Pages 5 features checklist

"REALLY excellent points. Thanks for offering a practical and grounded positive perspective on what we're actually worried about, instead of just empty "But now it's interoperable" or "it's all be OK with faith" claims, or the appalling victim blaming."

Guauuu!!!!

I'm very happy now that I know secret Apple's plans for enterprise domination. Sure they are going to rule all business world. I'm not so ANGRY now.

But in my now all-Apple architectural small entrerprise I'm afraid Apple has just introduced a trojan horse in the form of Office.

Next Macs in office are going to be Hackintosh, just in case....

N oneed to go hackintosh when you can just use Boot Camp and run Windows natively. For my money, the Apple hardware is still superior (as is the OS), and the customer support is worlds better than anything you'll get from plastic box makers. BTW, I've jsut started my own archtiectural design firm and hope to keep it Mac as we grow.

I WAS hoping to never need to touch MS Office, but if I've got to I've got to, and I'd still rather do it on a Mac running OSX than Windows. Even though Windows 8 looks like they may have finally gotten some long-overdue messages up there in Redmond.

enteecee wrote:

I really hope that we can all agree on this much> The worst problem here is one of communication, and that CAN be remedied by letting us know what to expect so we can shape our work methods accordingly.

As someone who is generally a fan of Apple as a company, I agree 100%. I can ultimately understand that they follow their own roadmap rather than implement suggestions, I can understand that they sometimes make decisions that result in tradeoffs, etc. But I have never understood why a company that strives to be, or at least portrays itself as consumer experience-focused does such a poor job at communicating to its users. Specifically:

• Feedback is never acknowledged (it even says this on the feedback page)
• Official discussion forums are only minimally participated in by Apple employees
• There has been no communication to negatively impacted iWork users regarding the current plan for feature restoration and bug fixes.
• Apple support staff and Apple store employees are not briefed on the problems customers are running into and possibe workarounds, based on the experiences reported by some users on this forum, and seem to be at least as uninformed and in many cases, more uninformed than the users having the problems themselves.
• The communication regarding backwards compatability in the latest version of iWork and missing features has been completely non-existent from Apple. It has only been through the work of people like Peter on this forum who compiled the added, removed and altered features list, and people like Robogobo who have found solutions for reverting documents back to Pages '09, as well as many other volunteer users that we have any idea at all what to expect and what solutions are possible.

I believe a lot of Apple's decisions can be debated from multiple perspectives, and have good points as well as bad points. However, the decision they have made and adhered to for years of minimal or no communication to users is one that I simply cannot see any upside to or any positive outcome from. Even simply letting users know that they are heard and nothing more would be an improvement. I hope that in an age of Twitter, Facebook, blogging, etc. Apple will realize that inaccessibility to their users and fans, and an almost complete lack of communication with their customers is not a viable strategy.

mythmatic wrote:

I can ultimately understand that they follow their own roadmap rather than implement suggestions, I can understand that they sometimes make decisions that result in tradeoffs, etc. But I have never understood why a company that strives to be, or at least portrays itself as consumer experience-focused does such a poor job at communicating to its users.

I do and I don't understand it. They wouldn't be the company we love if they let themselves get too bogged down in what we want. I have occasionally had to ask clients if they're sure that I'm the right architect for them, and express that if they don't want the expertise and vision that I offer they will be better served by finding someone whose expertise and vision fits them better than they will be in fighting me on what I do well.

But the thing is that I always tell them that. If I think their priorities are misguided, we go through why. If we can't agree to work together, that's really too bad, but they know why- even if they sometimes walk off thinking I'm a *******, they don't walk off scratching their heads.

Hello colleague!!!

On the matrer of hardware, I'm sorry but I'll NEVER buy a computer without HD, with a HD that I couldn't change, or with a 2,5" HD. So I'm not going to buy anything that, now, is Apple selling.

