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There are many people who would like to believe that Microsoft is now in real trouble. Their reason: Apple Computer's iWork '06  productivity software can compete with Office.

All I can say is: dream on!

But this does not mean iWork '06 is inferior  to Microsoft Office. I would gladly see the world change to iWork, but it will not. Office is well-entrenched. That is why iWork '06 supports a wide range of industry standard file formats, including Microsoft PowerPoint and PDF.

As I tested both the single-user and family-pack iWork '06  software, the quality of design one expects from Apple became immediately apparent. The templates, in particular, were wonderful - though  some  designs were repeated.

In many ways, the features in iWork '06 are what we all want from Microsoft but will never get. They are simple, easy to use and produce lovely results for the most part.

The Apple software gives a set of new features in its Pages 2  word processor and Keynote 3  presentation programs, giving users the ability to create more sophisticated documents and presentations.

Tables with spreadsheet-like calculations can be inserted in any document or presentation. That gives users the ability to add, multiply or average numbers in rows or columns. Users can also create three-dimensional charts featuring realistic wood, grain, metal and marble textures, and fully control the viewing angle.

One problem some people might have is that they already know how Microsoft products work. That may make some of the Apple interface seem odd. That is how  things are and there is nothing that can be done about it. It is not a question of right and wrong, just one of familiarity.

The Pages 2 program makes it possible for ordinary people to produce  attractive documents without many hassles. You must trust what you are given - the templates - and go from there.

Pages 2 would be a great product for the home or small office. New thumbnail and search views make it easy to work with large documents and quickly find any word or phrase in a document. It also handles Chinese and other languages with ease, and covers the basics of editing and page layout with the minimum of fuss. Moreover, it does not cost much.

Keynote 3, Apple's answer to PowerPoint, is possibly even better. It produces stunning presentations - again, with the help of templates. As a test, I produced a simple presentation which I then converted to PowerPoint. It ran almost  the same way on the Office for Mac PowerPoint as it had done under Keynote.

When I moved it to a Windows personal computer, the textures and fonts were fine, but the transitions got lost.

A new Light Table view mode in Keynote 3 makes it easy to view an entire presentation at a glance, and reorganise slides using drag and drop. Its flexible build animations provide more control of bullet lists, tables and charts including unique timing and sequence of individual bullets, rows, columns or series.

One of the most significant measures of a great software designer is to know when to stop fiddling. Microsoft could learn that from Apple, but we all know that is wishful thinking.

The Mac approach, exemplified by iWork '06, is to keep things basic and simple. Most people just want to do a few things with this kind of software, such as edit words and present information. They do not want to be programmers.

Apple's productivity software is hardly likely to upset the express train that is Microsoft Office. But for those with a Mac and a sense of style,  there is no better productivity software than iWork '06 on the market.

Apple Computer iWork'06

Specifications

Price: $590 for single user, $750 for five-user Family Pack

Pros: Elegant and simple

Cons: Since the software only runs on Mac, complex documents and presentations may not port well to Windows computers.



iWork will not upset Office applecart