Once I set up a custom cover (2560 x 1600) template I found it quite easy. It does require a slightly different mindset to Affinity Designer, but I wouldn’t say it’s any harder. The text manipulation seems easier from a quick look.
That said, I think I’ll keep using Affinity for the time being, simply because I have all the placeholders set up and I’m feeling lazy.
Like Apple really needed to monetise Pages! This was a great free app. I expect the existing / free version will eventually disappear from the App Store. I can see the attraction of the package to compete with Adobe CS… if you don’t need InDesign or LightRoom. As John Gruber pointed out, if you reverse the order of the app icon versions, it’s like someone learning how to do good icons. I expect a few people who don’t already use Scrivener will be more inclined to pick it up instead of relying on a freebie that comes with the OS.
I doubt that. The free version just SPAMS you with reminders of the extra templates you get with the subscription.
That’s not good. My immediate reaction, sorry to say, was to delete it. It reminds me of Microsoft in the 90s and why so many people ended up hating them for their nickel-and-diming of customers. MS Word was infuriating and buggy. 25 years later parts of it are still garbage (sub documents). Back in the day, ClarisWorks was a great lightweight alternative with a simpler, more elegant interface. iWorks / Pages eventually replaced it, but there was always something great about having a new device that came with a decent built-in word processor that was so flexible the app felt more like a built-in utility.
And nothing has changed there. We will still get the same great app for free, there is just an additional tier available for those who want the Creative bundle.
The whole thing reminds me of the headless chook hysteria that followed Canva purchasing Affinity. I don’t like their pushing the subscription model, but there remains a commitment to a free version. Yes the ‘licencing’ is kludgy but it works.
The old version, just updated, spams you telling you to upgrade each time you launch it.
You do realize you can upgrade to V15 and use it without the subscription? Apple should make that clearer.
It refused to install over my existing version of Pages. Must have been a bug because I deleted it and reinstalled and it was fine. To be honest I didn’t find the promotion for the subscription package overly intrusive or annoying.
I do realize it, but the new icons are so disgusting that I will keep using the older apps until I can.
I have to say it: since Apple OS 26 became a reality, I’ve seriously started to investigate on all the alternatives of the various programs I use for Linux/Ubuntu.
Paolo
If I used that logic in my career since C/PM, GEM, Win 1 etc, I’d never have gotten any work done. The past 40+ years is littered with awful looking icons/apps, not that I consider the icons ‘disgusting’. 
Regardless of whether one likes the look of macOS 26, it remains (IMHO) the best widely available OS, with the best ‘necessary’ apps. (I know there are some games that only work well on high end Win machines)
You had a choice between functionally identical but (subjectively) ugly Win 1 and (subjectively) nice Win 1?
If you have options, I find it very logical to pick the one you like better. For whatever reason. And right now it’s an easy choice. It’s either the “traditional” iWork apps, or the same apps with dysfunctional icons, upsell nagging, and a bunch of paid extras.
Of course, over time they will differ, since the “old ones” aren’t maintained; and likely refuse to work on newer OS versions. And then abandoning them over some icons will sound slightly nuts.
Nah, I was already using a Mac for the majority of my work, so the Win 1 use was for a division of the company that went ‘cheap’.