iWork 08 vs iWork 09 - Worth Upgrading?

[Mercellus]

Hi everyone!

I currently own iWork '08, and I use Pages extensively, Numbers here and there, and occasionally dabble with Keynote. iWork '09 has a decent list of improvements over the previous version and they've changed the structure of the files so that they are "flat" instead of a package, making newer iWork documents incompatible with the older suite.

Do you think that iWork '09 is worth the $99 CAD to upgrade?

[kyro]

ya, i am also wondering? are they any "must have " improvements in 09?

[drshdw]

Try the trial?

[thefarewellnote]

Besides the file structure - I don't think there are any major improvements in Pages. I think the most improved product was KeyNote followed by Numbers.

I have used both versions extensively and only found a handful of things different, such as, saving files (no more export, just save as), full screen mode, and a few new templates.

I would suggest trying the trial and seeing what you think before paying for the license fee

[Mercellus]

Try the trial?

I have tried it, I just don't know if the new features justify the cost. It seems there are more "under the hood" changes to the suite, like proper font aliasing in Pages and Numbers, the updated file format, etc.

Don't get me wrong, it's impressive software and the interfaces overall have gotten a little bit of polish all the way around, but is it worth $112 after taxes? I haven't used Numbers for anything major, just a simple budget spreadsheet and some other things. Mail Merge and the new integration between the applications does seem like another major thing though. Damn decisions. :(

[giga Veteran]

The actual use of the system sub-pixel font rendering is enough of a reason for me to upgrade, but the decision is yours.

http://pagesfaq.blogspot.com/2009/01/iwork-09-released.html

And if you work with a lot of .doc files: http://leefindlow.com/blog/2009/01/iwork-0...es-doc-support/

[Sillysam]

:yes: It is very much worth it

[.Neo]

In my opinion the changes in both Keynote and Pages are pretty minimal and aren't really worth the money. Haven't tried Numbers yet.

[what]

08 -> 09 isn't worth the full price imo.

[Quillz]

I must say that I really like the new Outline feature added to Pages. It's replaced OmniOutliner Pro for me, and is somewhat comparable to OneNote.

[Slacker]

Still no auto-save...

[PyX]

Well they went a few steps ahead with Numbers and now it's easier to compare it with Excel, as there are so many new functions to catch up with Excel ones. They have the same name, same arguments, etc. so that if you're used to Excel, you won't be completely lost in Numbers.

I haven't seen anything so special in Pages yet... and there are a few awesome changes in Keynote, but not a lot of them I think. I'd say Numbers is the app that has been pimp'ed the most.

[Quillz]

Well they went a few steps ahead with Numbers and now it's easier to compare it with Excel, as there are so many new functions to catch up with Excel ones. They have the same name, same arguments, etc. so that if you're used to Excel, you won't be completely lost in Numbers.

I haven't seen anything so special in Pages yet... and there are a few awesome changes in Keynote, but not a lot of them I think. I'd say Numbers is the app that has been pimp'ed the most.

Numbers is a lot better, but it still just lacks basic things, like being able to alphabetize one table, but not the other, etc. Small stuff like that. However, I do like that Numbers supports dynamic resizing of images within cells, something I can't do with Excel.

[VGVL]

The full screen mode in Pages made it worth it for me.

The amount of time I've wasted by getting distracted clicking on the shiny buttons on the ribbon in Word 2008 is ridiculous.

[.Neo]

lol

[KeR]

iLife upgrade is worth it, iWork not so much.