Microsoft Office for iPad to Launch on March 27

[AstronomyiPhone]

And since iOS is based on Mac, and there is an Office for Mac, I don't think they had to start 100% from scratch.

Well, it doesn't exactly work that way - you can't just write a few lines and turn a Mac App into an iOS app. Just because they use some of the same frameworks doesn't mean they can run the same apps.

They may have had to write it from scratch for iOS, but they had references with Office for Mac and Windows, so it's not like they were doing the whole thing from scratch.

It may have taken an indie developer or a team of a few people four years to write it, but a software company with enough employees to fill a stadium? No.

 

[lulumink]

360 subscription? What's wrong with you MS?
No, just nooo!
iWorks works just fine!

 

[lsutiger]

Subscription? No thanks.

I'd buy it outright for $29.

 

[PracticalMac]

What is this "Office"??

 

[seamer]

I have an office of 40 people. Just received three requests for new iPads using this article as a mention of Office support. These positions have rejected tablets previously for no obvious improvements to their work flows. I do see it working well in offices where there is a large investment in MS licensing already, and alternates are not welcome.

it will sell well.

 

[thaifood]

I'll most likely pass if it is subscription based. Would have purchased for $50-80 outright for the whole suite.

 

[brianvictor7]

A year ago I would have bought it. Now I don't give a toss.

Already hooked on Pages, Numbers and Keynote but I do have regular (job dictated) use for Excel. Let's see what this will cost.

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Sure thing.

Nobody is going to use Office on the iPad.

I wonder why they're bothering to have employees make it, since not a single person will download it.

Some of us have little choice given our employers :/

 

[CalWizrd]

I happen to have some clue how coding works, yes.

Just out of curiosity, coding genius, just how much of a clue do you have?

How long have you been developing software?

What categories of software have you created?

What platforms have you developed on?

Ever developed something available to the public, or just for a company/companies you've worked for?

If for the public... shrink-wrapped, download, floppy disks, ...? How many copies did you sell?

 

[miamialley]

Will it work with Dropbox? If not...don't care.

 

[brianvictor7]

I have iWork on my MacBooks and iOS devices. Haven't used them once (except to try them out). I am a heavy Excel user and Numbers is still behind on so many features. Should they beef up Numbers, then I will reconsider. Until then, I look forward to having Excel on a portable device.

Numbers is useful but not nearly so versatile as excel. Pages and Keynote are generally superior in functionality than Word or PowerPoint.

 

[smulji]

Sorry buddy, you can talk with that matter-of-fact tone as much as you want, but you will not be able to convince a single person on this forum that it took Microsoft 4 years to product this product. You keep boasting about your knowledge of coding, but your statements show me that you're the one who is misinformed. I don't care if they had to write every single line of code from scratch, it did not take them 4 years to code this. To think otherwise is naive. Not only is it an outrageous idea to even think a company like that would need that long to produce software, but we have also seen numerous credible leaks that show this has been largely finished for some time now. Simple fact is that production of this software started after the iPad was released, and it was largely completed a while ago. And since iOS is based on Mac, and there is an Office for Mac, I don't think they had to start 100% from scratch.

It took Apple 4 years to go from iWork 09 to the current version of iWork which was released last Fall. There was no iWork release in 2010, 2011, or 2012. So if it can take Apple 4 years to re-architect iWork, even after the fact that they already had a native version of iWork for iPad, then it stands to reason that it can take MS 4 years to develop a native version of Office for iPad.

And you have to take into consideration that MS Office (with the exception of PowerPoint) is much more sophisticated than iWork, used by at least a half a billion people, and has massive 3rd party developer support.

 

[sportsfrk214]

Well, it doesn't exactly work that way - you can't just write a few lines and turn a Mac App into an iOS app. Just because they use some of the same frameworks doesn't mean they can run the same apps.

They may have had to write it from scratch for iOS, but they had references with Office for Mac and Windows, so it's not like they were doing the whole thing from scratch.

It may have taken an indie developer or a team of a few people four years to write it, but a software company with enough employees to fill a stadium? No.

Yea that's kinda what I meant I'm sure there was lots of code to write, just saying it wasn't completely from scratch. In the same way that a chef doesn't kill the chicken and make his own flour. And I also understand the whole "throwing more people" at it thing doesn't necessarily work, but as you said they had enough people to handle it. There is a limit to how many people can work on it, but you can bet Microsoft has the resources to reach that limit.

 

[brianvictor7]

Software subscription (Office 365) no thanks... I would rather pay per app.

Agreed. I have no need for Off 365. No use for this suite for the time being. I can make due without.

 

[SakuraSuki]

Numbers is useful but not nearly so versatile as excel. Pages and Keynote are generally superior in functionality than Word or PowerPoint.

