OS X Mavericks ‘Upgrade’ Wrecks iWorks

The Register’s Chris Mellor reports that Apple has massively upset its Mac productive app users by dumbing down Pages, Numbers and Keynote to match the tablet versions of these apps.

Mellor says thee new versions have prettier icons, but that’s about the only advantage, and that generally usability on all three apps now sucks.

For example, Numbers’ erstwhile drop down menus and Inspector for formatting spreadsheet cells and charts is replaced by a large right-hand sidebar that obscures a lot of the spreadsheet you’re working on, with added clicks needed to accomplish what one click and drag operation would have previously accomplished.

Mellor says Pages has lost a lot of functionality, and many scripts no longer work. Other features gone missing include for example:
– Selecting non-contiguous text
– Outline view
– Customizable Toolbar
– Captured pages gone
– Reorganize pages by dragging
– Duplicate pages
– Subscript/superscript buttons
– Facing pages gone

He says that the general view expressed in user comments on forums is that the post-Mavericks v4.3 iWork software suite upgrade has been a disaster, with Apple making the v3 iWork applications free being widely perceived as a signal Apple no longer cares about Mac users’ needs in the Post PC scheme of things.

For the full report visit here:
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