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Apple Working on Advanced Gesturing and Multi-Touch Version of iWork
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disability?
please grow up, google are pioneering speech interactiveness, and onces its perfected it will blow away any touch interface for speed and productivity.
If the slate sells, they will. They'll also likely have an office iPhone app before too much longer. But I wouldn't bet a lot of money on it.
MS will not make Office for the iPhone until they can leverage this for their last shot at mobile phone OSs in Windows Mobile 7. If that can't succeed then you will see it on the iPhone. LOL, you'll never see it on Android though.
This really shouldn't be a major concern. Professionals will need full compatibility but that is small percentage of the population. iWork does handle basic text fine in conversion which is what the average user will need. Also there is a free ad based version of Office for the web coming soon that should provide better funtionality if needed.
Doubt speech will blow away touch interface or any other interface except for some small situations, like mobile and small interactive apps. Exactly how are you going to tell a computer to rotate an image to fit your needs? it takes longer to say "rotate 45 degree, no move it back 15 degree, move it sideway 10 degree" than it does to move your hand to get it done in one smooth motion or even your mouse will do the job well. You can't even draw with speech input either. Speech is good for textual input only, not for creative input. Touchscreen is the best way to go for creative input.
Disability is a major concern as well as privacy. What about people who can't talk with clear speech, accents, noisy environments or even deaf/hoh people? What about sensitive information at work?
It will have to sell a lot and be the dominant tablet computer before MS considers porting Office to the iSlate. Microsoft would rather you buy their OS. The ability to run Office on the HP Slate could be a major selling point. On the iSlate, iWork is likely to be the number 1 choice.
If I was Apple I would bundle a Windows version of iWork in with the iSlate version. Getting someone to shell out an extra $79 when they already have Office is difficult. However, if iWork for Windows is included and people are using iWork on their iSlate, some of them will continue working in iWork after they get back to their PC.
If someone is already using iWork and iTunes maybe when it is next time to upgrade their PC they will buy a Mac instead. I don't see iWork for Windows toppling Office (a virtually impossible task). It won't make a dent in sales of Office to businesses. Rather I see it as another way to help persuade PC users to switch to a Mac.
Circular arguing going on around here. "Tablet needs an office suite or it won't succeed, but that office suite need not be fully compatible with office" seems to be the argument. My point is that if you believe the tablet needs Office, the reason that must be so is that professionals demand it. Amateurs will be perfectly fine with Notes.app and a third party app or two to fill in whatever holes they have. And if professionals demand it, then those professionals also demand full office compatibility. The idea that iWork is "compatible enough" is belied by the fact that it's made essentially no headway.
And I still scoff at the argument that since the tablet will have iWork, PC users will demand iWork on windows.
iTunes on PC is a pile of junk that merely reinforces most PC users' prejudices against the Mac. It's bloated, unstable, and adopts inappropriate Mac conventions while ignoring windows conventions. (You know how annoying it is when MS Office on mac uses the wrong keyboard shortcuts or handles windows wrong? Well many Windows folks also like their software to obey conventions).
MS office on iSlate is unnecessary
There once was a time when MS Office on Apple products was important, but it's not any longer.
Apple has their own software now, which is good enough for most peoples needs.
Preview can view just about everything. iWork can view and create MS formatted documents.
If iWork/Preview are to run on the tablet, I'm sure the user interface will be very different than what we see on laptops/desktops, so much so that running traditional apps wont even make sense in that environment.
Tablets are only interesting if user interfacing with the applications is dramatically improved.
This is one reason why I find the HP tablet demo at CES (and many others) to be such a joke. The physical form factor changed, but the app integration and user interface did not. Total lack of imagination. They don't get it.
It'll be interesting to see if Apple can change things up enough to deliver a compelling product. If anyone can pull it off it's them. So I'm optimistic.
There once was a time when MS Office on Apple products was important, but it's not any longer.
Apple has their own software now, which is good enough for most peoples needs.
Preview can view just about everything. iWork can view and create MS formatted documents.
If iWork/Preview are to run on the tablet, I'm sure the user interface will be very different than what we see on laptops/desktops, so much so that running traditional apps wont even make sense in that environment.
Tablets are only interesting if user interfacing with the applications is dramatically improved.
This is one reason why I find the HP tablet demo at CES (and many others) to be such a joke. The physical form factor changed, but the app integration and user interface did not. Total lack of imagination. They don't get it.
