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Microsoft Losing Next Generation of Office Users by Delaying iOS Release

OS X Dude said:
Certainly did, but it got lost in the massive re-write that happened for v5 of the app. It seems a trivial thing to add back in, too!
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I remember it being there but not working very well, so I didn't use it very often. Having said that... there's no reason it should've been removed in the first place... it should've been improved, if anything. Hopefully they'll add this feature back.
 
The Mercurian said:
What the hell do all you people do where Office is no longer used ?

Almost everyone I collaborate with do not know things other than Office exist.
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Most of them, you just tell them that "Word" has been renamed to "Pages". You tell them that Microsoft at last got rid of the horrible "ribbon" thing, that menus stay where they are, and that you have all the formatting options on the right side. You can create a few nice templates if you like to increase productivity.
 
Who needs Microsoft?

I’ve been using OpenOffice as a free alternative to MS Office. Of course, I’d been using NeoOffice prior to Apache taking over OO.

A former coworker of mine was ranting about how much she hated Word - it kept “eating documents” - her words - and crashing. I recommended OpenOffice to her, and she’s been happy ever since. It reads/writes all the formats, has cleaner code that MSO, and has a look and feel similar enough to MSO to keep the user from having to relearn too much.

That, and the documentation is certainly better.

I’m sure there will be those who disagree, but in my opinion, open source is certainly better than proprietary/commercial any day.
 
macdaveaustin said:
I’ve been using OpenOffice as a free alternative to MS Office. Of course, I’d been using NeoOffice prior to Apache taking over OO.

A former coworker of mine was ranting about how much she hated Word - it kept “eating documents” - her words - and crashing. I recommended OpenOffice to her, and she’s been happy ever since. It reads/writes all the formats, has cleaner code that MSO, and has a look and feel similar enough to MSO to keep the user from having to relearn too much.

That, and the documentation is certainly better.

I’m sure there will be those who disagree, but in my opinion, open source is certainly better than proprietary/commercial any day.
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Try LibreOffice, better, IMHO.
 
The new CEO needs to change the 'Windows-central' mentality or MS will quickly become a legacy company. Like it or not, iPads are here to stay and expanding into business world. If Office software is not available, then more and more people will simply use something else.
 
egg

Nadella to Ballmer, in the Board room: "Steve, you laid an egg"

This fiasco is undeniably his.
 
I've always had to use PCs for work. But in my current job, I was able to choose what computer to use, so I brought in my Mac.

However, my company makes heavy use of Office, especially with complex Excel spreadsheets. We also exchange documents frequently, so simple compatibility is a must.

Unfortunately, I find Office 2011 horribly slow and buggy, even after all of the updates. Outlook is missing basic features and constantly generates errors. Excel spreadsheets take twice as long to open on my Mac as they do on an outdated PC running XP. I actually like Powerpoint, but my needs with that one are simple.

I've reluctantly requested a PC just so I can run native Office on Windows. I will re-evaluate if Office 2014 is a pleasant surprise.
 
I've stopped using Office at home completely.

There are so many free, perfectly viable alternatives for your average home use, that paying Microsoft for use of Office, for basic Excel and Word processing seems ridiculous..

even the home use program I have available for me, isn't worth $25 just so i can use excells most basic addition features for my home budget.

iPad users for the most part aren't missing a whole lot.

I still have to use office at work and to be honest, I don't liek it anymore. I liked it back before the Ribbon, and before Microsoft decided they knew formatting better than me, but I'm tired of Office, word and excel constantly trying to automatically apply formatting to text that I dont want, then making some obscure nonsensical ribbon place holder to change it.
 
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I teach the 4th grade. We use MacBooks and iPads in all subjects. This entire year, we have yet to open Word or PowerPoint. It's all about Google Docs for us. Google's suite of apps suits our needs perfectly. Students are collaborating from home, and can work on projects on any device.

MS is losing a generation of users, at least in my school district.
 
Arsenikdote said:
But for powerful business needs, Excel is seems to be a standalone product that MS has a monopoly on and so Office will continue to be relevant until this changes.
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Open Office’s spreadsheet module is just as powerful as Excel. Back in 2005 I worked in the computer department at my local Fry’s Electronics. I managed to switch a PC user to Mac by showing him NeoOffice (a Mac port of Open Office). I informed him of the price for Office for Mac, as well as the cost just for Excel. When I told him that NeoOffice was free, he had one question: does it do pivot tables.