I agree keynote has better transition effects and has better slides, but Pages is not even come close to Word at all. At least Word has build in mathematics function editor which Pages lack of.

 

[AstronomyiPhone]

Yea that's kinda what I meant I'm sure there was lots of code to write, just saying it wasn't completely from scratch. In the same way that a chef doesn't kill the chicken and make his own flour. And I also understand the whole "throwing more people" at it thing doesn't necessarily work, but as you said they had enough people to handle it. There is a limit to how many people can work on it, but you can bet Microsoft has the resources to reach that limit.

Yes, but the more organization you have, the higher that limit is. If they truly wanted to have an iPad version earlier, they would have organized it better and it would be on the App Store by now.

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I agree keynote has better transition effects and has better slides, but Pages is not even come close to Word at all. At least Word has build in mathematics function editor which Pages lack of.

It might not be as "versatile" (i.e. bulky) as Word, but it does a really nice job with formatting, which Word is terrible at.

 

[SakuraSuki]

Yes, but the more organization you have, the higher that limit is. If they truly wanted to have an iPad version earlier, they would have organized it better and it would be on the App Store by now.

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It might not be as "versatile" (i.e. bulky) as Word, but it does a really nice job with formatting, which Word is terrible at.

I do not know... I had no problem with Word formatting. I think Word provide much more functionalities than Pages would dream of. But Pages gets job done for average users.

One other thing is that Word is still the de facto standard, pages always had issue on tablets, shapes, graph when saved to Word formate.

 

[iBlazed]

Ouch...just one year too late. So close and yet so far away, Microsoft. iWork for free is more than enough for me!

 

[Amazing Iceman]

A lot of people may have already notice this, but it looks very ONLINE App, most likely Office 365 hosted at a server in the Cloud. If this is the case, I'll stay with iWork.

 

[Renzatic]

A lot of people may have already notice this, but it looks very ONLINE App, most likely Office 365 hosted at a server in the Cloud. If this is the case, I'll stay with iWork.

Office365 isn't an online browser based app. It's the same native install as Office you can buy off the shelves, except it makes monthly checks for a subscription, and you get a ton of Skydrive storage along with it.

 

[xmichaelp]

Sounds like you are trying incredibly hard not to be annoyed and saddened by the fact you broke an expensive piece of hardware.

Ach well, I didn't use it anyway...

Really? I didn't get that at all. And nothing he said isn't true. I was away for a month and forgot my Macbook charger so I had to use my sister's iPad for a month... Ugh. Tablets just aren't there yet, and they may never be constricted to such a small screen/work space.

 

[e-coli]

Oh how exciting. A program that puts words on a page, one that does math, one that shows pictures, and another that uses all of your RAM to check email.

 

[Digital Skunk]

If iWork is enough for you, this isn't meant for you.

Too true. The current flavor of iWork is nice for those that just want to punch out some basic docs and spreadsheets. Maybe even someone that has to do some collaboration with more than Macintosh based users.

In the end, even those that want to just punch out a word doc benefit from not having to deal with exporting.

I remember we talked about this a lot in another thread, and every time I pull out my Windows 8 tablet I reminded of why I still can't settle on an iPad.

MS Office for the iPad . . . . . may just bring me back, but I will always have to remember that I do run a full OS on my 8"er that can boot Photoshop in under 30 seconds.

While it seems they were holding it back to help out windows 8 its glad to see they are bringing it to iOS. If they do this right they could actually see them bring users to windows 8.

It doesn't seem that way at all. If anything it might be because they had to recode what is essentially the Final Cut Pro X version of office apps for an entirely new UI. The iPad only wants chubby fingers to navigate the UI, and doesn't lend well to styli or mice input.

Windows 8 tablets lend well to all three, and while the UI on anything smaller than 10.2" is tiny, one can still navigate a good deal of Office just fine with a finger or digitizer.

Windows 8 had nothing to do with them recoding a powerful desktop app for an all touch, simplified UI.

 

[AstronomyiPhone]

when saved to Word formate.

Precisely. That's the issue there. Somehow Office is still the standard because people don't like change, even when it's free.

 

[sracer]

TWO years ago, Office was "ready" and it was held off for the surface.
Source

Where in the article you linked does it say what you are claiming? (MS held if off for the Surface)

 

[AstronomyiPhone]

MS Office for the iPad . . . . . may just bring me back, but I will always have to remember that I do run a full OS on my 8"er that can boot Photoshop in under 30 seconds.

The iPad only wants chubby fingers to navigate the UI, and doesn't lend well to styli or mice input.

Windows 8 tablets lend well to all three, and while the UI on anything smaller than 10.2" is tiny, one can still navigate a good deal of Office just fine with a finger or digitizer.

1) But why...would you do that?

2) Uhh...

3) Then why can't the same be said for an iPad?