Shane Cole
With a Wednesday afternoon update to its support knowledge base, Apple has sought to reassure iWork users that features which went missing in the productivity suite's recent 64-bit overhaul will return.
The support article reiterates that the applications were rewritten from the ground up with compatibility in mind, enabling 64-bit support and bringing interoperability between iWork on Mac, iWork on iOS, and iWork for iCloud. Apple also acknowledges that "some features from iWork '09 were not available for the initial release" and pledges to reintroduce some of them "in the next few releases."
All three applications will regain the ability for users to customize the toolbars, perhaps the most oft-cited omission by upset iWork '09 users.
Pages will also see a vertical ruler, keyboard shortcuts for text styles, the ability to manage pages and sections in the document's thumbnail view, and a procedure to import cells containing images from Numbers. Apple also promises improved alignment guides and object placement for the word processor.
Numbers is set to regain multi-column sorting and in-cell autocomplete alongside the ability to define page headers and footers and improved zoom and windowing functionality. Keynote will bring back Keynote '09 slide transitions and builds and improvements to the presenter display.
Apple also promises improved AppleScript support for Keynote and Numbers. The new iWork suite's relative lack of AppleScript support compared to its predecessor was particularly sorely received by power users who depend on the scripting language to tie the apps together with other OS X functions.
After its release alongside OS X Mavericks, iWork was the subject of a swift and vociferous backlash from veteran users. Apple faced similar complaints from professionals after the ground-up rewrite of the Final Cut Pro video editor in 2011.
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111 Comments
Exactly my point when it was released - they made it so all versions have feature-parity; and for that to happen a complete rewrite had to take place.
I would rather have cross platform capabilities as opposed to "power" user capabilities...
I would use iWork '09 to make rather elaborate charts for my real estate listings...I spent too much time to make them look pretty.
When I got my iPad I redesigned the charts to be more simple so I could update them on my iPad. In doing so, it suddenly dawned on me that the more simple approach to my work flow was the way to go. I now achieve the same results with a lot less time and effort. And anything I can do on my iPad is more fun than on my iMac.
I know this does not apply to power users, but I like Apple's approach. The ability to do my work on my mobile devices is the best!
But Joe Average doesn't know or "get" why "feature parity" is significant. All they know is that it went from "it just works" to "WTF??" This "feature parity" stuff was never even announced. Not very user-centric, which is what Apple is supposed (and expected) to be. Part of the Apple Experience is that things are supposed to appear and behave in obvious, expected and efficient ways. The new iWork rollout was anything but.
I don't understand why they didn't clearly communicate this when they released the new version. They should have given power user's the heads up and/or had a beta phase. Duh. It isn't as if they haven't been through this before.
In my opinion, the iWork'13 rollout was a fiasco of grander proprortions than last year's iOS Maps debacle (http://www.apple.com/letter-from-tim-cook-on-maps/). I wonder who Tim will fire over this? Richard Williamson is already gone....
(edited to correct ex-employee name)