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Microsoft Office for iPad to Launch on March 27

AstronomyiPhone said:
Precisely. That's the issue there. Somehow Office is still the standard because people don't like change, even when it's free.
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And by change you mean? iWork, Google Docs?

It's not about rejecting change, it's about rejecting change for the sake of change even if it ends up being more complicated.

When someone offers a solution that works where it counts in the areas that count then MS Office won't be on top.

It's not like it'd be hard. Look at how Adobe has such a huge lead in sales in the media production industry, but they still have competition from Apple and Avid and Quark and . . . . .

Why? Because they make a solid product that serve their customers.

The others need to just compete, and not act like the end user has the problem.

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AstronomyiPhone said:
1) But why...would you do that?

2) Uhh...

3) Then why can't the same be said for an iPad?
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1) Because I can, effectively for what I need.

2) Totally not the same. No Wacom or Synaptics support, critical unless you like a finger replacement.

3) It can, but for some reason it's just not. Office on Windows 8 tablets is the same as Office on the desktop and has tiny UI elements. I have a feeling Apple won't let that fly on the iPad.
 
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Digital Skunk said:
And by change you mean? iWork, Google Docs?

It's not about rejecting change, it's about rejecting change for the sake of change even if it ends up being more complicated.

When someone offers a solution that works where it counts in the areas that count then MS Office won't be on top.

It's not like it'd be hard. Look at how Adobe has such a huge lead in sales in the media production industry, but they still have competition from Apple and Avid and Quark and . . . . .

Why? Because they make a solid product that serve their customers.

The others need to just compete, and not act like the end user has the problem.
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I'm not saying the end user has a problem or that Office isn't fine - it's a good suite of applications that do their jobs, and MS has poured a lot of resources into it over the years. All I'm saying is that people aren't aware of alternatives that exist, and it's fine if they don't want to use them, but they should know that they exist.
 
AstronomyiPhone said:
I'm not saying the end user has a problem or that Office isn't fine - it's a good suite of applications that do their jobs, and MS has poured a lot of resources into it over the years. All I'm saying is that people aren't aware of alternatives that exist, and it's fine if they don't want to use them, but they should know that they exist.
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I agree totally with the exception that I believe people do know they exist and do use them.

Just in the end, they just aren't great replacements for Office especially when you have to share docs. You end up having to convince the other end to adopt a new platform.

If that "other-end" consists of 50 people, it gets very tedious. Especially if they have already tried option x and didn't like it.
 
Digital Skunk said:
1) Because I can, effectively for what I need.

2) Totally not the same. No Wacom or Synaptics support, critical unless you like a finger replacement.

3) It can, but for some reason it's just not. Office on Windows 8 tablets is the same as Office on the desktop and has tiny UI elements. I have a feeling Apple won't let that fly on the iPad.
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That's fair, but what benefit is there to that over using a computer?

Alright, but some would argue that those are just ways of getting around a touchscreen on a regular computer (even though they're powerful tools for precision). I see what you're saying, but again, see above.

I don't think Apple cares; it's Microsoft's problem, but if they want users to, well, use it, they'll have to deliver on that front.
 
Michael Goff said:
I'm sure they'll be okay.



Yes, and it isn't right if they take 30% either. I could see 10-15% maybe.



It still is. I'm getting the feeling you don't understand how coding works. At a certain point "throw more people at it" isn't going to work. In fact, once you get so many people any more will hinder the project.



The 30% seems too high to me, regardless of who does it. It isn't that I don't think they should have any money.
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Why are you responding to every other comment so defensively?

Does a negative reaction from an apple site surprise you? ;)
 
AstronomyiPhone said:
That's fair, but what benefit is there to that over using a computer?

Alright, but some would argue that those are just ways of getting around a touchscreen on a regular computer (even though they're powerful tools for precision). I see what you're saying, but again, see above.

I don't think Apple cares; it's Microsoft's problem, but if they want users to, well, use it, they'll have to deliver on that front.
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The same could be said for the tablet genre as a whole. The biggest benefit over using a computer is that I don't have to lug around a second device. In my case third. When I do need PS it'll be for a quick edit of some image or composite that's in Dropbox. I work in TV so all of my GFX are well under 1920x1080 and 2MB.

