Totally agree. I see value in being able to see data and docs on a tablet--but creating files of any complexity seems imposiible
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Microsoft Office for iPad Coming 'Sooner Than Most Think'
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This sounds plausible--but if you do any document sharing the benefit of a common format is decisive. Not only do businesses need to switch away from MS, the need to switch to a common alternative, or there is lost value
I know their killing it in enterprise. My jest was at leaving money on the table. At this point, I am curious if its even worth it for them to bring it to the iPad. Two years ago for sure. Now, it might not matter.
No it isn't plausible. Office is on an upward trajectory as is Office 365. iWork is basically a free value add now and Google's "productivity" software is losing traction both because it isn't that good and because of the mushrooming privacy issues with all things Google.
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Wrong guess. I don't work for Microsoft. Try again.
I do like my iPad mini and iPhone 5S and am probably getting a retina MBP 15 in about 4 weeks.
Likewise - the last few years the stability of Apple's apps has gone downhill. Safari is a train wreck, apps on my iPhone 5s frequently crash - although on the phone it may be down to the developers' poor coding?
I think it could be a big hit on the iPad, but it's going to have to be low priced in order to do so. Is it worth it to them to take a short margin on a lot of sales or will it actually hurt sales of Windows tablets, something they really can't afford to do, IMO. Of course the iPad version won't be the same as the full version of Office, but it may be good enough for what iPad users will be using it for.
What do you guys think is the magic price point for a one time purchase or a one year purchase. $9.99? 14.99? I'm just throwing some numbers out there. I don't think many will bite on it if it's a $100 a year for a gimped version and I'm guessing the majority of iPad apps are under $10.
Someone needs to inform Microsoft that productivity software is now free with hardware.
Someone needs to inform Microsoft that productivity software is now free with hardware.
What software equivalent to Office comes free with what hardware? Office on the Surface?
Someone needs to inform Microsoft that productivity software is now free with hardware.
Joelist can you please send a memo to the higher ups?
Likewise - the last few years the stability of Apple's apps has gone downhill. Safari is a train wreck, apps on my iPhone 5s frequently crash - although on the phone it may be down to the developers' poor coding?
From what I have read, it seems like most of this became a major problem wtih iOS and some of it appears to be unique to 64 bit Safari. I honestly have no idea. It seems to me that this was rushed to market with lots of bugs. We're 4 months into this or so and still no fix.
I find maintaining file integrity to be a problem just within Office, across platforms and versions. On a number of occasions I've received Office docs that I can't open correctly in Office, but that iWork opens cleanly. Last week I got a Word doc that Word insisted in presenting as white text on a white background. Pages rendered it fine.
I agree it would be nice for iWork to just leave portions of documents it doesn't understand untouched, but frankly I don't know whether it tries to do that now or if the Office file structures would even make such a think possible..
I'm thinking a lighter weight consumer version in the $10-20 range, that would still cover the basics, installs on 2-3 devices per account.. A pro enterprise subscription version for those who could really use integrated cloud services and what not, fees based on number of users, probably starting at $99/year for x amount of users.
Not releasing Office hurts them too. Keep in mind Microsoft makes most of their money from software. They would be silly not to get their software out to as many people as possible.
Apple makes it's money from devices, mainly iPhone and iPad. Microsoft has the software everyone uses so it's a Yin-Yang type of arrangement.
Not only switchers also owners feel the ease of free updates. It's now as if Pages is a part of the system itself, just like Safari. For the first time in history it is possible to run legally free software only, without missing anything an average user would want.
Since the day I retired I haven't needed anything from Microsoft except once a year I boot up in Windows XL to run Publisher to do some work for a nonprofit I help out. The rest of the year my iMac doesn't do anything except stream movies and TV shows to my Apple TV. Everything else gets done on my iPad and iPhone.
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Logitech BT keyboard/cover works great for me.
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Logitech BT keyboard/cover works great for me.
I don't disagree with you at all, and I think that with Microsoft's record of pretty much never hitting a deadline, the "sooner than most think" is actually most likely, "right when people think" (according to older rumours). On top of that I question what an Office Suite for iPad would provide in functionality. Would it be absurd to assume functionality parity with Office desktop? If not, what's the purpose of buying Office on the iPad, what benefit would it provide? The free options import and export to/from Office, so wouldn't a free option on the iPad provide better economic benefit if there is no functionality parity? And if there is parity between the iPad and desktop versions, wow!
I know this is a MS cash cow, and they're really hoping that the teat doesn't dry up anytime soon, and an iPad version would be at best an attempt to keep it moist a little longer, but it's not a permanent solution - this is office suite stuff, functionality that is free from an increasing number of alternatives and will one day hit functional parity with their paid version at some point soon I would predict.
Office on the iPad, too little far too late, and late is how MS delivers its products, as we all know.
Let's all remember that the first GUI versions of Word and Excel were created for the original Macintosh and later ported to the then nascent Windows platform.
And Microsoft built the original Word and Excel on the Mac by using an abstraction layer. To run this abstracted code on x86 PCs, Microsoft simply had to recreate the necessary Mac APIs in Windows. Essentially, Word and Excel were used as a way to "legally" reverse-engineer the Mac.
Legally Apple couldn't do much about this so they sued MS for copying the "look and feel" of the Mac instead, which eventually lead Microsoft to buy $150 million in Apple stock to settle the case as well as a patent cross-licensing deal which is still valid today.
Of course the Office on iPad situation is different in many ways, for example the iPad already has much more momentum than the original Mac ever had.
And Microsoft built the original Word and Excel on the Mac by using an abstraction layer. To run this abstracted code on x86 PCs, Microsoft simply had to recreate the necessary Mac APIs in Windows. Essentially, Word and Excel were used as a way to "legally" reverse-engineer the Mac.
Legally Apple couldn't do much about this so they sued MS for copying the "look and feel" of the Mac instead, which eventually lead Microsoft to buy $150 million in Apple stock to settle the case as well as a patent cross-licensing deal which is still valid today.
Of course the Office on iPad situation is different in many ways, for example the iPad already has much more momentum than the original Mac ever had.
Another annoyance with the page reloading, if you're logged in somewhere, you get signed out when the page reloads so you have to log in again. But not every time. Weird.