Apple Numbers
- Published August 8th, 2007 in Tech Comment, Apple
You gotta love the pundits!
The first thing that was said when Numbers (the worksheet software application part of iWork 2008) was released was something like “Trivia”, “You can only do basic things there…”, “It does not even come close to Excel”.
It springs to my mind that these pundits opened their mouth even before trying to actually use Numbers. Could I be right? Most probably, since the iWork trial is available since yesterday and they started talking the moment Apple announced the news about iWork 2008.
Now, you, clever user, might notice that since it’s available only since yesterday, why should I be talking about it? For one single reason: the experience of opening the application for the first time and starting from the absolute scratch without any prior notion on how Apple envisions a worksheet application is a very important moment for any software. So, although I won’t be able to delve through the more complicated facets of the software, I can give a very hands-on feeling of what I noticed when I opened it for the first time.
Getting Started
First, as with most of the other Apple software, it gives you some template choices to get started, which is quite handy for the market Apple is targeting. A wedding list, mortgage, financials, return on investment and many, many others can help you getting started.
As soon as you select a template or start from a blank worksheet, you’ll be presented with the main interface, basically what you’ll be seeing 99% of the time you use Numbers. The usual formatting options are there, for fonts, cells and tables. As it could be expected, it also features fancy graphics, offering defaults that look way better than those found at Microsoft Excel (IMHO).
If you click on the Function button you’ll discover how to easily use them. The offer ranges from financial, logical, numeric, statistical, trigonometric and some random helpers. It is not as comprehensive as Excel but I think the average user will have an hard time finding something it wanted to do but can’t with those formulas.
Another very interesting thing is the way worksheets can be embedded on your “worksheet”. The idea is that you can start from a blank document and have text, images and then small worksheets playing their role somewhere in the middle of the document.
Advanced Features
Since I’m not an advanced Excel user I asked a friend of fine that basically uses Excel for a living. He sent me a 2MB Excel document with all kinds of things, from solvers to Pivot tables, mixed type charts and sort criteria.
The document took a little bit to load (about 10 seconds) but I was loading from a pen disk and converting from Microsoft’s format to Apple format. And considering it’s a 2MB file I’d say it’s quite acceptable.
Some functionality is not yet implemented but I think that’s perfectly fine for the first version of the application. Here’s the warnings issued by Numbers after opening the file:
Conclusion
This was not a comprehensive and bold review, but I never claimed so. It was only for pinpointing the first details I noticed when trying out the application for the second day. Granted, it’s not as feature-wise as Excel, and if we consider the fact that there are no pluggins to be used with Numbers as there are with Excel I’d say the pundits are right. But the fact is that it’s more than enough for the average Joe user. And if you abstract yourself from the Excel paradigm, you’ll find the Numbers UI quite pleasing.
Ouch, no pivot tables. That’s probably my most important feature of Excel.
The comparison with Excel is, I think, unfair at this point as this is version 1. But as you’ve said so well, what numbers and the all iWork suite brings to the computer user is the apple experience. All feels right. Even my mother could use Numbers. Excel is an app that a newcomer will hate because it’s hostile to him, Numbers isn’t… And on those pundits that some are saying about Numbers and Excel… Well, I could just start comparing Excel With Matlab or Mapple and Excel wouldn’t stand a chance. We don’t do it, so what are Excel guys so afraid?(Will Excel have a Vista like upgrade?)
David,
I don’t know what you mean “Vista like upgrade”, but Office 12 had a huge revamp with the new interface. Personally, I don’t like it that much but it’s more Vista-like. Now the question remains: is it good or not to be Vista-like :-)
Personally, I like the new Office interface. I find that it’s far easier to find what I need when it’s all logically grouped, and pared down. That’s part of what I’ve always disliked about Office, was the fact that I could access Mail Merge from the toolbar… but not edit the current style.
I guess that I don’t see where the “hostile” excel stuff is coming from. For the most part, from looking at the screenshots, they look like they have the same basic interface. Click to edit cells, dropdown function list… the only real difference that I see is that Apple decided to use some of the left-hand screen real-estate instead of cramming everything on the top and bottom.
Actually, on retrospection… I wonder if the “hostile” excel stuff is coming from Microsoft’s version of Excel for OSX. I’ve personally never used it, so I really have no idea how it works in comparison to Office 12. I remember Apple’s OS’ always being severely behind in terms of Office… so, maybe that’s what it’s about.
Anyway, cheers for anything to compete with Microsoft’s office monopoly! Double cheers for a good piece of (non-Microsoft) office software on the Mac!
Will this software come for free with OSX? If it does, it could start closing up that huge price gap in between Apple and commodity hardware. Sure, your average Dell is 50% the cost of an Apple - but you do typically have to buy $200 MS Office to go with it. If Apple offered a nice substitute out of the starting gate… ooooh.
Hi Jordan,
Thanks for your insightful comment.
Actually, I quite enjoy Office’s interface on the Mac, probably even more the Windows equivalent.
As for the price, Dell is definitely not 50 % cheaper than Apple. It might have been a long, long time ago but right now I think they’re pretty the same. Hardware margins are so low that there’s not much one can do.
Finally, iWork will not come with Mac OS X but you can buy it for $100. But iLife comes for free.
Difference is around 35% less for Dell in comparing a Dell Vostro Notebook to the Macbook and 20% less for a Dell Vostro Desktop compared to the iMac. I put the comparison chart up on my site @ “http://phantomdata.ath.cx:8081/post/show/310″. Feel free to comment on my comparisons, I really did just throw them together.
It’s a shame that they’re charging for iWork. How much does MS Office go for on the Mac these days? Do you know when/if they plan to port over the new UI (from Office 12)?