Monday, March 17, 2003
The Last AppleWorks 6 Review
I guess the sixth time is the charm for AppleWorks 6. That's not a reference to the version number. Six is the number of revisions of AppleWorks 6 there have been since its initial release two years ago. AppleWorks 6.0 was not exactly what you would call a completed application. Versions 6.03 and 6.04 fixed (a few) bugs, but that's about all. The 6.1.2 update made AppleWorks seem like real software. Finally, versions 6.2.2 and 6.2.4 turned AppleWorks into what it was trying to be from the start: the most intuitive consumer application on the market today. So why bother reviewing it at this late date? Because most reviewers (and unfortunately, many users) wrote off AppleWorks 6 as a bust long before the string of updates had the chance to turn Pinocchio in a real productivity suite. By reading this, perhaps some users will be able to uncover the gem that's been hiding in their Mac's Applications folder since they bought it.
AppleWorks 6 had two strikes against it before it was even released. First, it's not version 6 of anything. Its stepfather, ClarisWorks, had been in the hands of Claris Corporation for years until Steve Jobs decided that he wanted Apple's flagship productivity application to be directly in the hands of Apple's developers. ClarisWorks 5.02 became AppleWorks 5.03, and then Apple set out to redesign the application from the ground up. The resulting product was really version 1.0 of an entirely new product, but for continuity's sake it was given the name "AppleWorks 6". Longtime users of ClarisWorks who thought they were getting an upgraded version of their beloved application were shocked to find that more things were different than had remained the same.
The second strike against AppleWorks 6 is that not only did Apple develop it simultaneously for MacOS 9 and MacOS X, Apple did it at a time when OS X was still in beta-testing and far from a finished platform. Faced with creating a new application for two operating systems, one of which didn't quite exist yet, Apple ended up releasing a product that left scores of users howling. It was too slow, it crashed too often, it was lacking too many of the features that ClarisWorks had always had, and perhaps most offensively of all, it was different.
Many of the complaints were legitimate. The translation features that had made ClarisWorks compatible with so many other word processors had simply disappeared. The new "Clippings" image library contained higher-quality images, but they were far fewer in number than what could be found in ClarisWorks. And the instability could be maddening. If you didn't save your work every five minutes, you were going to lose something (your lunch, in some cases). The fact that AppleWorks 6 needed about twice as much RAM memory as its predecessor in order to be usable didn't help back in the days before you could buy a RAM upgrade for the price of a cup of coffee. There were enough quirky bugs in the initial AppleWorks 6.0 release to make you look over your shoulder occasionally for a Twilight Zone logo flashing overhead.
Apple released the 6.0.3 updater rather quickly, which squashed some bugs but introduced others that had to be corrected with the 6.0.4 updater, released days later. The app still wasn't ready for prime time, but it did have a certain draw to it. While still relying on Claris, er, AppleWorks 5.0 for my real work, I began to dabble more and more in the land of 6.04. I liked it. It felt more flexible and adaptive than its predecessor -- more human, if you will. What others derided as a big doofy interface, I saw as intuitive and inviting. When The 6.1.2 updater arrived, and my school district purchased an unlimited software license, it was finally time to unleash AppleWorks 6 on my students. They loved it. The new image library, in its big and doofy way, was more accessible to them. The fact that the menus at the top of the screen changed based on what type of item was selected didn’t seem to bother them. And the new "Presentation" module, a bare-bones slide show tool that allows for quick-and-simple slide creation, opened up whole new creative possibilities for younger students. Apple later released version 6.2.2 for OS X, followed by a final release that updated to version 6.2.4 on OS X (or 6.2.3 on OS 9), putting the finishing touches on what I now consider to be the most essential piece of software in my life.
So what's so great about it? It's a word processor. It's a spreadsheet. It's a database. It's a drawing and painting program. But it's more than the sum of its parts. If you're comfortable with one module, your skills easily translate to the other modules. Unlike other software "suites" that consist of a half-dozen nothing-in-common standalone products bundled together for marketing purposes, the modules in AppleWorks 6 are so tightly integrated that they all manage to fit within one application. When you first launch AppleWorks, you get a floating window that allows you to choose among the six modules, or select an automated assistant that uses one (or more) of those six modules to easily create end products that we all need. Everyday necessities including monthly calendars (drawing module) and business cards (database module) can all be whipped up in a few keystrokes.
