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Mac OS X Services in Snow Leopard

Mac OS X Services let one application supply its powers to another; for example, a Grab service helps TextEdit paste a screenshot into a document. Most users either don't know that Services exist, because they're in an obscure hierarchical menu (ApplicationName > Services), or they mostly don't use them because there are so many of them.

Snow Leopard makes it easier for the uninitiated to utilize this feature; only services appropriate to the current context appear. And in addition to the hierarchical menu, services are discoverable as custom contextual menu items - Control-click in a TextEdit document to access the Grab service, for instance.

In addition, the revamped Keyboard preference pane lets you manage services for the first time ever. You can enable and disable them, and even change their keyboard shortcuts.


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Doug McLean

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Tech News | 05 Feb 2009 | Listen  | Print Printer-Friendly Version of This Article

Apple Releases iWork '08 Update

by Doug McLean Send Email to Author

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Apple has quietly released minor updates for the three applications in the iWork '08 suite: Keynote, Pages, and Numbers. The support notes for the Pages 3.0.3 update and the Numbers 1.0.3 update, are terse and essentially uninformative: "This update addresses general compatibility issues." The Keynote 4.0.4 update notes give a little more information, stating that it primarily addresses compatibility issues with Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 and 2008. Pages 3.0.3 (27.3 MB), Numbers 1.0.3 (26.1 MB), and Keynote 4.0.4 (31.3 MB) are available via Software Update or from the pages linked here.

As much as it's disrespectful to professional users to restrict the release notes so completely, these updates send the much-appreciated message that Apple will continue to support the iWork '08 applications despite the recent release of iWork '09.

This practice is similar to Microsoft's continued support of Microsoft Office 2004, which, though supplanted by Office 2008, is still widely used. Although iWork '09 costs only $79, many users, especially those working in offices or schools with fixed budgets, may not wish to purchase the new version, particularly if iWork '08 already meets their needs. So it's good to see Apple extending the bug fixes and patches that are presumably included with iWork '09 to users of the previous version.

 

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