Microsoft Launches New Office Apps for iPhone, Makes Creating and Basic Editing Free on iOS

[tennisproha]

I suppose my needs are somewhat unique. I am writing a novel and found I cannot rely on Pages for several reasons.

1) Pages does not offer reflow of the text in iOS. I need this to make quick edits from my small iPhone 5S screen.

2) Pages has no auto-save to Dropbox from my iPhone. This is a must since Dropbox lets me recover every version of my files for up to a month. No such feature in iCloud that I am aware of.

3) Pages does not fully support Voice Dream which I use to read back my drafts to help spot errors. I can export from Pages to Voice Dream, but it isn't as quick as opening up the Voice Dream app and pulling the doc from Dropbox. iCloud, unfortunately, isn't yet accessible to Voice Dream.

1) yeah thats a bit surprising that they dont support text reflow yet, esp since its basically the same app just on diff devices.

2) I remember seeing something specifically about this on an apple keynote once. They were saying you could choose to save in version format on icloud and access individual versions anytime. I have no clue whatever happened to that neither how to access/enable it. I think it was the keynote that introduced iwork for icloud… idk what the date was. Prob 2012 or 13ish. Maybe someone else here can give us a link to it… or ill post if i get to it later.

3) yeah thats a unique funtionality. Sounds like a cool program though. But yeah i agree different ppl have different needs and iwork for ios def doesnt have much advanced functionalities yet.

 

[polterbyte]

I've been using Office for the best part of the past two decades, and I can say without any doubt: this set of free features is totally inadequate if you want to get useful results on those applications. You're much better off using iWork, if free is your price limit.

 

[Michael Goff]

I just dont like having to sign in to use these apps and what that implies for personal privacy. Just think about it. I guarantee there is no way in hell that Microsoft execs would use the same version of these apps that they are shipping to the masses. There's no reasonable assurance of privacy here. Period. In fact it seems to be specifically designed to eliminate privacy and condition people not care about it. All the while giving MS and God knows who else extraordinary powers to monitor what people are creating.

I'd you're using anything on iOS, chances are you're signed in to your Apple account.

 

[sracer]

I'd you're using anything on iOS, chances are you're signed in to your Apple account.

Yeah but that's different. Apple isn't evil.

I find it a bit interesting that every step that Microsoft makes to make more of their software available for iOS/OSX is greeted by disdain and resistance.

There were complaints when Microsoft made Office for iPad free for read-only access. (in spite of the fact that no touch-optimized version exists for Microsoft's own OSes)

Then they open things up a bit and allow limited editing features for free... and still more resistance.

In contrast, Apple is moving in the opposite direction, gutting out the OSX version of iWorks but making it free. That is embraced. Then the glacially slow pace of adding a few features back in, more rejoicing.

 

[brianvictor7]

1) yeah thats a bit surprising that they dont support text reflow yet, esp since its basically the same app just on diff devices.

2) I remember seeing something specifically about this on an apple keynote once. They were saying you could choose to save in version format on icloud and access individual versions anytime. I have no clue whatever happened to that neither how to access/enable it. I think it was the keynote that introduced iwork for icloud… idk what the date was. Prob 2012 or 13ish. Maybe someone else here can give us a link to it… or ill post if i get to it later.

3) yeah thats a unique funtionality. Sounds like a cool program though. But yeah i agree different ppl have different needs and iwork for ios def doesnt have much advanced functionalities yet.

And after all this hoopla, I've decided to stick with ... Plain Text. Why? Because the .txt files are a freaking 10 times smaller than a Word doc which are, in turn, 1/3 the size of a Pages file (face-palm). This makes a real difference when I'm on a break at work and want to download something. There is almost no signal in my office.

 

[Belmont31R]

Yeah but that's different. Apple isn't evil.

I find it a bit interesting that every step that Microsoft makes to make more of their software available for iOS/OSX is greeted by disdain and resistance.

There were complaints when Microsoft made Office for iPad free for read-only access. (in spite of the fact that no touch-optimized version exists for Microsoft's own OSes)

Then they open things up a bit and allow limited editing features for free... and still more resistance.

In contrast, Apple is moving in the opposite direction, gutting out the OSX version of iWorks but making it free. That is embraced. Then the glacially slow pace of adding a few features back in, more rejoicing.

A lot of people feel entitled to free stuff and/or can't imagine that millions of people have to use Office.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

How many here like the new apps?

 

[MacAddict1978]

Since I first get MBP 5 years ago, I have always used iWork and have never felt I missed Documents, Excel or Powerpoint....