The AppleWorks Word Processing module doesn't have the bells and whistles of Microsoft Word, and that's precisely why use it. Word processing is one of the oldest, simplest functions of a personal computer, and it's the one thing that everyone and their grandmother should be able to grasp within a few minutes of the first time they touch a computer. Why is it, then, that the predominant word processor, Microsoft Word, is one of the most complicated, cumbersome, and confounding applications ever created? How can something seemingly as simple as typing words and printing them out possibly require nineteen separate toolbars? I always picture a room full of twisted Microsoft developers laughing every time MS Word decides to auto-capitalize a word that I keep denoting as lower case, or engage me in a death match over how my list items should be numbered. If a piece of software is going to proclaim that it's smarter than me, then it sure better be. And Word doesn’t even come close.
For that reason alone, I adore AppleWorks 6. Although its word processing module doesn't automatically check my spelling as I go, and it doesn't even have a built-in laundry service, I can live with its mere mortal status. Every important feature is within clicking distance. Formatting tools such as center-justify, double-space, font, and text size are all embedded in the top of the document, not buried on some hidden palette or menu. And dropping a painting or spreadsheet frame in your document is as easy as two clicks. Therein lies the beauty of the beast: in AppleWorks, you’re always using all six modules at the same time, whether you know it or not.
The drawing module is the page layout tool for the rest of us. While following all the rules of a vector graphics tool, it doesn't assume anything about the user's skill level. Although an experienced user can quickly align several objects by highlighting them and pressing Shift-Apple-K to bring up the alignment dialog, novice users will never have to see that level of complication until they’re ready for it.
AppleWorks 6 even has a painting module that allows you to pretend you're using a professional freehand illustrating application. There are just enough painting tools to allow you to express your creativity without having refer to a manual or enroll in an art school. And fans of FileMaker Pro will love the fact that the AppleWorks database module isn't similar to FileMaker Pro, it is FileMaker Pro, in a stripped down version that eliminates nearly all complication.
The spreadsheet has just enough juice to save most users from having to splurge on Excel. But the presentation module is the wild card. Although it could never be used professionally, it's so simple and easy and straightforward that even a child can use it to create medium-quality slide shows. Even better, the presentation module works almost identically to the drawing module, with a floating "Control" window that allows you to manipulate and toggle among your slides, each of which is really its own drawing module document. If you know how to use one module, you know how to use the other.
And that's the reason why I give AppleWorks 6 the title of "my most important piece of software". Although I spend more time in Safari than I do in AppleWorks, I could (very unhappily) live without Safari if I had to; I've done it before. There are other web browsers that will allow me to surf the web, if not as successfully or enjoyably. But if AppleWorks didn't exist, many of the things I do on a computer would not be worth doing, if I had to rely on any of the alternatives.
I titled this "The Last AppleWorks 6 Review" because I can’t imagine there will be any more reviews of AppleWorks 6 going forward. Chronologically, it’s long-overdue for an upgrade. Rumors of AppleWorks 7, or even iWorks, have been bouncing around for quite some time. The release of Keynote has elicited a whole new round of speculation about a new Apple productivity suite, even from yours truly. The life span of AppleWorks 6 would seem to be finite.
But in the mean time, do yourself a big favor and update your own copy of AppleWorks 6 to the latest version so that you can experience it the way it was intended. Find AppleWorks 6 on your hard drive, do a get-info (single-click on the AppleWorks 6 icon and press Apple-I), and check your version number. If it's anything other than 6.2.4 (for MacOS X) or 6.2.3 (for MacOS 9), you’ll want to download the 6.2.4 updater by clicking here. Even though the updater is labeled for MacOS X, users of OS 9 can use it can use it on their system as well. The file is 14.7 Megabytes so it’ll take you several minutes to download unless you're using high-speed internet, but I believe you will find that it's worth the effort.
Do you like AppleWorks 6 as much as I do? Or are you a Microsoft Office lover who thumbs your nose at lowly AppleWorks users? Did you check your AppleWorks version number only to find out that you've been trudging along with version 6.0 all this time? Did the 6.2.4 update put a big smile on your face? Or do you still long for the days of ClarisWorks or even MacWrite and MacDraw? Spill your guts.
