Microsoft Office on iPad Pro Requires Office 365 Subscription

[WowAppleWow]

Well, when you buy Microsoft's Surface Pro, you also need to buy an Office subscription. Office came only bundled with the RT editions of the Surface and the current Surface 3 (without "Pro") comes with a one year Office 365 subscription. When you go "Pro", Microsoft wants you to pay for Office, and it doesn't matter if that's on the iPad or their own Surface.

As I've posted above already -- the iPad Pro (and the Surface Pro) users are regarded as a different target audience. Those devices were not designed with your average home user in mind. They're for business travelers, which are people who use these devices for work and to make money. Those people would also require at least a "Home & Business" license if those editions were available for the iPad, because the Personal edition is NOT licensed for commercial use AT ALL. But who reads EULAs, right...?

I agree with most of your comments regarding this subject. I thought Office was included with the Surface?

 

[sentiblue]

I like MS products a lot... particularly the MS Office suite....
But I don't like the idea of using Microsoft's cloud storage on an Apple device...

I'd rather use Apple's cloud storage on its own device because there's a built-in trust relationship between device and service.

Apple made specific committments to customer's privacy such as un-decryptable data storage, refusing authorities' request to decrypt data without consumer's authorization. This is what makes me comfortable using iCloud storage.

On the other hand... MS, with Windows 10, is trying to upload user's data (I don't care what kind of data) to its data center and we don't even know what purpose it's using the data for. I'm not convinced that they have good intention in protection our data stored in their cloud.

So again... no thanks Microsoft! You are stealing just like SuperFish, other scam software...
For God's sake... Windows 10 is just another version of SuperFish.

 

[ChasSC-Mac-Guy]

Well, then go on and enjoy Apple's "HAAS" business model -- thanks to planned obsolescence, Apple basically sells Hardware As A Service. Or, simpler put, it's more like a lease because with one of the next software updates that they give away "for free", the performance of your hardware becomes so abysmal that you're forced to buy a new machine.

The average Mac user doesn't need MS's bloatware? Speak for yourself. If that would really be the case, why are Microsoft Office for Mac and Windows (which is then used in either "Boot Camp", VMware Fusion or Parallels Dekstop) selling like crazy? The answer is awfully simple: Even the average Mac users very obviously NEEDS Microsoft's products.

Malware injected via Macros. If a product can be in any way programmed or scripted, that risk goes with the territory. And if it's a product that is used by hundreds of millions of people on the planet, that risk naturally is exponentially higher than someone writing a, let's say, Mac-compatible Python script that will potentially harm your machine in some way. After all, Macs do come with a pre-installed Python interpreter, and Python is a full blown programming language that's not only loved by sys-admins.

People using a 12" iPad Pro have most certainly a choice other than MS Office? Theoretically, yes. In the real world, the target audience for the 12" iPad Pro -- which will most likely be BUSINESS USERS -- will not be satisfied with a second or third class office suite but will be needing the real thing that all of their peers are using.

The very simple reason why everybody still buys Microsoft Office instead of using ANY of the alternatives is that the Microsoft office suite is the best product on the market when it comes to business use. With Microsoft Office, it's not just about the client applications like Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Visio, Access or Outlook -- it's about the back-end as well. Sharepoint and Exchange are the real killer applications, and the client apps integrate perfectly into those server applications. Try working on a globally distributed team WITHOUT Microsoft's products and then try it WITH their products. Everything else - from Google's over Apple's solutions to whatever else you might find on the market just pales in comparison.

I understand where your attitude comes from - I've been there myself. For 25 years now - even as part of my daily job - I've been constantly evaluating alternatives to all (expensive) commercial software products on the market. In some cases, alternatives are there and are being used where it makes sense. But the fact remains that Microsoft just OWNS certain niches like Active Directory (which alone is a killer application without ANY serious competition), Groupware like Sharepoint and Exchange, Terminal Servers, Office suites and business-grade multi-platform communication software like Skype.

Hate Microsoft, love them, don't care about them -- it doesn't matter because when you work in and with professional IT, there is no way around them.

Sure there is, if you really want to, you don't need to. I agree that Microsoft is firmly entrenched in business, but hopefully that will change in time. And I'd much rather send my money to Cupertino than to Redmond. I've also been working for 25 years in a technical capacity, starting with a 80286 PC in my first real job. So I know my way around as well.

Decry Apple's HaaS all you want, but in many ways, the forced obsolescence of hardware/software is (IMHO) the main thing that has kept the malware and virii to a minimum in OS X. Contrarily, it is Microsoft's constant "Hey lets make sure everything runs on 15 year old hardware, and can run 15 year old software" that helps keep those botnets and other ilk running since Windows 3.11 (that's probably a tad long for the timeframe, but it is a valid comparison if you follow my meaning comparing the two philosophies)

Don't get me wrong - we DO need Microsoft and Google in the game, as it keeps Apple from resting on it's laurels and innovate on new products. But I'm no MS fanboy as some of you are. And I'm less an Apple fanboy than you realize. I have my share of complaints about them too, just not as many.

As for average Mac user - I was thinking of myself, and my friends and family members. Not you, per se. I do have VMware, but honestly, I almost never use it (less than once a month). I can get everything I need anymore in OS X.

I appreciate everyones input to my responses, there are some good points made other than my own. But for me, personally and professionally, I think you understand my resentment with MS (especially the Ballmer-era, thank God he's gone) and what I am willing to purchase - and not purchase.

 

[ChasSC-Mac-Guy]

I like MS products a lot... particularly the MS Office suite....
But I don't like the idea of using Microsoft's cloud storage on an Apple device...

