Apple has opened up the iWork office suite of use cross platform at the low low price of free! What all that mean you ask? Well Its kinda of a big deal, let me explain. iWork is a office suite made by Apple, and it is pretty good. If you have a Apple computer then chances are you have used iWork at some point.

iWork includes a word processor called Pages, a spreadsheet program called Numbers, and presentation software called Keynote. Over the years Apple has worked on and improved it’s office suite and it has turned out quite good. Now I wouldn’t say its at the level of Microsoft’s Office. But for the casual use it is right on the money, speaking of money, did I mention it is free!?
Oh did I also mention that it is cross platform? It is and that now means that you can use iWork on Windows or Linux. Basically Apple took its OS X native iWork applications and converted them to web applications. The underlying technology, (HTML5, CSS, Javascript, Ajax, etc..) allows Apple to bring a native feel to the web, which lets you use your iWork account anywhere, on any platform; Desktop, laptop, tablet, or smart phone.
To use iWork on iCloud you point your web browser here and log in using your AppleID (You can get a AppleID here if you don’t have one) Make sure you use a compatible web browser when logging in.
However I was using Firefox 35.01 and it worked without any problems. I would recommend using Google Chrome’s Application Shortcut feature, which makes the web page into a stand alone, dedicated browser for that site, in this case the iCloud side. This experience made it feel like I was working on a native app and not in a web browser.
One cool thing I liked was testing out the online collaboration feature, which lets you edit with those you share the document with in real time. (Reminds me of Google Wave) To do this you just invite others via a email link and they can help produce/proof-read your documents iWork is also provides file compatibility with Microsoft Office, which is nice if you don't want to install or pay for MS Office but still need to produce a word/excel document.
Overall Apple has done a great job of providing a fully functional Office suite and made it cross platform and web accessible. I especially like the ability to save my documents in iCloud. Using iCloud, I’m able to start work on a document using my Laptop, then latter add some finishing touches on using my iPhone. If your Windows or Linux user then you can participate in all the fun as well. iWork provides some really powerful features you would not expect in a web based office suite. So if you are looking for a office suite that is powerful, easy to use, and free, then I would definitely give iWork a try.