Not to say that I can make 2/3 hackintosh for the price of a similar iMac or 5/6 for the price of a new Macpro (not so powerfull, true, but more tah enough for us, and with HD, so many HD as we need)

On the matter of "customer support", I'm sorry I also disagree. Here in Europe, by law, all products have 2 years warranty...... but Apple, only one. And, I'm sorry again, this thread is about Apple butchering sotware we use profesionally

I hate windows (i have not even try W8) but I can use Archicad in the same way in both platforms, both versions are identical, and if I'm forced to use Office... what we need Apple for?

I didn't realize you were also capable of building your own machines- most of us don'thave that option.

Yeah, we really miss a lot of the consumer protections you have there. Kinda stinks. You should know, though, that Apple has ben forced by the courts in the EU to honor the 2 yr warranty and I believe to stop publicly saying they offer a 1 yr warranty.

I use AutoCad, and find the Mac version vastly preferable to the Windows.

The main reason for me to stick with Apple is and always has been the OS. It's faster and more intuitive and always has been. MS just has never understood the first thing about decent UI. And it's a **** of a lot prettier... and always has been. Possibly up until Windows 8, which looks pretty slick.

As a matter of fact I have been using mac for nearly 25 years!!! Very few architectural firms in Spain are using macs, it's a personal decisión and I actually had to force all office to use Mac, eventually with a very good results, and productivity.

So, I don't want to switch to windows at all, but Apple latelly is having a total absence of respect for his users that traslates in loss of productuvity and inncesary expenses.

Maybe I'm now too old to hold on so much insolence. And I hate Jonathan Ive nonsenses

I suspect that what happened was Apple didn't really take their own product seriously: they don't seem to understand that many, many people actually use Pages for professional and semi-professional business work. Apple seems to think that everyone uses Pages for neighborhood bake sale flyers.

When I moved to the Mac years ago, iWork was a breath of fresh air. It was powerful enough to hold its own against Word, it was intuitive and fun to use. Just a few simple tweaks is all Pages requires: cross references and maybe one or two other things, for which I would gladly pay.

Apple, I'll pay you to bring back Pages and finish it. I want a word processor not a toy. Here's my money, do you want it?

I agree that what we really need is communication from Apple concering what the plans are for this product. If Apple communicates with us customers, we can make an informed decision whether we want to remain with iWork or move to another platform, depending on each of our needs. I'm willing to wait if there is a realistic plan to un-cripple it.

I'm aware Apple has a history of telling people what they want rather than finding out what they need. This has worked out well in the past on some occasions; consumers (like me) have embraced and adopted changes, but it's a dangerous stance to take for ALL products and occasions: iOS7 and, especially, Pages now. Not being able to select all instances of a style or paste-and-match style would cost me hours of time. These and the other 30 or so feature removals cause one to conclude that, unfortunately, Pages is no longer a true word processor, but more of a "wordy processorish" type novelty app. Suitable for the aforesaid bake sale flyers, but not a product I can continue to rely on for my professional and semi-professional needs.

The writing on the wall is that Apple is retargeting Pages from professionals' needs to grandmas' needs. The sacrifice is being made to facilitate iOS, because iOS is where the money is. Pages was a fantastic application. I will miss it.

The only glimmer of hope is that Apple occasionally listens to customers when enough squawk. At this wrting 537 people have given a one-star review of Pages on the App Store (oddly enough, the same 5-star review remains sticky as the first shown review). If our opinions are known to Apple, maybe they will bring back Pages.

I came here because as a new user to pages, I wanted to get both vertical and horizontal rulers to show up.

Wow.

Can someone explain this UI fail to me?

israfelli wrote:

I suspect that what happened was Apple didn't really take their own product seriously: they don't seem to understand that many, many people actually use Pages for professional and semi-professional business work. Apple seems to think that everyone uses Pages for neighborhood bake sale flyers.

...

The writing on the wall is that Apple is retargeting Pages from professionals' needs to grandmas' needs.