A quick check showed that it did. He bought the Mac, and then wondered what he was going to do with the money I saved him by not having to purchase MS Office for Mac.
 
generationxwing said:
I teach the 4th grade. We use MacBooks and iPads in all subjects. This entire year, we have yet to open Word or PowerPoint. It's all about Google Docs for us. Google's suite of apps suits our needs perfectly. Students are collaborating from home, and can work on projects on any device.

MS is losing a generation of users, at least in my school district.
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MS isn't.
you're doing your students a gross disservice.
 
macdaveaustin said:
Open Office’s spreadsheet module is just as powerful as Excel. Back in 2005 I worked in the computer department at my local Fry’s Electronics. I managed to switch a PC user to Mac by showing him NeoOffice (a Mac port of Open Office). I informed him of the price for Office for Mac, as well as the cost just for Excel. When I told him that NeoOffice was free, he had one question: does it do pivot tables.

A quick check showed that it did. He bought the Mac, and then wondered what he was going to do with the money I saved him by not having to purchase MS Office for Mac.
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In many cases this does work as an alternative. However, for customizing Excel in terms of form fillable data and calculations with some logic and code behind it....all those alternatives fall short. Again, I think my experience must just be larger corporations and it would be different for smaller business. For example, if someone is buying a computer at Fry's then they don't have a large business or they would be purchasing through their business channel :p So that must be the dividing line. Big businesses vs small businesses. I think Apple/Google and all the others are winning more and more business away from MS in the home or SOHO market.
 
MS aren't morons because they withheld Office from iOS, they just didn't stick to their guns and had poor implementation. If they just released an Atom tablet from the get go, put FREE office on it with a small subscription fee and marketed the crap out of it I think they would have been much better off.

Unfortunately MS is stuck between being a software company, and a devices/services company and they can't figure out which they want to be. This indecision affects their corporate leaders, products they put out, marketing, public perception, etc.

In the end I can't see how Office will be decent on iOS. Lack of mouse support, no digitizer/stylus option, etc just make using an ipad for office like functions one big shoehorn. This all comes from the "let me write my masters thesis one handed standing on the subway" mentality that the ipad brought in. Sorry, not for me, I'll sit down and connect a bluetooth mouse and keyboard and finish my work optimally.
 
Alex Cutter said:
Said by no one who's ever had an actual job...
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...or attended a school/college/university that doesn't rely on typewriters and handwritten papers.

Even though my university had nothing but Macs in the classrooms, they were all running Windows and the assignments always had to be submitted in either doc/docx/pdf. Never Pages. I still prefer pages though!
 
spinedoc77 said:
In the end I can't see how Office will be decent on iOS. Lack of mouse support, no digitizer/stylus option, etc just make using an ipad for office like functions one big shoehorn. This all comes from the "let me write my masters thesis one handed standing on the subway" mentality that the ipad brought in. Sorry, not for me, I'll sit down and connect a bluetooth mouse and keyboard and finish my work optimally.
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I agree with this, and it's why I think this article is BS. Touch devices are not driving the productivity apps market. MS is correct that the iPad is most productive as a consumption device (with exceptions of course). And there are a myriad of iOS apps that "consume" office documents.
 
Reuters gives Artivest Holdings, a New York financial services startup, as an example of one company that has begun to shun Microsoft Office
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Gotta love the fear mongering using a start up company as an example.:p
 
I don't really understand the appeal of Office on an iDevice. Seems like the screens would be too small to work on a document complex enough to need Office for in the first place. When I get Office attachments with email, I can read them on my iDevice, then work on them when I get back to a computer.

Not to sound like a broken record, but I really hope they do something significant with Mac Office 2014.
 
bawbac said:
Gotta love the fear mongering using a start up company as an example.:p
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yup

Call me when a fortune500 company decides to shelve its millions of licences of Office in favour of openoffice.

hint: wont happen
 
Anyone remember this?

1101970818_400.jpg
 
LordVic said:
yup

Call me when a fortune500 company decides to shelve its millions of licences of Office in favour of openoffice.

hint: wont happen
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I can think of at least two fortune100 companies that probably use office alternatives for most uses. :D
 
I don't have office mainly because i use it daily..but this is sad...very sad...it would of helped me from carrying macbook pro with me...
 
Apple sells 10s of millions of iPads and Microsoft just turns their head. Hmm.. that could be a huge revenue generator you MS turds!
 
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