Customer Reviews

AppleWorks 6.2 [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I recently made the leap to Macs from Windows and the ominous MS Word. In short, I hate Word. MS must assume that it's customers are idiots, why else do they make Word assume things for you (such as when and how to indent, capitalize words and, number items.) I chose Apple and Appleworks 6.2 b/c it offered me complete control over my documents. I found it to be intuitive and powerful. To find out it's true power, however, you might have to play around with it a little at first, esp. if your are fresh off of Word. But all in all I am very pleased with this very unassuming product. Also, being an Apple user and more specifically an Appleworks user in a Win/Word world the data translator makes it easy to translate docs from AW to Word, even cross-platform. CHEERS APPLE!

Like some of the other reviewers, I'm rather surprised at the number of negative reviews that Appleworks has received. While it is true that Appleworks is not as powerful as Microsoft Office, it is much less expensive and clearly represents a better value. The word processer part of it (the part that most people will use) is more intuitive and easier to use than Microsoft Word. True, Word is more powerful; but it costs $350 and requires a manual to use. I have never needed to use a manual to use Appleworks. You have complete control of your documents and you don't have to summon up the help application to figure out how to do common tasks like formatting paragraphs or adding links. Those who have mastered the complexities of MS Word and who require its special features may not like Appleworks. But for the rest of us, it more than meets our needs.

Also, one thing more: I have never had any trouble with Appleworks' translators from cwk to word format. I'm not sure why so many people have reported having trouble with it. I translated an entire book from Appleworks to PC MS Word, preserving the formats and special lettering instructions without any trouble at all. In any case, this wouldn't be a problem if people would show more courtesy to non-MS users (Macs and Linux) and not insist on sending them doc formatted files. PDF and rtf are far better cross-platform alternatives.

Appleworks 6.2 for Mac OS 10.1 has everything a beginning computer user needs. I used Appleworks 5 for writing my Master's Thesis. The painting application works great for making simple works of art. The spreadsheet application is handy and simple. Appleworks 6.2 includes a new slide show application. The word processing application is easy to use and powerful when used with Casady and Greens Gramarian application. Apple works is a simple program which is perfect for beginners at home and even in the office. The addition of translators to Appleworks inspired me to update to 6.2. I can now work with word documents and pdf formats. That is great! All this for only 79 dollars, that is a fair price.
The most dissapointing feature to 6.2 is the fact that the button bar doesn't move. Also, I have found that the dock placed on the left or right side of the screen interfers with the document windows size. It is easily corrected by moving the dock, or draging the window larger.
The earlier review seems odd to me in that he says he had a problem with crashing. I have not had one crash yet. Mac OS X.1 is stable, and Appleworks seems stable also. I think the problem the first reviewer had was of his own making, not the application or the OS. I suggest buying this product for the new features and the translators. However, I think Appleworks 7 built solely for Mac OS 10 will be much better. When comparing the 400 dollar plus cost of Office to the 79 dollar cost of Appleworks, Appleworks seems like a bargain.

Ok, I'm am sure that there are features in Word or Excel that some of you might use and the key word is might, but for the other 98% of us. Apple Works is a complete program that is full featured and easy to use. It can save and all of latest Microsoft Office file formats and that is half the battle most of the time with some of the attachments that I receive. Other than that I've been using it for about two months now and it has done everything that I have asked it to do and done it with ease. I have no problems with crashing or quiting unexpectedly under OS X. I start it and it runs and runs and runs. It's a great value even if just to open and looks at an Excel spreadsheet or Word doucument.

Chris

I have been using Appleworks since 1985 and followed it through numerous revisions. Appleworks is very intuitive and easy to use (I find using Word to be a wrestling match between me and the program - it keeps wanting to tell me what I'm doing instead of just doing what I ask it to do). The wordprocessor in Appleworks doesn't have all the bells and whistles that Word has but it can do everything that 99.99% of users need to get done.

As for file translation between Word and Appleworks - a quick note is in order. If you are running Appleworks under Mac Classic OS (Mac OS8 or Mac OS9) the file translation to/from Word is between 'weak' and 'passable'(50 - 70% accurate), but under OSX the file translation has made huge leaps forward. It is still not perfect. But the accuracy has jumped up into the 95-98% range.

Under Mac OS8/9, the usability in a Word/Excel world is very limited. But under Mac OSX, it's usability stands up to the needs of 99.99% of what users need.

If you are not concerned with translating documents to/from Word/Excel, then Appleworks is THE STANDARD that all others try to meet. Appleworks is far more cost effective than Word/Excel and does far more. Besides the word processor and spreadsheet Appleworks also has a Drawing module, a Painting module, and a full featured Database module. And data can be copied and pasted back and forth between ANY of the modules. This means that you can go into the Painting module and paint a picture, then copy it, and paste it into the letter you are writing to grandma in the word processor, plus much more.

For the Macintosh, Appleworks is your 'do almost everything' program for everyday data processing. (it doesn't do video or sound, or specialized tasks like that) If you want to write letters, make bulletins, or 'wanted posters', small signs, spreadsheets, drawings, paintings, or a database of your movie collection, Appleworks is for you.

I have been using computer word processors extensively since 1986. In 2001, I switched from being primarily a PC user to being a Mac user. And Appleworks is one of the programs I use the most.

I cannot understand the reviews on this page which slam Appleworks (especially the OSX version) for not being compatible with MS Word. I covert files back and forth from PC to Mac with no problem whatsoever. The best printer I have access to is on a PC at work. I usually write documents at home, convert them to a MS Word document, and email them to myself at work. Then at work the next day I print them. No problem.

There seems to be one glitch if you save files as a rich text file. The translator doesn't know the following characters: " '

But if you save it as a MS Word for Windows 98, 2000, ME file, you don't have this problem.

Apple, keep up the good work. The average Joe or Jane should not have to pay hundreds upon hundreds of dollars to get a solid word processor.

Tom Paine
Benton, LA
ATPaine@Lycos.Com

AppleWorks is a hands down better value than Excel for 99.9% of the people 99.999% of the time. Excel has become so bloated with unneeded features that it is ungainly. More over the Excel interface changes significantly from version to version and Microsoft has to do things in their own special way rather than following standards. AppleWorks reads in and uses almost all of my old spreadsheets from Excel as well as docs. AppleWorks is much more stable and not a processor hog like Excel.

I'm a huge Apple fan and have been using computers for spreadsheets, graphic design, and word processing for years. I have never in my life found a more poorly considered and executed program than Appleworks. It's translation software from MSWord does not work at all--it deletes large chunks of text, rearranges them, and, all in all, causes more work than simply retyping! Its other features are counter-intuitive and frustrating. If you're thinking about saving money by buying this piece of software, think again. There's far better stuff on the market. You'll regret this purchase. Trust me.

Editorial review claims Appleworks 6 will translate Word documents with Dataviz translator. Last phrase is the key. Appleworks 6 does no more translation than did Appleworks 5. If you want to manage in the PC world, either buy a PC or buy Dataviz Maclink Plus. Appleworks 6 offers nothing special for compatibility in spite of the misleading editorial review.

If you intend running AppleWorks under Mac OSX 1.0.x, DON'T !

This software has more bugs than a fight scene in Starship Troopers. How Apple released 6.2 for OSX with so many bugs and crashes defies belief. I've reported the bugs to Apple but they can't be bothered to respond.

Wait for another update (6.3 ?) to see if the problems have been ironed out before wasting your money on this low quality version.