Vratislav Holub Software plays an important role in the apple ecosystem. This is precisely why Apple devotes itself not only to the development of its own operating systems, but also to relatively important applications, which are mostly offered free of charge to apple users. If we leave aside professional tools such as Final Cut Pro or Logic Pro, then there is also a range of other software with extensive options.
In this article, we will therefore look together at free alternatives to popular applications that are offered directly by Apple and take care of their development. In many cases, you can do without paid software, or rather only with what the Cupertino giant offers for its systems completely free of charge.
Pages
First of all, we must not forget to mention the word processor Apple Pages, which is part of the iWork office package. It is an alternative to Microsoft Word, with the help of which you can write and edit texts, or work with them further. In particular, you can save them (in various formats), export them, etc. The main advantage of this software is that it is extremely simple and can be used by practically anyone. Although it does not have such extensive functions as we would find, for example, in the mentioned Word, it is still a fully sufficient application for the vast majority of users.
Of course, Pages is also connected to the rest of the Apple ecosystem via iCloud. You can therefore access all your documents from virtually anywhere - from a Mac, iPhone, from the web - or collaborate on them in real time with others or share them in this way. Pages is free in the (Mac) App Store.
Numbers
As part of the mentioned office package, we also come across other applications, among which, for example, the Numbers spreadsheet appears. In this case, it is an alternative to Microsoft Excel, so it also allows you to work with tables, analyze them in different ways, create graphs, use functions and provide various calculations. In this case, everything is in your hands and it depends only on you how you will deal with the data. Since the solution is available completely free of charge, it offers a surprising number of features. This then goes hand in hand with a simple design and great optimization for apple products.
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The application is again available on several products and can be installed by virtually anyone via the (Mac) App Store. What further pleases iPad users is the full support for the Apple Pencil touch pen. Finally, we must not forget to mention that Numbers can save tables in Microsoft Excel format - so even if your friends can use Excel, this is no obstacle.
Keynote
The last application from the iWork office package is Keynote, which is a full-fledged alternative to Microsoft PowerPoint. This software is therefore intended for the creation of presentations and is even favored by many over the aforementioned competitive solution. The program is based on practically the same pillars on which the entire office package from Apple is built. So you can count on incredible simplicity, a friendly user environment, speed and great integration across the apple ecosystem.
It is also a matter of course that it is linked with the Microsoft PowerPoint application - Keynote can easily handle editing and working with presentations created by a competing program. There is also support for Apple Pencil within iPadOS.
iMovie
Do you need to quickly edit a video, cut it, add subtitles or play with effects? In this case, you have a rather difficult task in front of you, when you have to choose the software in which you will perform the given modification. And that can be quite a problem. Better programs are available for a relatively higher price, and it is not exactly twice as easy to learn to work with them. On the other hand, we have free programs that may not actually be free at all, or may have very limited capabilities.
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Fortunately, Apple offers its own solution to this problem - iMovie. It is available completely free of charge, and you can count on incredible simplicity and a clear user interface. So you can edit your videos almost immediately. Thanks to this, everyone can handle it, regardless of their knowledge. In practice, it is a simpler offshoot of the professional Final Cut Pro. iMovie is available for macOS, iOS, and iPadOS.
GarageBand
Similar to iMovie, there is another tool available - GarageBand - which focuses on working with sound. It's practically a full-featured music studio available to you on your Apple devices. The application offers an extensive library of software musical instruments and various presets. Together with this program, you can start playing or recording music right away. At the same time, it is suitable software for recording audio. Just connect a microphone to your Mac and you're ready to go.
Again, this is a simpler offshoot of the professional Logic Pro application. The difference lies in a significantly simpler environment, more limited options and easier control.
Do you really consider that MS Office parody to be the free equivalent? In which institution, company, office will this be arranged with their established system? I consider Open Office and Libre Office significantly more universal in Europe.
When I compare it with MS, Libre and OnlyOffice, I personally unequivocally vote for iWork. I really appreciate the option to turn off Document Body, perfect work with Master objects, and to change the color every time I have to unclick the color prompt and then open it again to change it, that's a terrible mess. Compatibility is another thing, luckily I don't have to deal with that. OnlyOffice is probably the best there. Btw. state institutions and offices, that is a chapter in itself. There, first of all, they should learn at least basic functions such as tab (one, not 30), end of page and export to pdf...
article about absolutely nothing….