Q: Can I expect Appleworks DRAW to be upgraded? I have Ataxia and it's an absolute gem for me - but it's getting sticky.

No

AppleWorks has been unavailable for some years now. As in any case it's a PPC program and requires Rosetta it wouldn't run on Lion or Mountain Lion, so it would have to be re-programmed from the ground up.

You could look at EazyDraw which is if anything more powerful that the AW Draw module.

You can so a lot of draw images in Pages but it is a learning curve to it. Check out this link that does have some tutorials http://i-work-in-pages.blogspot.se/

I must confess I found it a bit difficult to learn Pages after having from Clarisworks 2 and up to AppleWorks 6 and even been teaching in using AW. But after a while it got much easier.

Continuing using Appleworks in Snow Leopard (with Rosetta) installed into Parallels in Lion or Mt. Lion:

                              [click on image to enlarge}

Full Snow Leopard installation instructions here:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1365439

I too LOVE AppleWorks Draw element.  I never much used any of the other parts including Paint.  I now have over a thousand draw documents and continue to create more to this day.  I get complements for the graphic qualities of flyers I've made with AW6.  I use it to create forms for business and personal needs, electrical schematics, floor plans, charts, business cards, brochures.  The list is endless.  A great 'sidekick' to AW6 is Graphic Converter.  It's a Shareware product out of Germany that works great for many tasks AW can't do.  And I only use maybe 5% of the functions GC is capable of doing.

I love Pages as a MS WORD replacement.  It is a joke to try to use it to replace any graphic program. I tried EasyDraw and found it may be a good replacement for someone to use starting out but impossible to convert my many AWDraw documents as doing so imports the entire document as single (ie: grouped) graphic object.

My solution: I spent $215 for a used but in great condition flat screen iMac running on OS10.5.8.  That is the most current OS that can run AW6 without problems. It is fast (ie: building a graphic font menu to select from) and free of deterioration.  Using Printer Sharing, I can print wirelessly via my MacMini running Mtn Lion.

On 10.6.8, AW falls apart quite rapidly.  Auxillary windows fail after only a few minutes to a half hour if I am lucky.  For instance, the font size window will open with the size field blank instead of with the size of the selected text shown.  Entering a number fails.  At that point, I can still use the [command-> or command-< to enlargen or shrink by one point size] so there are workarounds for many of these bugs.  At that point, I usually save the document, quite AW and then restart it for a few more minutes before problems arise.  My MBPro runs 10.6.8, so I still use it for mobile convenience then move my creation over to the iMac for permenant storage.

And I agree with the idea of Apple putting in the time to evolve the Draw element of AW into a program that runs on the new OS's.  All the other parts have fine replacements: Pages, Numbers, Keynotes, Filemaker/Bento, etc. Draw stands out as the sole element left behind by "Progress".

SomaSanctuary wrote:

 

My solution: I spent $215 for a used but in great condition flat screen iMac running on OS10.5.8.  That is the most current OS that can run AW6 without problems...

 

On 10.6.8, AW falls apart quite rapidly...

Are you sure you have run the Appleworks 6.2.9 updater available from the Apple website:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL617