In the second one-half of 2007 , Mac exploiter were supposed to have an Intel - native productivity rooms offer , among other things , a intro programme , word processor , and spreadsheet creature . And they do — only this productivity suite does n’t fall from Microsoft . Instead , it ’s Apple ’s iWork ’ 08 .

Last week ’s addition of the spreadsheet app number to iWork finally create a full - featured heir to the now officially - abandoned AppleWorks , which had get going unmoved since 2004 . But does it also mean starchy competition for Microsoft ’s Office entourage , now that iWork propose three of the four apps included in Office ? ( And the fourth , Entourage , is matched by cock included elsewhere in Mac OS X. )

If iWork ’ 08 ’s release signals a renewal of hostilities that have been largely dormant since the tardy ’ 90s , you ’d have a hard metre win over representatives from either Apple or Microsoft . Perhaps that ’s because as intriguing as an iWork - versus - Office storyline may be in some quarters , the realness of the market place seem to squeeze any would - be feud in the bud .

Office: ‘Still pretty entrenched’

For all the ease number brings to spreadsheet , it ’s still a 1.0 version of an software , with all the mixture of possible and missing features that phrase implies . Office , on the other hired hand , remains the leading suite of its variety , used widely not just on the Mac platform , but among businesses of all sorting of shapes , sizes and figure platforms . “ If you front at Office , ” said Tim Bajarin , Chief Executive of confabulate firmCreative Strategies , “ it ’s still pretty entrenched ” among business and education users .

Still , the reaching of iWork ’ 08 comes at an interesting meter in the Mac market — just a hebdomad after Microsoft announced that the release of Office 2008 would be delayed until January . Microsoft cited what Macintosh Business Unit general manager Craig Eisler called a “ everlasting storm ” of factors — the switch to Intel - based processor , a alteration in function file format , and the fact that Microsoft is building this version of Office with Apple ’s Xcode developer puppet .

Whatever the abstract thought behind the delay , it does n’t change the fact that Mac user will postulate to wait another five calendar month for an Intel - native variation of Office ; iWork run natively on both Intel- and PowerPC - based Macs justly now .

For its part , Apple is n’t gasconade iWork as an Office replacement , let alone an Office killer . Rather , the company says , its productivity suite is aimed at people who ’d favour a Mac - like approach to tasks such as Good Book - processing and spreadsheet .

“ One of the thing that you ’ll see in some of our materials is , ‘ Productivity the Mac way , ’ ” said Rob Schoeben , Apple ’s frailty prexy of applications Cartesian product merchandising . “ That means , ‘ I purchase a Mac on intention . I corrupt into the idea that thing should look right and be well - designed and really easy to use . ’ They want to enjoy the direction they work , they want their piece of work production to take care great , and [ they want to be ] fundamentally integrated into iLife . If you purchase into all that , that ’s plump to be appealing . ”

Meanwhile , executives from Microsoft ’s Mac Business Unit do n’t sound particularly threatened by another productivity suite , even one that ’s develop by the same company that hold the computer hardware and operating system of rules on which the suites hunt . While call iWork ’ 08 “ an interesting option for some users , ” Mac Business Unit merchandising director Amanda Lefebvre say that the Mac interlingual rendition of Office collection to users with very demanding document - sharing needs .

“ For us , it ’s about allowing people to surrender really corking document across platforms , ” Lefebvre said . “ With part 2004 , it ’s shew that it is an substantive piece of software program . We will turn in on that even more with [ Office 2008 ] . ”

written document compatibility is crucial for any retinue of applications that hopes to make hay in Office ’s space . And that appears to have been a major stress with the iWork ’ 08 apps — the latest reading of Pages , for example , delivers improved export to Word , even with graphics - heavy document , while Numbers offers compatibility with many Excel spreadsheets , though exploiter may require to modify some of them . ( There is no accompaniment for macros in Numbers , and some formulas are unsupported as well . )

What ’s more , iWork shipped with support for the Open XML file data format that ’s aboriginal to Microsoft Office 2007 . Adding such support to the Mac reading of Office is one of the reasons behind its delayed departure , so its presence in iWork is “ unenviable ” for Microsoft , agree to one analyst .

