System Requirements:

Apple G4 or G5 500Mhz Processor or faster

512MB of Ram ( 1GB recommended)

1GB Disk Space

32MB Video Ram

Apple 10.4.10 OS

Quicktime 7.2 or later

Apple iLife recommended.

List Price: $79.00

With Apple’s newest version of its office productivity software, it shows that it intends to be a serious competitor to Microsoft’s Office series of applications. Previous versions of iWork were seriously lacking in a dedicated spreadsheet application. Apple has made up for this fact in ’08 with the introduction of Numbers.

As always the iWork installation is straight forward for most any user. Pop in the DVD double click the install iWork icon and follow the on screen prompts. The system requirements for iWork is a minimum of a G4 500 MHz or better, 512MB Ram (1GB recommended), 32 MB Video ram, 1GB of hard drive space, 10.4.10 or later with Quicktime 7.2 or later. The 1GB Ram recommendation is more for working with large Keynote presentations with voice over, and more complicated transitions.

We will first start off with the application everyone is talking about, Numbers. Once you start Numbers you will be presented with a selection of templates to chose from or start a blank one. Many of these templates are well laid out with built in formulas, and graphical elements that can help anyone whipping up some quick spreadsheets a nice look. However most people will opt with the blank spreadsheet and work from there. The Numbers’ lay out keeps to the standard toolbars, and menu options that will be familiar to anyone who has used an office application recently. Formulas and formatting options are clearly labeled and easy to figure out. One very nice feature within Numbers is that tables and charts can be resized on one page and additional ones can be inserted on the same page. This is very useful for anyone who doesn’t need a full page for a few rows and columns of data per page. Now all that can be arranged on one screen for easy reading. Numbers spread sheets can also be exported to Excel formats for MS Office users, however, the export will create a separate page for each table. One other drawback of numbers is the font selection offers no previews to your selected text. While this is minor, it would be a welcomed addition to iWork ’09.

Apples other iWork Applications have received some updates as well particularly Keynote. Keynote is Apple’s presentation software, and anyone who has viewed an Apple keynote speech has seen the product of Keynote. Keynote offers a variety of templates to choose from for just about any situation. Keynote ’08 has added to those templates as well as a new feature of Smart Builds that will automate the key-framing transitions for people that keep a regular flow to their keynotes. Many of the transitions in Keynote are very graphic intensive. They incorporate 3d effects of well rendered cube spinning from one to another, mirror effects, and smooth transitions provided by Apple’s Core Image technology. Keynote also introduces Voice over recording for presentations. With Voice over you can pre-record your presentation, keeping the timing and flow going without even having to be there. This feature is great for cross country presentations, where a keynote can be emailed or delivered without the presenter having to be there. Apple has also added A to B animations for simple moving and scaling of images on the presentation. This eliminates the need to create a Flash animation for something simple. Keynote presentations are also exportable to powerpoint, and while this feature is great for presentations that were laid out to be exported, files that use the more advanced transitions and fonts will often need to be corrected in Powerpoint. Things such as fonts, position, and colors will not always translate easily. Any transitions that is not support in powerpoint will be substituted for another one.

Wrapping up the iWork package is Pages ’08. Pages is Apple’s word processing application. This is an easy to use application that doesn’t overburden the user with overwhelming options. Apple has integrated a contextual Format bar that will change based off what features you are using at that moment. Keeping the options you need in the front, while hiding what you don’t need. Also apple has added change tracking tools that will allow you to take input from other users of the document, and be able to make changes and revisions easily. Pages also tries on a new cap with page layouts. Making pages a choice for people wishing to manage magazine or newspaper layouts. Of all the iWork applications Pages tends to be the most compatible with MS Office. The exports translate over fairly smoothly without much need for revising the layout and formatting.

Many users have complained that iWork is not ready for the 9 to 5 shift at the office due to missing features and applications. Apple has heard these complaints and is making it clear it does intend to be a serious competitor to MS Office. While there is still room for improvement and newer features iWork has made great advances for only being the second revision of the suite. Not to mention a price tag of $79.00(USD) make iWork a very attractive application for any Apple user.

I give iWork a 8 out of 10.