14 DAY TRIAL // Apple's press event was teeming with announcements and undated products, some of which had been long in the tooth for quite some time. Such is the case of iWork '08, a major update to Apple's productivity software. Not only were the existing iWork application updated, but Apple has also taken that one final step towards diminishing reliance on Microsoft's Office by introducing a new spreadsheet application called "Numbers."
Some time ago, it was rumored that both iWork and iLife would break out of the year naming convention to join a OS X naming convention, thus becoming iWork Leopard and iLife Leopard. While that did not happen, the appearance of the much rumored spreadsheet application is indeed good news.
"Pages and Keynote make it incredibly easy, and even fun, for anyone to create stylish documents and presentations very quickly," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, in the press release. "Numbers rounds out the iWork suite, which is far more intuitive and easy to use than anything else out there."
Here is what Apple is saying about the updated programs in the press release:
Numbers '08 is a new approach to spreadsheets that allows people to organize their information, interact with their data and calculations and make their spreadsheets easy to understand and print. With multiple intelligent tables on a flexible graphics canvas, users can rearrange information, resize and add columns -- all without breaking their spreadsheet.
Each table is a full-blown spreadsheet with automatic header and footer rows, easy sorting and filtering, and automatic cell naming so creating, reading and maintaining formulas is easy. Common functions can be dragged to any cell, and a total of 150 functions are available spanning a wide range of calculations, including numeric, date and time, financial and statistical. Interactive checkboxes and sliders let users change cell values easily to explore different scenarios and see their results instantly. Users can create 2D and 3D charts that are automatically updated as data changes, then complement them with rich graphics, photos and text labels. Interactive printing makes it easy to fit a document on a single page or rearrange and resize tables and objects across multiple pages.
Pages '08 now has two distinct modes: streamlined word processing that makes it easy to create documents in seconds; and flexible page layout, which gives users complete control over the position of objects on the page. Pages includes 140 Apple-designed templates that let users easily create letters, reports, newsletters and brochures. A new contextual format bar gives users the exact set of tools they need at their fingertips whether they're editing text, creating a table or adjusting an image. Change tracking lets users collaborate with others on a document by displaying each person's edits in different colors, then accept or reject each proposed change.
Keynote '08, Apple's industry-leading application for creating cinema- quality presentations, introduces new Smart Builds to make it easy for anyone to create spectacular animations by simply dropping graphics onto a slide. More advanced users can control every aspect of their animations with new A-to-B animations to define movement, rotation, scaling and opacity. Keynote's new Instant Alpha feature makes it easy to remove unwanted backgrounds from photos and graphics without needing a graphics department. Users can record their presentations along with a voice-over, then deliver them to audiences in person or over the Internet via podcasting or YouTube. The new Keynote also includes a collection of new text effects, transitions and themes.