After using the "Draw a Shape" feature of Keynote extensively on my site, I'd have to raise my hand for wanting Apple to do a drawing program. Nothing really fancy, just simply a way to create and store shapes outside of Pages/Keynote so that they can be used in other apps as images, but in Pages/Keynote as native shapes.

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This would certainly be nice and I have high hopes of Apple providing the kind of UI tweaks that would make this a strong application for basic use...

Can I be alone in harbouring a wish for iWork to include a basic database package? With the demise of Appleworks, the high cost of Filemaker, and the absence of Access as part of Office for Mac, this seems to me to me a real gap. I'd love to see Apple produce a GarageBand / iMovie level database package (relational rather than flatpack, after all it is the 21st century) as part of iWork.

Of course, iWork runs atrociously on my G3 iBook (unlike the Word and Excel which clip along just fine), so it's all a bit academic until I've saved up enough pennies for a shiny new MacBook. That said, a better iWork package would certainly help Apple sell me their new hardware.

Danny

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Danny, OpenOffice.org has a decent database application. I'm using it until something more professional becomes affordable.

I think the iWork spreadsheet app looks pretty sweet. I had basically decided I wasn't buying iWork 07, as I'm pretty happy with Keynote and Pages as they are. However, the combination of the spreadsheet app and the rumored "word processing mode" in Pages will make it pretty hard for me to resist now.

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Thank you for detailed article.

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I agree, I'm still wait for aan amerture drawing app., one that would suit a child. My sisters kids just like to draw sometimes. Don't think about showing me Seashore etc. I've seen them all. I just want to see a simple drawind app, made by Apple, and bundled in the OS. Even if Steve just said "We added a little drawing app., sometimes people just want to doodle, and now they can on the Mac too. They could also have a "Send to iWeb" button, if someone want to add an little drwing to iWeb, add a LOGO, or put a character on their page/site.

Now about that Numbers screenshot, It's clearly a huge possibility it's true, but I expect the final version to match the new UI, black cheery/illuminious or what ever it's called.

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That screenshot looks to me to be too ugly and poorly designed to even be an early build of an apple product.

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Wow. That's probably a real screenshot. It looks just as uninspired and useless as Pages.

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Intaglio is a good candidate for the new "iDraw". It is basically the MacDraw/Appleworks Draw updated for OS X.
http://www.purgatorydesign.com/Intaglio/

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Eh, NeoOffice (a somewhat more Mac-like version of OpenOffice) works fine, is free, and uses open formats natively.

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Eeeh, iDraw already exists a couple of years and does exactly what you ask from it... A simple OS X only vector based drawing program. Think about it as MacDraw II for OS X.
Proof of simplicity: the download is only 602Kb and the price is $39.95

See http://www.macpoweruser.com/idraw/index.html

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I'm sure the iWork '07 spreadsheet app would do everything I need. All I ever use Excel for at work is to make forms; it's a rariry when I use it to perform calculations.

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There are several good apps for drawing if drawing is all you want to do. If you want to create shapes for Keynote that you can then change the fill and stroke of (ie, not just paste in an image), then the only app that can do this is EazyDraw.

http://www.eazydraw.com

I would expect any Apple produced app to be able to do the same OR allow me to copy/paste shapes into Keynote and keep the ability to edit them.

The next best thing currently available is to use an app that can export as SVG and then convert it with svg2key.

http://mcb.berkeley.edu/labs/zusman/dave/svg2key/

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I've always thought Apple should resurrect Wingz. I would be dissappointed in "just a simple spreadsheet." I want Apple to help me avoid Microsoft products entirely. To do that requires a more robust Pages and a robust spreadsheet, at least. Keynote is already better (easer to use, while more robust as well) than PP, so let's get the others up to speed, Steve!

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Apple's not out to create an Office clone, because there's already a great product that's Office compatible, and that's Office. iWork may evolve and get new features but

1) If you need to exchange files with Office users, you won't be happy with iWork.
2) If you need high end business features... remember, it's only $80.

iWork will never be an Office or even Appleworks replacement. Once you're content with that fact, you'll be much happier.

Another thing to remember, Office is Microsoft's bread and butter, Apple's is hardware. That gives you some sort of idea as to how much money Apple will put into developing iWork.

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