“ This was the ultimate contumely to injury , ” JupiterResearch vice president and research music director Michael Gartenberg toldComputerworld . “ Not only has Microsoft not delivered the power to read and publish Open XML in its Mac Office , but at the ending of the mean solar day , Apple was the one who delivered . ”

Who iWork is for

Still , for users regularly exchanging files with co - worker and clients , Office ’s seamless compatibility will make it tough for iWork to make much of an inroad . Office “ is still an all-important piece of software package for our client , ” Microsoft ’s Lefebvre said .

While Apple ’s Schoeben draw iWork ’s compatibility with Office as “ fairly firm , ” he concedes that there are users who would not need to leave out Office in favour of Apple ’s suite . “ If you need to constantly roundtrip with other masses who are using an Excel spreadsheet , you want Excel , ” he say .

But not every exploiter operate under those circumstances , Apple stimulate to add . “ If you ’re going to create something yourself , if 90 to 95 percent compatibility [ with Excel ] is fine , if you do n’t really care about pin table and macros and thing like that , you ’ll prefer [ Numbers ] , ” Schoeben said .

Indeed , that ’s where Apple figures to make the crowing inroads with its tardy version of iWork — among users who need a word of honor - processing or spreadsheet shaft for their personal function , but do n’t need all the features — or the higher price tag — of Office ’s apps .

“ There are section of the market place where Office is overkill , ” Creative Strategies ’ Bajarin said .

Apple has another intellect for bolstering its own productivity suite asunder from trying to reach user who might otherwise be overwhelmed by Office . The more hefty a entourage iWork becomes , the less dependent the society is on Microsoft to produce timely Office updates .

What lies ahead

conceive that 10 years ago this calendar month , Bill Gates seem at Macworld Expo in Boston to harbinger a pot where Microsoft would buy $ 150 million of Apple stock . More important , however , was the part of the Apple - Microsoft accord where the Redmond - based software program giant hold to keep develop a Mac variant of Office . That move lent believability to the Mac political program at a time when Apple was contend .

These day , Apple ’s standing is dramatically different . The company just enjoyed its best quarter for Mac sales agreement ever , and , with a grocery capitalisation of more than $ 100 billion and $ 7.1 billion in hard cash on handwriting , it finds itself on a solid financial ground .

Yet , Apple and Microsoft stay to function under a serial publication of pacts that keep Office on the platform . The late five - year correspondence was announce in 2006 calls on Microsoft to acquire Office for both PowerPC- and Intel - based Macs .

And Apple ’s stiff Mac sales momentum may be a major reason whySilverlight , Microsoft ’s new rich - medium browser app stopple - in engineering mean to compete with Adobe ’s Flash , support Intel - based Mac organisation as well as Windows PCs .

But while Office remains a fixedness on the Mac platform , other Microsoft apps — everything from Internet Explorer to Virtual PC to Windows Media Player — have fallen by the wayside . What if Office were to join them once the current pact between Apple and Microsoft runs out ?

“ It would n’t be ruinous , ” read Bajarin , hastening to add that he believes a vivacious Mac variation of Office remains part of Microsoft ’s strategy . “ But it would be a meaning blow . ”

For that reason , Bajarin impart , enhancing iWork could be see as “ pre - emptive ” move on Apple ’s part . tote up more applications and feature to a productivity retinue now spares Apple from the pressure of having to do it later .

JupiterResearch ’s Gartenberg took a more stark view in his interview withComputerworld . “ role for the Mac is just not a veridical priority for Microsoft , ” he told the IT publication . “ And that ’s not likely to switch any time before long . ”