![]() ![]() When I need vector graphics, I use Canvas when I need to deal with bitmaps, I use Photoshop when I need to produce text documents (that can incorporate any of these other types of elements, of course) I use Word. Demands of users have also increased to the point where the graphics modudules in AppleWorks, just like the one in MS Word, are useful only for the simplest of tasks. Today, creating documents that incorporate various types of elements is no big deal, so the attraction of an all in one jack-of-all-trades-and-master-of-none application has waned. When AppleWorks was initially released (on the Apple II), it was incredibly innovative to be able to do so many different things with one application. If you have database needs that are more complex, check out some of the (free) alternatives, such as mySQL (but be prepared to invest a bit of time). My guess is that because of Apple's push of FileMaker, Microsoft has never seen fit to port Access to the Mac. Apple's philosophy seems to be that those who have database needs that go beyond Excel can use FileMaker. What about database, then? Well, remember that MS Office is a Microsoft product, and the Windows version does, in fact, offer a database (MS Access) that is infinitely superior to the AppleWorks DB, and so much so that comparing the two is actually silly. Today, MS Word lets me create documents that I used to need PageMaker for, and I haven't even begun to come close to the limits of Excel (I've been an Excel user since the Mac-only version 1 of the product). There is nothing the Word Processing module in AppleWorks can do that MS Word cannot do better, and the same thing goes for speadsheets. Someone else has written that AppleWorks can do things MS Office cannot. The fact that you can embed vector and bitmap graphics, text, tables (i.e., spreadsheets), and so on in a single document is indeed useful, but that usefulness comes at a price: reduced functionality. AppleWorks is indeed an extremely useful and easy to use application that allows the creation of documents incorporating various types of elements. ![]() What AppleWorks provides is ease of use, not power. Pretty much any DB application or spreadsheet application will be able to open this type of file.Įxcel is a very capable DB app when compared to AppleWorks if one spends the time to learn its admittedly complex set of advanced features. In AW this is done through File > Save as., Text (or ASCII Text). If you're worried about it eventually breaking and leaving your data inaccessable, consider exporting a tab delimited text version of your AW files as well. Meantime, AppleWorks 6.2.9 works well and transparently on your intel based machne, using Rosetta. In either case you'll lose any layouts that you've specified, but will preserve the data. If you still have a machine on which it runs, you could use that to export your files as tab delimited text, which is openable in AppleWorks (as a spreadsheet or in a DB) or in Excel. Your new iMac does not support Mac OS 9 or the Classic environment, so you won't be able to use your old version of FMPro on it. As you've noted, there is still some building to be done if iWork is to succeed the DB and spreadsheet parts of AW. Is building the successor to AppleWorks" (emphasis added). Like you, I see the NeoOffice DB as having a significant learning curve.īy 'the new versions', I assume you mean iWork (currently consisting of the two applications Pages and Keynote), which was touted in 2005 with the words "Apple I've been looking for the same thing, and haven't yet found a DB as simple AND as talented as the one in AppleWorks.
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