I guess the sixth time is the charm for AppleWorks 6. That's not a reference to the version number. Six is the number of revisions of AppleWorks 6 there have been since its initial release two years ago. AppleWorks 6.0 was not exactly what you would call a completed application. Versions 6.03 and 6.04 fixed (a few) bugs, but that's about all. The 6.1.2 update made AppleWorks seem like real software. Finally, versions 6.2.2 and 6.2.4 turned AppleWorks into what it was trying to be from the start: the most intuitive consumer application on the market today. So why bother reviewing it at this late date? Because most reviewers (and unfortunately, many users) wrote off AppleWorks 6 as a bust long before the string of updates had the chance to turn Pinocchio in a real productivity suite. By reading this, perhaps some users will be able to uncover the gem that's been hiding in their Mac's Applications folder since they bought it.
AppleWorks 6 had two strikes against it before it was even released. First, it's not version 6 of anything. Its stepfather, ClarisWorks, had been in the hands of Claris Corporation for years until Steve Jobs decided that he wanted Apple's flagship productivity application to be directly in the hands of Apple's developers. ClarisWorks 5.02 became AppleWorks 5.03, and then Apple set out to redesign the application from the ground up. The resulting product was really version 1.0 of an entirely new product, but for continuity's sake it was given the name "AppleWorks 6". Longtime users of ClarisWorks who thought they were getting an upgraded version of their beloved application were shocked to find that more things were different than had remained the same.
The second strike against AppleWorks 6 is that not only did Apple develop it simultaneously for MacOS 9 and MacOS X, Apple did it at a time when OS X was still in beta-testing and far from a finished platform. Faced with creating a new application for two operating systems, one of which didn't quite exist yet, Apple ended up releasing a product that left scores of users howling. It was too slow, it crashed too often, it was lacking too many of the features that ClarisWorks had always had, and perhaps most offensively of all, it was different.
Many of the complaints were legitimate. The translation features that had made ClarisWorks compatible with so many other word processors had simply disappeared. The new "Clippings" image library contained higher-quality images, but they were far fewer in number than what could be found in ClarisWorks. And the instability could be maddening. If you didn't save your work every five minutes, you were going to lose something (your lunch, in some cases). The fact that AppleWorks 6 needed about twice as much RAM memory as its predecessor in order to be usable didn't help back in the days before you could buy a RAM upgrade for the price of a cup of coffee. There were enough quirky bugs in the initial AppleWorks 6.0 release to make you look over your shoulder occasionally for a Twilight Zone logo flashing overhead.
Apple released the 6.0.3 updater rather quickly, which squashed some bugs but introduced others that had to be corrected with the 6.0.4 updater, released days later. The app still wasn't ready for prime time, but it did have a certain draw to it. While still relying on Claris, er, AppleWorks 5.0 for my real work, I began to dabble more and more in the land of 6.04. I liked it. It felt more flexible and adaptive than its predecessor -- more human, if you will. What others derided as a big doofy interface, I saw as intuitive and inviting. When The 6.1.2 updater arrived, and my school district purchased an unlimited software license, it was finally time to unleash AppleWorks 6 on my students. They loved it. The new image library, in its big and doofy way, was more accessible to them. The fact that the menus at the top of the screen changed based on what type of item was selected didn’t seem to bother them. And the new "Presentation" module, a bare-bones slide show tool that allows for quick-and-simple slide creation, opened up whole new creative possibilities for younger students. Apple later released version 6.2.2 for OS X, followed by a final release that updated to version 6.2.4 on OS X (or 6.2.3 on OS 9), putting the finishing touches on what I now consider to be the most essential piece of software in my life.
So what's so great about it? It's a word processor. It's a spreadsheet. It's a database. It's a drawing and painting program. But it's more than the sum of its parts. If you're comfortable with one module, your skills easily translate to the other modules. Unlike other software "suites" that consist of a half-dozen nothing-in-common standalone products bundled together for marketing purposes, the modules in AppleWorks 6 are so tightly integrated that they all manage to fit within one application. When you first launch AppleWorks, you get a floating window that allows you to choose among the six modules, or select an automated assistant that uses one (or more) of those six modules to easily create end products that we all need. Everyday necessities including monthly calendars (drawing module) and business cards (database module) can all be whipped up in a few keystrokes.
