[Emotionally Fragile Luke]

Seems that Apple is getting ready for Microsoft to announce that they are ditching the Mac.

Keynote = Powerpoint
Safari = I.E

What is next, an Appleworks that saves as word files?

[Ozmodiar]

i thought Word compatibility was coming to AppleWorks. maybe i misread something.

[Emotionally Fragile Luke]

Originally posted by Ozmodiar:
i thought Word compatibility was coming to AppleWorks. maybe i misread something.

Seems like I might be right then. Not that I care if they are alternatives but many people will get the **** scared out of them if MS does leave for good.

[icruise]

I doubt it -- at least for the moment. Steve mentioned about how their iApps were revolutionary for digital hub things in the same way that Office was revolutionary for productivity apps. I don't see him then saying that Office won't be available. I do agree that they are definitely going to be stepping on MS's toes with the browser and PowerPoint substitute.

[jwblase]

Apple's been on the outs with MS for a long time. HOwever, due to Antitrust actions, MS won't stop making Office. (However, maybe they'll make it better!)

JB

[workerbee]

Originally posted by Emotionally Fragile Luke:
Seems that Apple is getting ready for Microsoft to announce that they are ditching the Mac.

Keynote = Powerpoint
Safari = I.E

Same thought here.
Let's hope that they don't get in over their heads. (Besides, I'm hoping for Entourage.X v2 )

(Keynote reads PauvrePoint files too, BTW. They're really p*ssing at M$'s leg today, aren't they?)

[Eug]

Well, I hope not, because Office is one of my fave apps.

I had been expecting an Apple browser for a long time, partially because IE is so slow and buggy, but Safari truly surprised me. I was more expecting an AppleWorks update at some point.

Of interest though is the fact that Safari ain't free at $100 (unless you happen to be a lucky one at the Keynote ), and the WHOLE of MS Office continues to be $200.

[Emotionally Fragile Luke]

Originally posted by Eug:
Well, I hope not, because Office is one of my fave apps.

I had been expecting an Apple browser for a long time, partially because IE is so slow and buggy, but Safari truly surprised me. I was more expecting an AppleWorks update at some point.

Of interest though is the fact that Safari ain't free at $100 (unless you happen to be a lucky one at the Keynote ), and the WHOLE of MS Office continues to be $200.

Safari is FREE retardo. Keynote will cost your ass $99 buck though which is a steal compaired to Powerpoint.

[Oneota]

Originally posted by Emotionally Fragile Luke:
Safari is FREE retardo. Keynote will cost your ass $99 buck though which is a steal compaired to Powerpoint.

Dude...Eug's comment was one of the most obvious typos ever (saying one thing, meaning another). Calm down.

[BuonRotto]

Glass is half empty for some, half full for others. I saw Keynote and Safari (like the name, BTW) as challenges to MS, not scabs.

[Ken_F2]

My guess:

Microsoft let Apple know that if it did not hit certain sales figures for Office X in 2003 (or some part of 2003), it would no longer continue development of Office for X. Apple just announced that it would begin bundling the Office X demo with all new Macs, something Microsoft had been requesting for a long time, but Apple had previously refused to do. Something changed Apple's mind.

Also, MacBU employees have said in the past that Internet Explorer 6.0 for X development was under way since early last year, and was coming this spring. This version is/was supposed to be a complete rewrite for OSX with vastly improved performance. I wonder if this was cancelled? Why else would Apple release its own browser? Otherwise, it would certainly seem like a slap in the face as Apple knows that MS has had a new native OSX browser in development for the year, and yet it chose to release its own in beta form.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by Oneota:
Dude...Eug's comment was one of the most obvious typos ever (saying one thing, meaning another). Calm down.

I was just kidding around, he's alright

Anywho, this still smells mighty fishy to me.
If AppleWorks 7 DOES save as .doc files then why would anyone want MS word? Well I mean people who actually PAY for their software.

[MickS]

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
If AppleWorks 7 DOES save as .doc files then why would anyone want MS word? Well I mean people who actually PAY for their software.

I frequently work with companies that use MS Word templates. Until Appleworks can work in a 100% compatible way (something that MS won't let happen as they'll keep changing things) I will need Word. That said I prefer Word to Appleworks for editing documents.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by MickS:
I frequently work with companies that use MS Word templates. Until Appleworks can work in a 100% compatible way (something that MS won't let happen as they'll keep changing things) I will need Word. That said I prefer Word to Appleworks for editing documents.

