[news.zdnet.com]

"Apple's iWork emerges as rival to Microsoft Office"

Okay, so we're talking 95% market share is Microsoft Office, but I was still a bit surprised that iWork had more of a foothold (2.7 percent unit share) than Corel's WordPerfect Suite (1.6 percent share).

3% isn't squat, really, to 95%. Nevermind, nothing to see here. Move along.

---

Is there anything out there that can do what Excel does?

No mention of Open Office in the article. Open Office doesn't have any "sales" per se, because it's Free Software (in both senses of the word).

---

_____________________________________________
I think….
there….
4a.m.

Marcos -- was interested in that myself. I don't argue Office's market share; every client I've ever dealt with in the last 15+ years has used Office in one form or another.

MGS -- I've seen a lot of contenders (remember KISS? [www.hmug.org] ) -- but nothing ever seemed to dethrone it. You know why? It's a spreadsheet program. Arguably, it can't be made sexy. I really think it's a matter of entrenchment; it's been the one everyone's been using since the dawn of the PC more or less (not to discount Lotus 123, but still) and MS does continually update it.

Just like Word is the standard to which all other WPs are measured, Excel (excuse me, Microsoft Excel; anyone remember that lawsuit besides me?) is the de facto spreadsheet.

Another factor is that word processors and even presentation programs (hell, even database programs) have an arguably broader reach than a spreadsheet program. Who wants to dump money into an R&D against a program like Excel? Word processors develop niches and dedicated user bases. This is just an opinion, but I don't see that happening with a spreadsheet.

That said, if Apple added one to iWork, I'd buy the package again immediately. I have iWork '05 and don't see enough in '06 to upgrade.

And, truth be told, except for a short period with a specific client, I gave up on spreadsheets long ago. I never really have a need for them, but keep Excel around and up-to-date because clients will often send me info in it -- mostly because it's an "automatic table" layout. (That is, the info they send me is text and narrative, but they like how the cells are set up in Excel so they don't have to do it in Word. Gotta love these guys.)

---

More on LKISS, aka Spreadsheet 2000:

[www.mactech.com]

I like Office, never use much but Word and a little Excel. I can also work on a PC in a pinch knowing how to use it. Can't fight gravity.

Interesting take on Excel by Zoidberg. I can understand how people in nontechnical fields would have little use for a spreadsheet, but I work in the scientific and engineering fields and my work would grind to a halt without a sophisticated calculation, data manipulation and graphing solution like Excel. I do think it is sad that Quattro Pro (arguably better than Excel in many ways a decade ago) for all intents and purposes dropped off the face of the earth. Lotus 123 really blew it by resting on their laurels and allowing Excel to take over.

As far as word processing is concerned, I really wish MS Word would go away. For complex documents it is a terrible product, and many of its features actually create problems if you try to use them in a complex document (Document Map, Automatic Numbering, etc). It's unbelievable how many bugs that program has, and that keep getting carried through from version to version without any fixes in sight.

Since iWork is only for Macintosh, I think the more relevant issue is how much it has displaced Microsoft Office on Macs.

Quote

Looking at the Mac platform alone, iWork accounted for 17.4 percent, compared to about 82 percent for Microsoft. "Apple's iWork didn't overtake Microsoft Office, but I think taking almost a fifth of the Mac Office Suite market away from an entrenched competitor such as Microsoft is quite an accomplishment," Swenson said.

TheTominator Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Since iWork is only for Macintosh, I think the
> more relevant issue is how much it has displaced
> Microsoft Office on Macs.
>

It's called providing the value. ;)

That, being said, I won't give up Office for the foreseeable future.

IronMac Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That, being said, I won't give up Office for the
> foreseeable future.

I don't use any of the Microsoft Office products unless a client absolutely requires it by sending me a document that can't be opened with anything else. I can understand that it is well within the comfort zone for most people. I never got hooked on it. I've always used other tools.

For my own created material, I never use it. I use LaTeX, InDesign, or Pages as appropriate for the type of text content I'm creating.

Keynote rocks though. It is the reason why I bought iWork. I haven't yet upgraded to iWork'06, but the improvements to Keynote are making me consider it.

davester Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As far as word processing is concerned, I really
> wish MS Word would go away. For complex documents
> it is a terrible product, and many of its features
> actually create problems if you try to use them in
> a complex document (Document Map, Automatic
> Numbering, etc). It's unbelievable how many bugs
> that program has, and that keep getting carried
> through from version to version without any fixes
> in sight.

Davester, you know what's scary? Scary is a document (10 to 50 pages) given to me by an engineer to "clean up" after they've typed it in Word using it's "really great auto-format features". Oy.

And try telling an engineer not to use these features. I know, I can clean it up any number of ways (cut & paste to TextEdit is a simple way) but when they've got section-specific issues, it's a nightmare.

Still, I *am* paid by the hour, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much, eh?

On my home computer I find AppleWorks does almost all I need. There are some files AW won't open so I need Excel or Word from time to time.

I do have Office X for occasional use but I find its menus too often illogical.

TheTominator Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> I don't use any of the Microsoft Office products
> unless a client absolutely requires it by sending
> me a document that can't be opened with anything
> else. I can understand that it is well within the
> comfort zone for most people. I never got hooked
> on it. I've always used other tools.
>
> For my own created material, I never use it. I
> use LaTeX, InDesign, or Pages as appropriate for
> the type of text content I'm creating.
>
> Keynote rocks though. It is the reason why I
> bought iWork. I haven't yet upgraded to iWork'06,
> but the improvements to Keynote are making me
> consider it.
>

In my case, I can't give up Excel because it allows me to play with financial modeling. Different needs require different software.

But, like JEBB, I don't like the menus too much...the whole interface for Office X looks freakish.

WingZ was my preference at the time.... still used it for a long time until perhaps 1998. Just when I converted, the b@stards crippled Mac Excel - and using Crystal Ball for modeling was impossible.

The other thing is.... nobody, NOBODY wants to learn new formula entry rules. That more than anything is the problem.

When everyone was buying WP, then Lotus, then some email client, etc., it didn't take much vision to see how a single suite would wrap it up for decades.

God... I hate that man.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2006 08:36AM by Jimmypoo.