...

The only glimmer of hope is that Apple occasionally listens to customers when enough squawk.

I agree that that's the fundamental problem, and that that's the best solution we have.

I now deeply regret having posted to Feedback so vehemently that the iOS versions of Pages and Numbers were useless to me if they broke the documents from my Mac. Id din't mean that that was a higher priority than being bale to work on the Mac at all!

schveiguy wrote:

Can someone explain this UI fail to me?

Nope. Like so much else in this update, we're really left scratching our heads as to what they could have possobly been doing with four years of development time.

israfelli wrote:

...iWork was a breath of fresh air. It was powerful enough to hold its own against Word, it was intuitive and fun to use. Just a few simple tweaks is all Pages requires: cross references and maybe one or two other things, for which I would gladly pay.

Apple, I'll pay you to bring back Pages and finish it. I want a word processor not a toy. Here's my money, do you want it?

I also HEARTILY agree with this sentiment. I simply can't believe that out of the tens of thousands of existing users of iWork, and the hundreds of thousands they will bring in by making it free to all Mac Users, that there's not enugh of a market to justify a real app for pros.

Especially considering the knock-on effect to the ecosystem.

Terribly dissapointed. I'm going to stick with my '09 version of iWork (especially Pages and Numbers) for as long as I can. To call this mostly useless piece of software the "biggest update ever" (after four years of development, mind you) is laughable...

Thanks, but no, thanks!

cosmo,

I guess the difference in perspective is one I've cultivated from past experiences, both good and disappointing, with Apple. I'm a big picture sort of guy. About five years ago, I decided to force a bit of patience on myself after getting really frustrated with some critical pro applications I was using, mainly from Adobe and Apple, and decide on a strategy that fit my needs while recognizing that this isn't custom software, rather a product that I was buying which was completely under the direction of someone else. In other words, I put myself at the mercy of the developer. Actually I was always at their mercy, as are we all. I just decided to go with it for once. And it made life much much easier. It's all about trust.

Software developers arent at our beck and call. They're building what they think is the best solution. They, the good ones anyway, have a vison. That's what we're buying, a vision of the future.

Even two years ago, I made another adjustment. Rather than waiting indefinitely for a stable release anytime there was a major update, I decided to take a chance and download on the first day, knowing that I'd be subjecting myself to bugs and instabilities all the time. So I came up with bulletproof backup strategies and made it my responsibility to secure my data. It's the best decision I've ever made. My data is my responsibility.

Well, I'm the lucky one. I always remain on the front lines, have the latest a greatest all the time and I know more than ever how to keep myself safe and protected while riding the big wave. So naturally, when I see people suffering because they didn't tread carefully, and they're blaming anyone they can for their woes, I try to nudge them to take control and move forward with their own best interest, not at the mercy of a pice of software. This is the difference between Peter and I. I think we buy into a vision, but we are responsible for own own well being.

I hope this clears things up. I'm no fanboy, not dense as Peter thinks I am, and I'm not part of some religious cult as someone claimed. I'm willing to take some knocks because I believe in the end the best way to reach a solution is to take responsibility and resist complaining. Nobody else is going to help solve our problems unless we act maturely and look for solutions. Pointing fingers and speculating about maliciousness is certainly not the way. Apple has no motivation to hurt its user base. That would be bad business. The most sucessful business in the world knows better than that.

Thanks for that Robo,

I think we are now close to being on the same 'pages' (sic). I appreciate your point of view, and I think you now mine. Here's hope that we can come to a definitive conclusion in all this, a realistic recommendation to Apple that perhaps actually might carry some weight and earn their response.

On a further positive note: in weighing my options and looking forward I found the following link. It appears to be a complete and sanctioned download for an older version of Adobe inDesign. I understand it is a bit older, but so is Pages '09.

http://www.techspot.com/downloads/5731-adobe-indesign-cs2-free.html

Hope this heals some of the wounds we've all shared.