Microsoft Office for iPad Coming 'Sooner Than Most Think'

[numlock]

I wouldn't discount iWork just yet. It does not have all the features of Office but that will change.

its not like iwork was just released. numbers itself is going on 7 years and to me google docs has improved as much if not more than iwork in that timeframe. office has got it firmly planted in peoples and corporations mind, google docs comes with gmail and has amazing collaboration features. for me apple needs to release a so much better version to get people to convert.

while i certainly dont see iwork taking a big chunk from office i hope they improve it (and dont let it rot away as with many non best sellers at apple) as it brings a different kind of perspective and keeps the others on their toes.

would be excited to see a better google docs version on ios

 

[ricosuave]

its not like iwork was just released. numbers itself is going on 7 years and to me google docs has improved as much if not more than iwork in that timeframe. office has got it firmly planted in peoples and corporations mind, google docs comes with gmail and has amazing collaboration features. for me apple needs to release a so much better version to get people to convert.

while i certainly dont see iwork taking a big chunk from office i hope they improve it (and dont let it rot away as with many non best sellers at apple) as it brings a different kind of perspective and keeps the others on their toes.

would be excited to see a better google docs version on ios

You have interesting points. I keep hearing the improvements of google docs. Can you share what they are?

 

[numlock]

You have interesting points. I keep hearing the improvements of google docs. Can you share what they are?

well i have been using it for my business since 2007 and i mean in that timespan. so i will do my best to name features i use and ones that have been added.

i use sheets everyday (have to use libreoffice sometimes but much less than before), forms every month, docs not so much and never really use slides

the collaboration has improved a lot (amazing these days), formulas added, notifications, pivot table, sorting, validations, google scripts for sorely missed parts.

still i find it sometimes lacking with format. google seems to have taken the apple route that if you want one setting this way you must want another one that way which is dreadful when it comes to selecting a language and then not being able to chose a thousand separator or a decimal point. its also lost some webfunctions.

there is a new sheets version that is coming out see more info here

with the way sheets has almost become the defacto spreadsheet used to share data online (saw two separate links on thread just this day) makes me think it will become the excel for the rest of us.

 

[Leonard1818]

It's not your terminology. It's your method. Why remote when you can, you know, carry the laptop home?

I am self employed. I have the luxury of choosing what computing devices I use. And I am not blind to the absurdly, expensive bloat software that is Office.

First, you're presuming that my laptop is at an office and I remote in from home. That's incorrect. I work out of my house and remote into my laptop from outside of "the office". Regardless, the premise is the same.

I'm not sure why I need to point this out but here are a few possible reasons why someone (me) may want to leave a computer behind and use a tablet for remote access instead:

1. Weight. The laptop is about 15x the weight of the ipad/keyboard/and stand (really digging the keyboard and stand by the way)
2. Form factor. The iPad/keyboard/stand takes up MUCH less space in a bag
3. Just randomly counting as I type this, the laptop has 5 peripheral devices plugged in all the time (sometimes maybe more). Unplugging and re-plugging every time is quite a hastle if I wanted the laptop to be mobile. I don't have a docking station and I'm not sure if one is even made for this model.
4. The clincher... the laptop is used formerly and has a battery good for about 45 minutes. This requires me to also carry the charging cord and ensure I'm by an outlet when I want to use it. Sure I could expense a new battery, but that doesn't fix the aforementioned points.

conclusion: My bad. I should have said "PC" instead of laptop. My company-issued laptop might as well be a server sitting in my closet in terms of how mobile/portable it is.

I'm purposely not even touching the expensive piece... You do know what company/brand this website is centered around, right (hint: )? Surely I don't also need to point out the irony there? I don't know/care enough to address the "bloatware" comment in regards to Office other than to say just because a piece of software contains a lot of features that you may not ever use doesn't mean that it's "bloated" (assuming that's what you're referencing??).

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One thing to add, rico, is that if my needs were different, sure I would want to carry around the laptop itself. For what I need to do when I'm "on the go", I can do it all using the iPad, BT Keyboard, collapsable stand, and teamviewer.

 

[ricosuave]

First, you're presuming that my laptop is at an office and I remote in from home. That's incorrect. I work out of my house and remote into my laptop from outside of "the office". Regardless, the premise is the same.

I'm not sure why I need to point this out but here are a few possible reasons why someone (me) may want to leave a computer behind and use a tablet for remote access instead:

1. Weight. The laptop is about 15x the weight of the ipad/keyboard/and stand (really digging the keyboard and stand by the way)
2. Form factor. The iPad/keyboard/stand takes up MUCH less space in a bag
3. Just randomly counting as I type this, the laptop has 5 peripheral devices plugged in all the time (sometimes maybe more). Unplugging and re-plugging every time is quite a hastle if I wanted the laptop to be mobile. I don't have a docking station and I'm not sure if one is even made for this model.
4. The clincher... the laptop is used formerly and has a battery good for about 45 minutes. This requires me to also carry the charging cord and ensure I'm by an outlet when I want to use it. Sure I could expense a new battery, but that doesn't fix the aforementioned points.

conclusion: My bad. I should have said "PC" instead of laptop. My company-issued laptop might as well be a server sitting in my closet in terms of how mobile/portable it is.

I'm purposely not even touching the expensive piece... You do know what company/brand this website is centered around, right (hint: )? Surely I don't also need to point out the irony there? I don't know/care enough to address the "bloatware" comment in regards to Office other than to say just because a piece of software contains a lot of features that you may not ever use doesn't mean that it's "bloated" (assuming that's what you're referencing??).