The AppleWorks Word Processing module doesn't have the bells and whistles of Microsoft Word, and that's precisely why use it. Word processing is one of the oldest, simplest functions of a personal computer, and it's the one thing that everyone and their grandmother should be able to grasp within a few minutes of the first time they touch a computer. Why is it, then, that the predominant word processor, Microsoft Word, is one of the most complicated, cumbersome, and confounding applications ever created? How can something seemingly as simple as typing words and printing them out possibly require nineteen separate toolbars? I always picture a room full of twisted Microsoft developers laughing every time MS Word decides to auto-capitalize a word that I keep denoting as lower case, or engage me in a death match over how my list items should be numbered. If a piece of software is going to proclaim that it's smarter than me, then it sure better be. And Word doesn’t even come close.
For that reason alone, I adore AppleWorks 6. Although its word processing module doesn't automatically check my spelling as I go, and it doesn't even have a built-in laundry service, I can live with its mere mortal status. Every important feature is within clicking distance. Formatting tools such as center-justify, double-space, font, and text size are all embedded in the top of the document, not buried on some hidden palette or menu. And dropping a painting or spreadsheet frame in your document is as easy as two clicks. Therein lies the beauty of the beast: in AppleWorks, you’re always using all six modules at the same time, whether you know it or not.
The drawing module is the page layout tool for the rest of us. While following all the rules of a vector graphics tool, it doesn't assume anything about the user's skill level. Although an experienced user can quickly align several objects by highlighting them and pressing Shift-Apple-K to bring up the alignment dialog, novice users will never have to see that level of complication until they’re ready for it.
AppleWorks 6 even has a painting module that allows you to pretend you're using a professional freehand illustrating application. There are just enough painting tools to allow you to express your creativity without having refer to a manual or enroll in an art school. And fans of FileMaker Pro will love the fact that the AppleWorks database module isn't similar to FileMaker Pro, it is FileMaker Pro, in a stripped down version that eliminates nearly all complication.
The spreadsheet has just enough juice to save most users from having to splurge on Excel. But the presentation module is the wild card. Although it could never be used professionally, it's so simple and easy and straightforward that even a child can use it to create medium-quality slide shows. Even better, the presentation module works almost identically to the drawing module, with a floating "Control" window that allows you to manipulate and toggle among your slides, each of which is really its own drawing module document. If you know how to use one module, you know how to use the other.
And that's the reason why I give AppleWorks 6 the title of "my most important piece of software". Although I spend more time in Safari than I do in AppleWorks, I could (very unhappily) live without Safari if I had to; I've done it before. There are other web browsers that will allow me to surf the web, if not as successfully or enjoyably. But if AppleWorks didn't exist, many of the things I do on a computer would not be worth doing, if I had to rely on any of the alternatives.
I titled this "The Last AppleWorks 6 Review" because I can’t imagine there will be any more reviews of AppleWorks 6 going forward. Chronologically, it’s long-overdue for an upgrade. Rumors of AppleWorks 7, or even iWorks, have been bouncing around for quite some time. The release of Keynote has elicited a whole new round of speculation about a new Apple productivity suite, even from yours truly. The life span of AppleWorks 6 would seem to be finite.
But in the mean time, do yourself a big favor and update your own copy of AppleWorks 6 to the latest version so that you can experience it the way it was intended. Find AppleWorks 6 on your hard drive, do a get-info (single-click on the AppleWorks 6 icon and press Apple-I), and check your version number. If it's anything other than 6.2.4 (for MacOS X) or 6.2.3 (for MacOS 9), you’ll want to download the 6.2.4 updater by clicking here. Even though the updater is labeled for MacOS X, users of OS 9 can use it can use it on their system as well. The file is 14.7 Megabytes so it’ll take you several minutes to download unless you're using high-speed internet, but I believe you will find that it's worth the effort.
Do you like AppleWorks 6 as much as I do? Or are you a Microsoft Office lover who thumbs your nose at lowly AppleWorks users? Did you check your AppleWorks version number only to find out that you've been trudging along with version 6.0 all this time? Did the 6.2.4 update put a big smile on your face? Or do you still long for the days of ClarisWorks or even MacWrite and MacDraw? Spill your guts.
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