It'll be interesting to see if Apple can change things up enough to deliver a compelling product. If anyone can pull it off it's them. So I'm optimistic.
Frankly, as a stockholder of both AAPL and MSFT, I would love to see iPhone and tablet versions of MS Office.
Why?
Because the presence of MS Office on both platforms would drive sales of the hardware (AAPL stock goes up) and results in revenue for Microsoft (MSFT stock goes up).
Over the past five years, AAPL has definitely increased shareholder value.
It's time for MSFT to step up to the plate and increase shareholder value, too.
If the presence of iWork on an amazingly successful tablet drives Microsoft to port their Office suite to the device, that's great. Apple actually wins more if there is true MS Office functionality on the tablet.
My point merely was that there are other options available. You have the upcoming free web based of Office for full compatibility, Google Docs, Zoho Suite & iWork. An web-based version of iWork will go a long way in alleviating concerns for PC users. The reason that iWork has made no headway is that it's available to only 3% of all computer users worldwide and it has it's own proprietary format.
If Office wasn't pirated to the extent that it is and if the average customer who writes a document once a month did not purchase it, it would only be used by businesses and would not have a large market share. It is the power users that actually need Office.
Agree. Just like the presence of Office:mac on OS X makes the Windows->Mac jump so much easier and hassle-free. Vast majority of Mac users still have Windows and MS Office at work.. If I didn't have Office:mac at home, I would either have to keep a Windows PC at home, boot into Parallels, or drag my work computer back and forth when I need to work from home. I wonder how many "switchers" the availability of Office:mac is responsible for.
iWork is nice for those who don't need to share files.. or live inside of Apple bubble. But until we have a perfectly platform independent doc format - MS Office is indispensable..
I can't see how it would be great for text, either. Is there any way more efficient than a keyboard besides dictation?
dude, we only have 10 fingers. Well, 20 actually... but I'm afraid they'll not be enough if following your concept.
Keynote? Yes. But Pages has a long ways to go to convince me (and apparently) many others to switch from Word anytime soon. Forget about Excel to Numbers...
There are several trains , ....all going to different locations in life. Some haul important information,......some , just manure.
I am sure Mr. Gates that the ample manure in the MS office train will keep another breed of sheep very happy.
input method
How about implementing a combination of gestures and "intelligent" pre-emptive contextual menus? That might work well - and the learning curve wouldn't be that steep.
How about implementing a combination of gestures and "intelligent" pre-emptive contextual menus? That might work well - and the learning curve wouldn't be that steep.
It will be interesting to see the ports included in this thing. I doubt HDMI will be included, but it would be handy. Will it display full HD as do some of the CES announced laptops? Knowing Apple, probably not.
office would be crippled and awkward to use anyway
I think your premise is flawed. The presence of office is not going to drive tablet sales. The user experience will. Can I do my tasks more efficiently and effectively with the device. If those tasks involve creating word docs, excel spreadsheets, and powerpoint slides... Apple just needs to ensure their software creates compatible documents.
Office is crippled on the mac platform, so much so that it's of limited utility. Microsoft does not invest much in cross platform compatibility, or user experience on non-windows platforms. Some might argue that this is a strategic play on microsoft's part.
Even if the tablet is wildly successful, and MS does port office, history suggests that they will not invest enough in the office user interface for it to work well in that environment. Nor will it be fully compatible with the windows version. In other words, it wont be a compelling product, and it certainly wont be a major driver of tablet sales.
I think your premise is flawed. The presence of office is not going to drive tablet sales. The user experience will. Can I do my tasks more efficiently and effectively with the device. If those tasks involve creating word docs, excel spreadsheets, and powerpoint slides... Apple just needs to ensure their software creates compatible documents.
Office is crippled on the mac platform, so much so that it's of limited utility. Microsoft does not invest much in cross platform compatibility, or user experience on non-windows platforms. Some might argue that this is a strategic play on microsoft's part.
Even if the tablet is wildly successful, and MS does port office, history suggests that they will not invest enough in the office user interface for it to work well in that environment. Nor will it be fully compatible with the windows version. In other words, it wont be a compelling product, and it certainly wont be a major driver of tablet sales.
Sure....for those who have "perfect" speech, who are not impaired in some way......
If Apple is smart, and I know they are, they will include options for everyone, regardless of what their particular situation is.
I first bought and started using a Mac to get AWAY from Microsoft, from Windows and all its inherent problems..... I really hope that Apple does NOT worry about including any MS products on its new tablet device!