This. I personally fall into the one who does not really need Office and iWork will serve me just fine, but I do understand the need and importance for some people, tough there are probably very small number of people who really need Office yet use Mac instead of Windows.
Okay, but that's irrelevant. This article is about Office for iPad - there has been such a void for so long in this area that so many other apps have sprung up to fill Microsoft's shoes. People are complaining about the fact that MS took too long and they have already found something on this front that suits their needs. So, while yes, some people need Office for "serious business," I seriously doubt that those people are going to be using their iPads (or Surfaces - *cough* MS) to do that work.
That said, if a person were to feel the need to, say, view, Office files, that functionality is already built into so many apps, not to mention iOS itself. You can even use Preview to view Office files on OS X without Office! You can import files into hundreds of apps, and at this point, that import (and export, for most) works spectacularly unless you're doing something crazy with the formatting.
I'm not a businessperson - I'm a high school student: that requires more file management and word processing than you would think. The amount of work I do digitally these days amazes me, and that's slowly trickling downward. I live in Maryland, which is not the most tech-centric place in the world, and the other day, my sister and her middle school classmates were asked to bring in their laptops for class. If we had brought laptops there when I was in middle school, we would have gotten suspended...times change, and so does the way we use technology.
Simply put, yes, a lot of people need the "power" of Office, just like a lot of people need the power of a Mac Pro. But it's not for everyone, and it's certainly no longer the only option when it comes to getting work done.
I find it an interesting debate.
