Appleworks on Intel Macs

A search for Intel in this forum would return a lost of posts, many by me, on this subject. There is no need for an update for AppleWorks 6 to run on an Intel Mac. AppleWorks 6 will run & run well through Rosetta on an Intel Mac. Those who have used AppleWorks 6 on Intel Macs find it runs as well, in some cases better, as on a G5 Mac. The editors of the AppleWorks User Group Journal did extensive testing on side-by-side G5 & Intel iMacs. You can download a PDF copy of their results at http://www.awug.org/.

AppleWorks 6.2.9 works just as fast, if not faster for some things, on my 2.0 GHz MacBook Pro with 1 GB of RAM compared to my dual 2.3 GHz G5 tower with 3 GB of RAM. You'd think a slower, single processor & a third of the RAM as well as running under Rosetta would make AppleWorks considerably slower on the MBP, but it doesn't.

However, you should be sure you are using AppleWorks 6.2.4 or 6.2.9. The earliest version stable in OS X is 6.2.4. AppleWorks 6.2.7 was very, very buggy.

The subject of further updates to AppleWorks has also been discussed often. At Macworld San Francisco in January, 2005, iWork ’05 was announced as "building the successor to AppleWorks." So far, iWork consists of two separate applications, Pages for word processing/page layout & Keynote for presentations. Limited spreadsheet functions in tables were added to both programs & Pages can mail merge from Address Book (only). The iWork apps are universal binaries & can take advantage of the "bells & whistles" of OS X. AppleWorks runs in OS X, but has not been coded to use most OS X features.

Hello, Peggy
I realize you may be tired of explaining AppleWorks and Intel to some of us, but ... well, your posts are so lucid I'd like to ask one more question. I have just purchased an Intel MacBook for my wife and she has used Appleworks on her G5 iMac for one specific function. For my well-being I need to ensure she can continue:-). So, my QUERY: Assuming her G5 is updated to Appleworks 6.2.9, is there any reason not to use the Migration Assistant to copy it to the MacBook?
Thanks, in advance.
BPWMorro

A search for Intel in this forum would return a lost
of posts, many by me, on this subject. There is no
need for an update for AppleWorks 6 to run on an
Intel Mac. AppleWorks 6 will run & run well through
Rosetta on an Intel Mac. Those who have used
AppleWorks 6 on Intel Macs find it runs as well, in
some cases better, as on a G5 Mac. The editors of the
AppleWorks User Group Journal did extensive testing
on side-by-side G5 & Intel iMacs. You can download a
PDF copy of their results at http://www.awug.org/.

AppleWorks 6.2.9 works just as fast, if not faster
for some things, on my 2.0 GHz MacBook Pro with 1 GB
of RAM compared to my dual 2.3 GHz G5 tower with 3 GB
of RAM. You'd think a slower, single processor & a
third of the RAM as well as running under Rosetta
would make AppleWorks considerably slower on the MBP,
but it doesn't.

However, you should be sure you are using AppleWorks
6.2.4 or 6.2.9. The earliest version stable in OS X
is 6.2.4. AppleWorks 6.2.7 was very, very buggy.

The subject of further updates to AppleWorks has also
been discussed often. At Macworld San Francisco in
January, 2005, iWork ’05 was announced as "building the
successor to AppleWorks." So far, iWork consists of
two separate applications, Pages for word
processing/page layout & Keynote for presentations.
Limited spreadsheet functions in tables were added to
both programs & Pages can mail merge from Address
Book (only). The iWork apps are universal binaries &
can take advantage of the "bells & whistles" of OS X.
AppleWorks runs in OS X, but has not been coded to
use most OS X features.

Assuming her G5 is updated to Appleworks 6.2.9, is there any reason not to use the Migration Assistant to copy it to the MacBook?

No problem at all. That's what I did when I got my MacBook Pro. You don't even need to make sure it's updated before moving it, the updater will work just as well on the Intel Mac.

