Appleworks versus iLife/iWork

I have iLife and only took a quick spin through iWork so I can only comment in very broad strokes. AW is a small, fast and powerful productivity app that does many things well. It's age is showing but that takes nothing away from it's usefulness. If it works for you, there's no reason to stop using it. iWork is far better at page layout and presentations. If that's important to you, then it's a worthy successor. However, it does not have a spreadsheet, database, drawing or painting module. To some of us that's a problem. iLife extends the power and scope of iWork but does not depend on it.

That AW has not seen any updates in ages (and is not likely to) is not particularly a problem so long as it works. The file format is another matter. It's a very proprietary format (much like Microsoft Works). New, more powerful and interchangeable file formats are out there. Few new programs support the AW format. It's something to consider.

Hello

If you are using the sole AW6's WP modulus, Pages is more powerful.

If like many of us, you need also the SS and the DB modulus, AppleWorks is more powerful.

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE dimanche 12 mars 2006 18:04:12)

I don't have Pages installed anymore and I would not want to say yes or no to a specific template or feature. Someone will volunteer very shortly with a clear answer. My computer came with an early version of Pages and I'm sure the current version is quite a bit better.

Hello

I apologize but I can't guess what you mean when writing:

Does iLife or iWork have anything to match the certificate-making aspect and the creative extras of AW that I particularly liked?

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE dimanche 12 mars 2006 20:44:27)

Pages doesn't have any clip art other than some customizable shapes. However, you can use clip art from almost any source you'd like. There are a couple of user-created certificate templates available in the "Education" section at iWork Community. You could even use clip art from AppleWorks but you would first need to place the desired clip art as floating objects in an AppleWorks 6 word processing document, save the document & then open it in Pages. You could also put each clip in an AppleWorks draw document & then save each as a TIFF or PICT which can be inserted into a Pages document.

Peggy

Hi John,

The others have handled the differences between iWork (Pages) and AppleWorks pretty well. The part of your post that caught my eye was this:

If I buy Appleworks does it have advantages
over the other packages?

iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.4)

There's no need for you to buy Appleworks, as it is included in the software bundle on the install disk(s) that came with your iMac G5.

insert the first disk, and launch Install Bundled Software.

Uncheck everything that you already have installed, thehn click the disclosure triangle beside AppleWorks Languages. That will show a list of the 15 language versions of AppleWorks included on the disk. Check the box beside the version(s0 you want to install, then proceed with the installation.

Regards,
Barry

There's no part of what iLife is or does that touches on any parts of what AW does, so I don't understand that part of your question at all. It's hard to see how, for example, GarageBand or iPhoto replace the AW database module.

If you have an iMac you don't have to buy AW. You already own it.

Pages (the WP part of iWork) automates and simplifies many parts of page layout, but I don't think it produces anything that you can't also produce with AW (with more effort, granted). For me, personally, if I'd gotten it for free I'd probably be using it but, as it was, the demo expired and I haven't missed it yet.