Where iLife ‘09 plays on the fun side of the fence, iWork ‘09 is all business, offering upgrades to Pages (word processing), Numbers (spreadsheets) and Keynote (presentations).
Pros: The ability to quickly export to Word from Pages is excellent, and the suite as a whole ran a little quicker on our test Mac. Apple is also offering an online shared space at www.iwork.com for document sharing.
Cons: There are still some parts of more complex Microsoft Office documents that Pages, Numbers and Keynote can’t convert properly. Like iLife ‘09, iWork ‘09 is a great suite that’s only been marginally tinkered with – and is that enough to justify a full upgrade?
Verdict: A good, lightweight suite, but possibly not advanced enough to justify an upgrade for many.