Isn't the next version of word supposed to save files as XML though. That is something that is not proprietary.

[KaptainKaya]

No, but knowing MS it will be.

[macmike42]

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
If AppleWorks 7 DOES save as .doc files then why would anyone want MS word? Well I mean people who actually PAY for their software.

Gee I dunno. Tables? Thesaurus? Visual Basic? (yes, lots of people *need* that) Outlining? A *nice* GUI? (nicer than AppleWorks 6 by about 8000% anyway) Revision tracking? These are just a few reasons I bought Office X. I really like Word X, although I could probably get by with TextEdit. Frankly, I think any fool can make a word processor, and a real one with a Cocoa UI would be great. The .doc file format issue isn't so big anymore. OpenOffice has a 98% accuracy rate when converting Office XP .doc files, and Microsoft has committed to XML for the next Windows version. Of course it could be like storing NSData in a .plist. Heh.

Try to take away my Excel, however, and you'll pull back a stump. Problem is that there are so many high-end features in Excel that it would take a long time for skilled dev team to clone it. Thanks to semi-random feature creep, longtime Excel users won't care if a new spreadsheet is "elegant". They would just want it to work like Excel. It would have to be a giant step above Excel and include a "compatibility mode" to get me to cough up cash for it. OTOH, about the only feature I would like to see added to Excel X is simple PostgreSQL support, but it will never happen since I can just use ODBC. Hell, it even integrates with FileMaker!

PowerPoint? Boy those marketing droids love their bulleted lists! Boy I love to kill marketing droids!

Entourage? I guess it's nice if you *like* Outlook or Outlook Express. I use Mail when I'm at home and Mutt remotely.

[Subzero Diesel949]

Originally posted by KaptainKaya:
No, but knowing MS it will be.

Tell me about it. Look at what M$ did with RTF files saved from Word.

[Simon Mundy]

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
Isn't the next version of word supposed to save files as XML though. That is something that is not proprietary.

MSXML

[TheIceMan]

Ken_F2:

That's interesting. Yes, now that you mention it. Seems plausible that pressure from M$ to move Office v.X might help "encourage" Jobs to bundle it into new computers. I never understood why they didn't do it sooner. I guess they needed a little push.

Now as for Apple's browser...yes, if Apple knew about IE coming about this spring and still chose to release their own browser, then it is a slap. Truth is, Jobs and Gates don't like each other. They are competitors who must jump in bed together (i.e. M$' Office for Mac) to create products that would mutually benefit their pocketbooks.

Owning only 5% of the market does not allow Apple the freedom to dictate which softwares the masses would use. And as much as it pains some Mac supporters, the ubiquitous presence of M$ cannot be denied. Whether Apple wants to admit it or not, they need M$ or must be forced to create these office applications themselves.

I can see Apple slowly coming to terms with being "civil" to software makers. I think that, for too long, Jobs has been burning bridges. The MacWorld keynote may be an important indication of the collaborative nature that would enable Apple to lead the charge in "innovation" in the 21st century.

[VValdo]

According to this story in the New York Times :

Avi Tevanian, Apple's senior vice president for software engineering, said that it was becoming increasingly obvious that Apple was moving toward offering software alternatives to Microsoft.

"It's not explicit," he said, "but the evidence is there."

The new Keynote program, for which Mr. Jobs — who draws a salary of $1 a year — said he had worked as a "low paid" tester for the last year, includes a number of features to ease the task of making graphic presentations.

Mr. Jobs said that he had disclosed the company's new Safari Web browser to Microsoft before making the announcement this morning and said the two companies still had a strong partnership.

He said Safari, which is available in test form free from Apple's Web site, was the fastest Web browser available for the Macintosh and was intended to bring innovation and competition back into the browser world.

A Microsoft executive said that the company was evaluating the new Apple product, but he added that the company had no plans to walk away from the Macintosh market.

"We've been doing Apple software for the last 17 years," said Tim McDonough, a Microsoft marketing director. "We're a long-term player in the market, and our plans haven't changed at all."

W

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Seems that Forbes is thinking the same as I am:

http://www.forbes.com/2003/01/07/cx_ah_0107apple.html