True about the stylus, it's the "thing" that caught some people's attention and not others. The Note 2 and Dell Venue Pro spoiled me to the idea, and my time using graphics tabs on desktops helped.

Totally agree. Microsoft is going to have to push MS products on the iPad, but if the app clashes with the overall experience, Apple may just step in and prevent the app from being delivered through the app store.
 
For the time being I see no incentive to leave iWorks. Across my iOS and OSX devices, it's a great solution and I see no reason to change.

It's not an anti MSFT crusade, but the value just isn't there. I have a laptop from work, and a desktop PC that hasn't been used in over a year and both feature Office if I really "need", but odds are I won't, because I haven't.
 
Not attractive. I am a heavy short cut key user. Excel on Pad cannot be productive. My gas mileage chart on Numbers perfectly inexpensively satisfies my needs.
 
MacHiavelli said:
Office is an anachronistic clerical suite for clerks who do clerical tasks. Deluded 'power users' are clerks, stuck with using plebeian software designed in the 1990s. There is nothing professional about Office.

Office is to modern software what the fax machine was to email when it first launched...the dinosaurs said the fax machine would never die and claimed that they were the special people who needed faxes to do professional business.

There are always people stuck with misplaced reliance on old technology.
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Yes, and by some estimates those people with a misplaced reliance on old technology number around 750 million strong, so your comments are incredibly inane. 100s of millions of people rely on MS Office everyday to get their work done.

Wait... Were you talking about WordPerfect? If so, then I completely agree :D
 
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I was actually a little excited until I came to the subscription part...

No way I'm getting a subscription for a word processor. Guess I'll have to learn to integrate Pages/Numbers in my workflow instead... Does this work well in combination with office on the Mac (this I can't replace I'm afraid) ?
 
Michael Goff said:
Afraid you don't get it, then. Microsoft doesn't want to basically give money to Apple through Office sales.
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OK, I'll call that out as BS. Otherwise how do you explain that O365 for Windows is also subscription only?

Fact is M$, like Adobe before them, have realised that the lock in future sales for what are increasingly mature, feature-rich behemoths is to go down the subscription route. Users are becoming increasingly less likely to shell out on minimal upgrades.
 
I already have an Office 365 sub and have always used Office so I'll definitely be getting it. It's a bit late but it's the missing link that may spur a lot more businesses to buy iPads.

Subscription-based software is clearly the future for Microsoft, I think it makes Office more affordable and I don't have a problem with it.

Given that this is an Apple-forum it's utterly predictable to see the "just-for-the-sake-of-it anti-Microsoft sentiment".
 
smulji said:
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.
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I don't know if Office for iPad did indeed take 4 years to develop, or if iWork 13 took 4 years to develop. I doubt that either took a full 4 years of manpower to develop.

What I do know is that the longer Microsoft delays Office for iPad, the more problems they will create for themselves. More iPads are being bought than Surfaces, that's a fact. More alternatives to Office are being developed each day, that's also a fact. This problem isn't something that iWork is facing, since they already have a product you can use, as opposed to no product.

If Microsoft are smart, they will release as soon as they can and worry about adding more features later, if only to stop the bleed. In that context, 4 years is an agonisingly long wait for them to respond.
 
xmichaelp said:
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.
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And yet I, amongst others use iPads for a multitude of tasks. Everyone has different use cases, just because you haven't found a use for it doesn't make it a useless product.

I have both an iPad Air and rMini (both cellular) and these are used throughout my working day, alongside my MacBook Pro and 27" iMac.
 
iWork / MS Office

I'm not paying a yearly subscription for anyone's Apps. If it was a small one off fee I might consider just purchasing Word for iPad. Free Office for iPad Apps I would download and may use but I am so use to using iWork Apps and conversion to / from Office For Mac: 2011 between my MacBook Pro and iPad Air. Like many Apple die hards fans and iPhone / iPad users it is going to be hard for Microsoft to win us back.
 
Nunyabinez said:
Yes, this is disappointing. I can download office from my university server for my Mac, but AFAIK I can't use 365 related features. I'll have to ask our tech guys here what MS is going to do for enterprise customers like universities.
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FYI - universities are definitely not enterprise customers. They are education customers.
 
Oh my god yes! I wonder if I'll have to get a new subscription or if my current one will suffice. Because if not, then I don't much care for this.
 
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