NEVER crashes and I don't have to constantly tweak Pages in the hopes that it won't crash.
I have TRIED to use Word because eventually editors will want Word files... and I like a few little features of it, but the fact that I can't count on it is horrible. I hate wondering every time a large document opens if it's opening or if it's crashing or beachballing for some other reason. Nothing else gives me the beach ball so much as Word. Nothing else on my Mac raises my blood pressure. So it's Pages for me, even though it's only version 1.
I never thought I would look twice at an Apple word processing program but Pages got a second look.
Answer: It depends on what your needs are.
I'm in the "Pages is not a replacement for Word" camp but it may be a much better alternative to AppleWorks.
If you do very complex or lengthy word processing (e.g. book-writing, legal, academic or research), Pages is not at all an acceptable option. Pages does not compare to Word in either breadth or depth of the options. However, this may not be important to everyone. (For some people, the version comparing feature of Word is also important.)
Additionally, if sharing documents with other Word users is an important function for you, then stick to Word for Mac. Documents are not completely compatible and you don't want to risk losing important formatting in documents you share with others or not being able to accurately view someone elses document formatted in Word. Also Word for Mac lets you save documents or adjust preferences such that it is easier to share with others who use older/different versions of Word.
For someone like me who finds it unfathomable that anyone could be satisfied using AppleWorks and prefers the highly customizable options of Word for even a grocery list, and needs word processing for both complex and lengthy academic/research writing, there is still no competitor for Word and Pages is not even in the same market. I do think it's superior to AppleWorks which is what made me take a second look.
In the 30 day trial, I actually found Pages "fun". I may get it for more playful uses such as our family newsletter. But despite Pages being touted for its customizability and though I think it is a slick application for graphic-intensive word processing, I found that the very first thing I wanted to customize (the heading of a family newsletter), was not doable in the way I wanted. Even in Word, I can place headings exactly where I want them and do all sorts of things with the font and direction of text (even rotating, etc).
As with the .mac applications (e.g. the webpages builder) you are very limited by the templates provided in Pages. Even for a heavily formatted, graphics rich, photo newsletter, I am able to make a more creative and visually interesting colorful document using Word X than with Pages. Although, it takes a lot longer. So the trade-off for these graphics intensive documents is that it's quicker using the templates which do have some customizability but you won't be able to do whatever you want to do.
Also, and this depends on the exposure and sophistication of your audience for your written document, with Pages because you are at some point limited by the Templates, you lose uniqueness and anyone who knows what the templates are like or is used to such standard formatting, will recoginize it for what it is - a template.
But again, it all depends on your word processing needs and your personal needs for customizability. For regular word processing needs and for quick, good looking documents even with graphics, Pages seems great. Even as a die-hard Word user, I'm probably getting pages and am willing to sacrifice some uniqueness and creativity simply to save time with their templates - because they're pretty good.
(For me the question is Which is Better: Keynote or PowerPoint? but before I start another thread with this question, I want to search to see if others have already weighed in on that question.)
