07
Apple introduces iWork ’08
Posted by | Posted in Applications, iWork Updates | Posted on 08-07-2007
Alongside new iMacs and an updated iLife, Apple has refreshed Keynote and Pages in iWork ’08 and has added Numbers, the new spreadsheet app. In Keynote, along with new text and transition effects, they’ve also added Instant Alpha. This allows users to automatically take the background out of a picture, leaving the image you want without that rectangle bordering it that makes it look like a PowerPoint presentation. Also new are Smart Builds that allow anyone to make great animations… a to b or create your own unique ones. Toss in some great high quality themes and you’ve got a general idea of what to expect in Keynote.
Pages brings with it a new modal way of operating. If you’d rather have the stark clean look for simple word processing, you’ve got it. When you want to switch to a more page layout oriented context, you’ve got it. Built in change tracking that’s compatible with Word (a often requested feature) and over 140 themes gives you Pages’ major bullet points.
The new kid on the block is Numbers. As you’d expect it’s the “spreadsheet for the rest of us”. It’s harder to explain Numbers because although it’s a spreadsheet, it’s sure to have those extras that make Keynote so much more than a “presentation” app and Pages so much more than just “page layout”. You can count on seeing those great Apple themes, your basic spreadsheet features with intelligent tables and more readable formulas than you may be used to.
iWork ’08 will continue to retail for $79 and is available starting today. Check out the updated site for more info and we’ll be taking a look at some of the new features of Keynote and will post our impressions!
Glad to see you guys are on it! I’m checking out the demo now.
The new features look pretty good – the path animation is one welcome feature.
I wish video performance was specifically addressed, but oh well… I wonder how Leopard will tie in with it. Hear any more rumors about apps/OS being able support Keynote more deeply?
Anyone know what the system requirements are? Apple’s iWork SR page lists the old ones from iWork 06.
http://www.apple.com/iwork/systemrequirements.html
System Requirements from the back o’ the box.
Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (500MHz or faster) processor
512MB of RAM; 1GB recommended
32MB of video memory
Mac OSX v10.4.10 or later
QuickTime 7.2 or later
iLife ’08 recommended
1GB of available disk space
CD drive required for installation.
Not sure about iWork, but iLife forces you to get QT 7.2. Seeing how 7.2 broke the Flip4Mac WMV exporter, it should be really interesting this week.
Yeah, I downloaded it, and the OS and QT requirements stopped me cold. I can’t upgrade this box yet because the SAN software needs 10.4.9, and I’m a bit leery of QT 7.2. I hadn’t heard about Flip4Mac – which I use – but had heard about it breaking Rosetta apps like MS Office.
I may try and install it on a non-production machine and see how it goes. Yeesh.