----------

One thing to add, rico, is that if my needs were different, sure I would want to carry around the laptop itself. For what I need to do when I'm "on the go", I can do it all using the iPad, BT Keyboard, collapsable stand, and teamviewer.

Fair enough. I see you have certain requirements a lot of users don't need. When I saw your post, I felt something is missing here.

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well i have been using it for my business since 2007 and i mean in that timespan. so i will do my best to name features i use and ones that have been added.

i use sheets everyday (have to use libreoffice sometimes but much less than before), forms every month, docs not so much and never really use slides

the collaboration has improved a lot (amazing these days), formulas added, notifications, pivot table, sorting, validations, google scripts for sorely missed parts.

still i find it sometimes lacking with format. google seems to have taken the apple route that if you want one setting this way you must want another one that way which is dreadful when it comes to selecting a language and then not being able to chose a thousand separator or a decimal point. its also lost some webfunctions.

there is a new sheets version that is coming out see more info here

with the way sheets has almost become the defacto spreadsheet used to share data online (saw two separate links on thread just this day) makes me think it will become the excel for the rest of us.

I agree, these are nice improvements on a web app. However, companies may have an issue handing over information to Google. Their TOC says they have access to the data.

 

[zipa]

The majority large corporations (Microsoft's enterprise clients) will not allow their employees to use it, especially if tied to O365. Multinational corporations are subject to EAR and ITAR export restrictions which do not permit the electronic export of certain types of information without an export license or export designation. This means any information transmitted over the internet is technically considered an export since you have no control over how the information is routed across the globe or where the servers are located.

This is simply not true. I don't even know what that first part is supposed to mean, but I can assure you that large corporations do in fact allow their employees to use Office...

O365 is by definition not targeted towards Enterprise customers, but towards the SME-sector, but all business clients have an option to specify what region they want their data to be stored at. That is a basic feature of pretty much every business-oriented cloud service.

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That´s certainly true, but if you want to share (and that´s what he talked about) you need to use some online drive, which - in this case - is called SkyDrive/OneDrive.

No, in the Enterprise the collaboration platform would most certainly be a private or private cloud hosted Sharepoint server.

And as for my post above, I seem to have remembered that wrong. The Enterprise solutions are under the O365 label as well, my bad. I seemed to remember that they were sold under the Sharepoint brand for some reason.

 

[zipa]

certainly not to iwork so this would be a huge thing since neither office nor libreoffice are available and google docs isnt that well represented yet.

As long as Excel is the only contender in the spreadsheet business, no other players need to apply on any of the other fronts either.

Plus that Office + Lync + OneNote + Sharepoint + Exchange is really miles and miles and lightyears ahead of anything that anyone else has ever even thought of when it comes to office collaboration and communications.

Then on top of that you get free (static) web hosting and 50 GB email boxes set up for your domain. I for one can't think of a better solution for around 10 bucks a month for a small business.

Edit: The biggest challenge that any Office competitor faces is the fact that not only do they need to convince the user/corporation that their solution is better, but they would need to push the same systems to all those people and external organizations that the user/corporation in question regularly needs to share documents with. It does me no good if Apple's word processor is the bee's knees if formatting and layouts go every which way when someone else edits the document using Word.

 

[numlock]

You have interesting points. I keep hearing the improvements of google docs. Can you share what they are?

just wanted to add that the recently announced google drive addons (for docs and sheets) could be the start of making those apps even more powerful and complete.

it seems like a pumped up google scripts.

 

[ricosuave]

just wanted to add that the recently announced google drive addons (for docs and sheets) could be the start of making those apps even more powerful and complete.

it seems like a pumped up google scripts.

These are impressive add ons. However I just tried to install the SignNow add on and was uncomfortable with their access requirements to my files.

 

[numlock]

These are impressive add ons. However I just tried to install the SignNow add on and was uncomfortable with their access requirements to my files.

i agree with you on how impressive it is. for me what i like about google and dislike about apple is that when google feels it cant or wont do more it gives others the option but apple just closes the door completely.

i also agree with you on the access requirements (same with extensions). that is something that has go through similar scrutiny as the apps access on the ios platform.

what were the requirements?

im trying the mailchimp one and just like with any terms from a huge company you are not sure what they mean and i think a huge effort should be made to explain to the user like they are a 5 year old exactly what can and will happen with said addon.

View and manage the files and documents in your Google Drive

More info
Upload, download, update, and delete files in your Google Drive
Create, access, update, and delete native Google documents in your Google Drive
Manage files and documents in your Google Drive (e.g., search, organize, and modify permissions and other metadata, such as title)

some of these seem quite excessive to me

 

[s2mikey]

As much as I've enjoyed office over the years on PCs, it seems that MS is a little late with this for the tablets. Many of is have found quality solutions elsewhere and are content with those. This should have been one of the first apps available when iPads first came out. They'd have sold billions of copies.

Oh well.

 

[KevinWhite]

Microsoft has dragged their feet long enough with the Mac and iPad that I have replaced virtually everything that I used to use in MS Office Professional for Windows with a suitable, (suitable for me) Mac/iOS alternative.

...
PROJECT has been replaced by QUICKPLAN PRO (iOS)

All the apps listed above do EVERYTHING that I would have needed to do in MS Office and they all do it well.

...

For QuickPlan, the mac edition is also ready at https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1071586133