Microsoft Bashes Apple's iWork Software, New iPads

[PinkyMacGodess]

I don't see where overly-complicated apps with poorly designed user interfaces promote productivity, but I guess that's just me. Or maybe I've just had to suffer through one too many lousy PowerPoint presentation and had to read one too many disheveled Word document to agree that features and productivity are the same thing.

And I have, over the year, had to deal with so many Word documents that self destructed after a certain point. It has gotten better, but the 'good old days' were filled with 'blown' Word documents that you either couldn't open anymore, or they just freaked out during editing or saving them.

I LOVED telling people that it 'just happens' from time to time, and for 'complex' documents. The next question was 'what does complex mean? What did I do to make this happen?' And I couldn't tell them... I loved the crap out of that part...

 

[Michael Goff]

Say what you will about Word or Powerpoint, but Excel is pretty much the gold standard in spreadsheets and databasing. There's literally nothing else out there that does the job as good as it does.

You mean the over 400 functions in comparison to about half that Numbers can do?

 

[Rogifan]

Good, Im glad Microsoft did this, considering the pathetic childish way Apple slated them on stage yesterday! Yeah Apple, way to go, your so amazing not charging for incremental OS updates that's right you go off and proclaim your competitors are lost...

We won't mention the Beta version of iOS 7 you launched onto the public eh

Oh and Office > iWorks every day of the week! One of these is used right across industry and business every single day, the other is not.

I'm sorry but I don't use Office by choice. Today I spent my whole day in SharePoint hell. I use Office only because my company forces me to.

 

[Moccasin]

There's still barely any alternative... especially for Excel.



Then buy the most recent version completely.

With respect, you've missed the point. For a large number of home users, and some of those in SME, there's no point in buying a bloated office suite when all you need to do is write a few letters or create a few simple spreadsheets occasionally. Those who need more will, probably for a long while yet, continue to buy Office or subscribe to Office365. Combined with Google's offerings, that reduces the market and puts pricing pressure on MS in an area which has until now been very lucrative. Both Google and Apple can afford to offer software free. Microsoft can't do that for its two main sources of income.

 

[aerok]

Depends. I like the Surface Pro for the simple fact it's the only tablet with a Wacom tablet quality digitizer on the screen. This is something no one else but Wacom themselves have done well. And Wacom's tablet starts at...what...$1799?

Though I will agree that it is kind of an uncomfortable mix of two worlds, and doesn't really excel at doing either. For the Surface Pro to truly succeed, it needs a more touch oriented UI. The windows 8 desktop can only take you so far on a tablet.

There are other Walmcomm digitalizer tablets on the market like the Note tablets from Samsung.

 

[wizard]

I voted you up even though I don't entirely agree with you. iPads can easily be creative devices, it is just that people realize that creativity differently. As noted few tablets can compete with laptops for legacy productivity, but the flip side is that few laptops really can cut the mustard for post PC uses.

While Frank Shaw (of Microsoft)'s criticisms are not entirely out of merits, the fact is, Surface and its accompanying Office apps provide worse experience than iPad, iWorks, and many wireless keyboard options available.

Furthermore, while iPads are indeed more of a consumption device than productivity, those seeking productivity are far better off with a true notebook than hybrids such as Surface Pro.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Microsoft are being throttled by Apple and Google, their leader's resigned, and all they can do is poke fun at people… anyone else think this is seriously bad for them?

Balmer quit? When? Did the stock value skyrocket?

 

[isephmusic]

yet every single person i guarantee you in this thread used microsoft office from age 8 up to right now to do their homework,projects, and presentations.

anyone here wrote their research papers on pages ? oh did you ? but you exported it to word for format and print right ?

lol the entire planet earth uses office and thats what this is about. not iWork which is now free because guess what ? its second tier . other then that yeah apple won everything else imaginable but still

 

[Rogifan]

Say what you will about Word or Powerpoint, but Excel is pretty much the gold standard in spreadsheets and databasing. There's literally nothing else out there that does the job as good as it does.

I'd love to know who would use Excel on a 10" 16:9 multi touch tablet.

