With the exception of a few changes to add support for iCloud, Apple hasn't given its iWork office suite too much attention since its release in 2009 - at least on the desktop, anyway.
Pages, Numbers and Keynote for iOS ($9.99 each from the App Store) each got a significant update today. But on the desktop, the anemic iWork Update 9.3, also released today, adds support for Apple's iWork 1.7 iOS apps -- and not much else.
Apple's iWork apps for iOS are actively being developed with snazzy features like:
- Change tracking and roundtripping of changes (Pages)
- Import and export spreadsheets with filters, and turn filters on and off (Numbers)
- Support for various PowerPoint and Keynote slide sizes, presentation themes, master slides and preset styles (Keynote)
...but iWork '09 for the Mac only gets an occasional me-too upgrade with support for new iOS features. That's lame. If Apple's going to provide a true alternative to Microsoft Office and Google Docs/Drive, it needs to update its desktop office suite more than every four years.
What Office suite do you use on the Mac?
Further reading:
- Pages '12 could be Apple's secret textbook weapon - 12 Jan 2012
- C'mon Apple, upgrade Numbers! - 05 Jan 2012
- Where the heck is iWork '12? - 09 Nov 2011
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