Just to make sure you remain within the legalities of the Apple software license, you should have a license for each installed copy of AppleWorks. The software license allows the software to exist on only one computer at a time.

Thank, you, Peggy.

No problem at all. That's what I did when I got my MacBook Pro.

Peggy, I'm new to mac, I have a new imac intel and I want to purchase Appleworks. I phoned Apple and talked to a tech and she said she's not buying a new intel because it's not compatible with Appleworks. I like all the features that Appleworks has and really want the program, should I hold off of buying it or should I go ahead and then get updates as they come. Am I going to experience computer crashing because I'm working off of an intel processor? I am not that computer literate so I am trying to find a difinative answer, should I get the new Appleworks 6.2.9 for intel imac or not? thanks for your imput.

Stacey

imac 5,1 intel Mac OS X (10.4.8)

As you can see in my first post in this thread, AppleWorks runs very well on an Intel Mac. I've never had it crash on my MacBook Pro. Unfortunately, many tech support & store people, Apple or other, are uninformed. I say "uninformed" rather than "misinformed" because I don't think they have received any information one way or the other. I think the assumption is that since AppleWorks isn't bundled with any Intel Mac, it doesn't work. I'll make my own assumption - Apple has chosen not to include any applications that are not universal binary, that can run natively on an Intel Mac. Not speculation, just my opinion.

AppleWorks is still supported, it's just not being developed any further, with the last update in January, 2004. It is sold in Apple stores, online & retail, as well as at most other retailers that sell Apple software.

As for buying it, the only recommendation I have is to wait until after Steve Jobs' keynote address at Macworld San Francisco next Tuesday, January 9. It would be worth waiting to see if iWork is updated & what any updates/upgrades are. There is no guarantee that it will be upgraded, but iWork '05 & iWork '06 were announced at Macworld San Francisco in the given year. It's only 6 days away. If iWork doesn't have all of the features you need, you can then purchase AppleWorks. I continue to use AppleWorks for what it does & iWork doesn't & Pages (I don't have a need for presentations) for what it does.

Thanks for the information, I'll consider waiting another week before I make any purchasing decisions!

Stacey

Hi Peggy,

I just got a MacBook and tried to load AW 6.0 and I get a message stating, "You cannot ope the application "Install -US/Canada" because it is not supported on this system." I have some spread sheets that I created in AW 6.2.9 that I want to use. How can I solve this? If I remember correctly, I loaded 6.0 and then upgraded to 6.2.9 with software update. But it has been a few years since I did this.

Thanks,

DB

MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Welcome to Apple Discussions DB

You can't install AppleWorks 6.0 on an Intel Mac or any Mac without Classic. The installer prior to AppleWorks 6.2 is an OS 8/9 installer. You will have to install AppleWorks 6.0 on a Mac with Classic or that can run in OS 8 or 9 & then copy the whole AppleWorks 6 folder to the MacBook. You can use a CD or a flash drive or network the two Macs.

Once you get it on the MacBook you can update AppleWorks to 6.2.9. You can find the most reliable link to the 6.2.9 updater on this page where you can choose the appropriate updater for your AppleWorks 6 installation. Be sure to pay attention to the two English version updaters. If you update it before moving it to the MacBook & burn the AppleWorks 6 folder to a CD, you won't ever have to go through this again. Just copy the folder from the CD to the Mac.

AppleWorks updaters have never been available through Software Update, you had to have used a downloaded updater.

When I got my MBP last year, two weeks or so after they were introduced, they warned me in the Apple Store that there might be some issues with Appleworks and the INTEL processor. And indeed I found one, which was annoying.

The two finger scrolling on my trackpad did not work consistently- I think it was that you could scroll down (although it was very jerky, at that) in a document, but not back up.

A few weeks later, Apple released an update to OS X 10.3.x, and then it was fine. And it seems to work fine with 10.4.8 as well.

I too am looking forward to the next version of iWorks, which seems like it might be available this March. In the meantime, enjoy using AW on your INTEL macs.