 

[IJ Reilly]

This may be true... I too believe that Word and Excel are better than Pages and Numbers. If you are publishing books or are an accountant, I would understand. but for 99% of the people out there who want to write docs, and keep expenses or everyday spreadsheet tasks, iWork is perfect. I have absolutely zero need for pivot tables on excel or any of the other "professional" features. And compatibility... the latest Pages plays very nice with Word docs.

About 99.5% of all the Excel documents I see are simple tables that don't include even a single calculation. Excel may be indispensable for spreadsheet jocks, but I personally don't know a single one of them. I'd be surprised if more than one out of a hundred people who use Excel actually need it.

Word is only "better" than Pages if you are counting features. Most of those features hardly anybody knows how to use, if the Word documents I see are any indication. Powerful software isn't about cramming in more and more features, it about features implemented well.

 

[aerok]

And I have, over the year, had to deal with so many Word documents that self destructed after a certain point. It has gotten better, but the 'good old days' were filled with 'blown' Word documents that you either couldn't open anymore, or they just freaked out during editing or saving them.

I LOVED telling people that it 'just happens' from time to time, and for 'complex' documents. The next question was 'what does complex mean? What did I do to make this happen?' And I couldn't tell them... I loved the crap out of that part...

As much as I hate Office, I only lost 1 documents in 3 years using it every day at work.

Office was not the problem with you, it was your PC (Or MAC)

 

[Rivvvers]

i think microsoft forgets that a ******** wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for apple. end of.

 

[blesscheese]

Don't you get it guys? Software is only good if it's expensive

The sad part is, the average consumer pays through the nose for M$ Office (and doesn't use close to half the (useless) features), while the corporations and govt. pays about $5 to $15 per license on a volume basis.

Heck, with the M$ Home Use Program I get all of office for just $10. So, why pay more?

Or anything? Most people should just download OpenOffice or LibreOffice.

I think this is the beginning of the end of the M$ business model...

 

[Michael Goff]

I'm sorry but I don't use Office by choice. Today I spent my whole day in SharePoint hell. I use Office only because my company forces me to.

And your company forces you to use it because it's the product that they've deemed is best for your job.

With respect, you've missed the point. For a large number of home users, and some of those in SME, there's no point in buying a bloated office suite when all you need to do is write a few letters or create a few simple spreadsheets occasionally. Those who need more will, probably for a long while yet, continue to buy Office or subscribe to Office365. Combined with Google's offerings, that reduces the market and puts pricing pressure on MS in an area which has until now been very lucrative. Both Google and Apple can afford to offer software free. Microsoft can't do that for its two main sources of income.

I guess I did. Sorry. Oh, and Office Web Apps is very almost equivalent to Google Docs. Don't know how it compares to iWork in iCloud. It'll be better if they ever get around to adding real-time collab.

 

[Infinitewisdom]

It just amazes me that Microsoft continues to not get it. For a company with so many resources, they've been fighting a losing battle for years. Thankfully for them, Microsoft Office is such an entrenched part of the working world that it's almost impossible for it to be displaced. But, free offerings, now including iWork, will continue to encroach on their territory. If they don't play their cards right, their Office monopoly will be over sooner rather than later.

 

[aerok]

Word is only "better" than Pages if you are counting features. Most of those features hardly anybody knows how to use, if the Word documents I see are any indication. Powerful software isn't about cramming in more and more features, it about features implemented well.

Doesn't really matter if it's better, I haven't met a single College professor that accepted .pages documents. Nor have I been requested to send an iWork documents working in 2 different important international corporations.

 

[Michael Goff]

Balmer quit? When? Did the stock value skyrocket?

Ballmer resigned, and the stock price went up slightly. Then it went back down.

----------

Doesn't really matter if it's better, I haven't met a single College professor that accepted .pages documents. Nor have I been requested to send an iWork documents working in 2 different important international corporations.

.doc and .docx only around here, not even ODF.

 

[rols]

I often find that when an executive comes out and makes this kind of corrosive statement, they end up, a couple of years later, with a lot of egg on their face.

I like Pages and Keynote myself. I've found Word getting harder and harder to use with each iteration and the user interface, in common with a lot of other MS products, is a real mishmash. Pages is a somewhat different workflow, one I find gets out of the way of creating your document, so it's quick to use and I like the results. It doesn't do everything which Word does, but it does 95% of what most people use a word processor for simply and that's where Apple has gone with it, and I hope they stay there.