I do not see any use for these on my iOS or OS..

It should be good for PC users who are migrating to OS X and iOS system...

Yes.... good for you... but for the professional world that can't get away with using apps that have few of the hundreds of features of Office, this is a great thing.

The new iWork is the pitts.... and inferior to the old version, but I did love the old iWork and still use it for some things because it's better at layout and design for creative things. Spreadsheets and presentations are a different story. Keynote once was my fav, but it' not kept up, and the new version is crippled compared to the old one, much less even close to the newest versions of power point.

Aside from exporting something to a .pdf in any app other than office, you will never get a truly compatible and properly formatted anything.

 

[Traverse]

New Microsoft might not do that.

I'm really hope not. Under new management, Microsoft is really taking off. I've been happy with one drive and office for iOS. All they need now is a good update to office for Mac.

 

[brianvictor7]

How many here like the new apps?

Definitely like the new apps. Not sure now when I'll use them. With such a tiny screen to work from, all they are good for is editing documents on the go.

----------

A lot of people feel entitled to free stuff and/or can't imagine that millions of people have to use Office.

The simple fact is that Apple hasn't shown interest in making iWork a serious alternative to Office. They've had a year now to add back in features that they took out in 2013. I don't know why Eddie Cue, the VP in charge of iWork, has let this slide. Last year I sent him an email an actually got a call back from one of his software engineers in reply. That was a positive and welcome customer service response, but since then, I haven't seen anything improve in the program. Frustrating.

 

[MasterChat]

How many here like the new apps?

Me. I like it specially when I'm out at the office at times.

 

[Michael Goff]

These new apps leave me disappointed. Way better than the Office on my phone, and I have a Windows Phone.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

If you really look at this, you'll see it's more of a freemium model and if you want the full power of these apps, you'll need a Office 365 subscription. The Mac versions could o down this path.

 

[C DM]

I've been using Office for the best part of the past two decades, and I can say without any doubt: this set of free features is totally inadequate if you want to get useful results on those applications. You're much better off using iWork, if free is your price limit.

Useful is something that can and often does mean different things to different people, so to many this could easily be quite useful.

 

[Atlantico]

The current rumor is that it'll be free for consumers to upgrade to on their current PC, but will still cost OEMs money to install on a new machine, and of course enterprise licenses will still remain the same.

I think this is a pretty decent move, myself. Any revenue MS might lose on the upgrades can easily be made back and then some through their various services. Why add a paywall in front of the better money generator? Make them easy to get to.

Yeah, those are good points and it is apparently the strategy for Microsoft in the future to get revenue from consumers through services rather than OS sales.

Makes sense, works for a lot of companies. Selling the OS may be a thing of the past, at least for consumers. There may be corporate licences and OEMs that need to pay directly, we'll see.

 

[Urban Joe]

I'd you're using anything on iOS, chances are you're signed in to your Apple account.

Good point. I don't use iCloud for documents for that reason.

Granted everybody knows online activity is extensively monitored but there are levels involved and "any montoring" does not imply "all monitoring."

There is a huge difference between creating files with local software and saving them locally vs doing everything in the cloud.

People are being brainwashed and tricked into believing there is no difference between local hard drive storage and cloud storage in regards to data privacy and the point I'm making is that is just bunk...delivered by those who want unfettered access to as much of your personal thought life as possible.

 

[polterbyte]

Useful is something that can and often does mean different things to different people, so to many this could easily be quite useful.

True enough, I suppose.

Good luck finding someone who deems these features useful, though.

What I meant was that this is simply a gateway drug strategy, devised to lead users into getting familiar and—further along the line—buying MS-Office for their iOS devices. And it kind of implies that the so called "productivity era" of the iPad, trumpeted by Microsoft when they launched Office for iOS may not be going as well as the expected. The people I know didn't adopt Office in droves, as more than one MS exec expected to happen at the time.

So, as a strategy, this seems to be a poor one. Also, it seems to be yet another symptom of MS further slipping into irrelevance.

 

[Steve121178]

Yeah but that's different. Apple isn't evil.

I find it a bit interesting that every step that Microsoft makes to make more of their software available for iOS/OSX is greeted by disdain and resistance.

Only buy a few idiots on sites like this. Everyone in the business/enterprise and education sectors (as well as personal/home users) are welcoming it with open arms!

----------

So, as a strategy, this seems to be a poor one. Also, it seems to be yet another symptom of MS further slipping into irrelevance.

Hardly. It's simply MS strengthening their position as #1.