Numbers isn't up to snuff. It's a good try at making a simpler spreadsheet but they fell between two stools with it and it's neither easy to use as it could be nor as powerful as it needs to be.

 

[john123]

I don't see where overly-complicated apps with poorly designed user interfaces promote productivity, but I guess that's just me. Or maybe I've just had to suffer through one too many lousy PowerPoint presentation and had to read one too many disheveled Word document to agree that features and productivity are the same thing.

I'm not a fan of the ribbon, but my friends who have worked in consulting, i-banking, and similar industries are generally big fans and have praised how much it aids their productivity—in addition, of course, to keyboard shortcuts.

On your second point, the fact that people don't know how to prepare good presentations and documents is more a function of their lack of training than it is on the quality of the software. Keynote's templates lend themselves better to simplicity, but keep in mind that's by design. There are oodles of for-a-fee PPT templates, and you can always import a Keynote template into PowerPoint. That, too, has nothing to do with software design. And, at the end of the day, just because your presentation looks good doesn't mean it isn't a shiny turd. Good presentation assembly skills are both an art and a science—and unfortunately, skills that aren't taught nearly enough.

 

[wizard]

Honestly... simply coming from an enterprise standpoint using exchange, I would rather have a tablet that has full Outlook/Calendar and Office with full SharePoint support... than an iPad with iOS Mail and Cal.

Exchange is nice but frankly I like iPads approach better than Outlooks.

I can see where MS is coming from and what they are trying to prove/do, but they are doing it the wrong way bashing Apple.

They are doing it the wrong way because they are trying to use marketing muscle to move trash. There has to be underlying value in what you sell or you eventually end up looking foolish.

Where I work, we are trying to remove all laptops from our field users, and replace them with iPads+BT Keyboards only. I can not wait for that disaster.

Considering the support issues associated with MS Windows fueled laptops You might be surprised at how well the iPad work out. I'm continually reminded or maybe better said surprised at jut how handy an iPad is for field work. Especially when you have app tailored for the iPad and the use case. iPads are literally showing up everywhere and actually performing very well.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Poorly designed UI? Are we talking about the most recent iWork apps? Wait, no, we can't because iWork is more dumbed down than "overly-complicated".

I haven't seen the new iWork UI yet but since I heard the same "dumbed down" criticism of every other version, I take it with a very tiny grain of salt.

I'm sorry if you like things more complicated. Most people don't.

 

[Patriot24]

Unfortunately, this isn't a fight about who's product is better. Truth be told, my wish is not for Microsoft to fail and for Office to be gone forever. Rather, it would be great if there was a standard format that could be used by all 3 major players and minority players so that the user could decide.

That, of course, is unlikely to ever happen.

 

[sergey19]

Let’s be clear – helping folks kill time on a tablet is relatively easy. Give them books, music, videos and games, and they’ll figure out the rest. Pretty much all tablets do that.

Pretty much all tablets except for Microsoft's...

 

[john123]

Excel may be indispensable for spreadsheet jocks, but I personally don't know a single one of them. I'd be surprised if more than one out of a hundred people who use Excel actually need it.

Then you're in for a lot of surprise. Just because you've not worked in an industry where a real spreadsheet is used doesn't mean it doesn't exist. That's tantamount to proclaiming the Earth is flat just because you haven't been in orbit to see that it's spherical.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

"But helping people be productive on a tablet is a little trickier. It takes an understanding of how people actually work, how they get things done, and how to best support the way they do things already."

Having spent an afternoon with MS excel I can only say that M$ does not understand "how people actually work, how they get things done, and how to best support the way they do things already."

I hate MS office, each version get worse and worse. I would do anything to go back to Lotus123. I only say this because my livelihood depends on spreadsheets and I have been using them since multiplan...

FU Micro$oft.

BTW: can some one post the email address of the M$ executive responsible for the disaster that is MS office...

I would agree with this based on the 'innovation' of the 'ribbon menu system'. That was a step towards the user abusive bent that Microsoft galloped over the back forty with when they released Windows 8. It's hard to defend Microsoft from that...

The bitching, the whining, the gnashed teeth over Windows 8 that I heard was amazing. I warned people to buy Windows 7 while they could and avoid Windows 8 like the plague, but so many waited until it was just too late...