I'd rather use Apple's cloud storage on its own device because there's a built-in trust relationship between device and service.

Apple made specific committments to customer's privacy such as un-decryptable data storage, refusing authorities' request to decrypt data without consumer's authorization. This is what makes me comfortable using iCloud storage.

On the other hand... MS, with Windows 10, is trying to upload user's data (I don't care what kind of data) to its data center and we don't even know what purpose it's using the data for. I'm not convinced that they have good intention in protection our data stored in their cloud.

So again... no thanks Microsoft! You are stealing just like SuperFish, other scam software...
For God's sake... Windows 10 is just another version of SuperFish.

This is a another good point, although I felt it deserves it own topic, so I didn't go into it. There's more reasons to avoid MS than Office. But we could be here awhile discussing all that. LOL

Windows 10 keeps trying to install itself to our computers at work - BUT WE DIDN'T TELL IT TO. Thankfully, it keeps failing. All attempts to so-called disable it have failed, so it tries every night at 3am. Unfortunately, one sad sap's did. *sigh*.

 

[CarpalMac]

People always act shocked and outraged when companies try to make a profit. One of the weirdest side-effects of this internet start-up age.

I do love how on this forum that there's always loads of "take my money" posts when new hardware is announced, but as soon as it comes to paying for software there's outrage.

 

[Bill Killer]

Yes, I'm very much missing out on Visual Basic..... But seriously, I regularly use Pages and Numbers and have had no such issues, and transfer back and forth with my office computer running Excel and Word.

So your argument that we should have to pay Microsoft for their apps is ludicrous, when the average user has no need for the features you say are missing. I'm sure some extreme power users and business might need it of course, which is where Cook is leaning with helping MS here.

I smell MS supporters in this thread. lol

Firstly, yes, I do support Microsoft. Why? Because I think they make an excellent product in its productivity suite. It's a fully powered group of software that work for EVERY user (not just people trying to use the =sum() function), and if a company makes a product that works for my needs, and works better than the alternatives, then I will support them. Just like I support Apple because I think their laptop line is better than any alternative, and their phone is the easiest out-of-the-box product on the market.

Secondly, I use a lot of formatting in my Word documents. This includes varying font types, indentions, margins, spacing, charts, boxing, lists, and others. I don't use Word as a note taking device. An incredible amount of my custom formatting is completely lost when trying to open it in Pages (and Google Docs, to a lesser extent). Word heading defaults are erased, thus killing a number of Table of Contents indicators. Numbers is a grossly underpowered spreadsheet and data analysis tool; it really only works when computing the most rudimentary and simple functions. The graphs and charts look nice, but I need something with a bit more to it.

Keynote is nice. A lot of my compatibility issues are still there, but if I don't include animations and save my slides as a PDF, it's nice.

Thirdly, if Apple's productivity suite works for you, fine. Great for you. Keep using it. Just don't pretend they're anywhere close to the much more dedicated offering that Microsoft provides.

 

[/dev/toaster]

Monthly fee ? Sorry zero chance I will ever use it.

 

[the-msa]

It's not the profit that's the problem... A 10inch device allows the software for free.. A 12.9 inch does not?

The problem.... this doesn't make sense to the consumer, Why be penalized for upgrading a device? They clearly have done this based on their surface pro....

It doesn't make sense that apple releases ios updates for older ios-devices that slow them down so much to enforce the customer to upgrade either.

The world is full of wonders we don't understand.

Microsoft obviously thinks iPad pro customers will mostly be professionals. And taking a fee for professional use (while private use is free) is common for software.

 

[RMo]

I'm not at all surprised. That's how it has been for iOS devices ever since Microsoft started making Office for iOS devices. I'll just buy Microsoft Office 2016 for my MacBook Pro and use it until Microsoft creates new file formats for Office.

Not quite. That's how it was originally, then they reversed course and let you edit documents without a 365 subscription (on devices smaller than the threshold, which was all of iOS at the time).

Now you need a subscription for the larger iPad Pro, just like you used to for the regular iPad. I'm mostly interested to see how they do this from a technical perspective: I'm guessing they'll "sniff" what device it's running on and require a subscription if it's an iPad Pro, unless they're going to make a separate app just for the Pro (even though they've done well merging their new universal apps and I don't see what would stop someone from running the regular version on the Pro then).

 

[mdgm]

I wouldn't mind a one off payment for the app, but a subscription purchase is not a model that I'm comfortable with.

 

[tkatz]

I object to Adobe's subscription plan because they add only minor or gimmicky features, and leave ancient bugs and bloated UI alone. You're paying regularly but not getting quality to match.

And they only allow two activations at a time in which your only supposed to use 1. (ie laptop + desktop)

I can deal with only being able to use one at a time, but it would be nice to be able to have more then 2 installs so that I don't have to keep deactivating it on my mac pro or macbook pro to activate on my surface.

People often balk at the $100/yr price of office which gets you 5 pc/mac installs and unlimited "tablet" installs. Then I tell them I'm paying $50/month for the adobe apps and I only get 2 of which I can only use 1 at a time. MS's deal looks a lot better.

 

[Eidorian]

I agree with most of your comments regarding this subject. I thought Office was included with the Surface?

Only the Surface RT and Surface 2 were bundled with Office 2013. The 10.8" Surface 3 x86 has a 1-year subscription to Office 365 and the Surface Pro 3 just comes with Windows.

 

[0007776]

I wish they would make a one time purchase option. I was thinking I might get an iPad pro to replace my MBA when it dies, but I guess not if I have to go to the subscription model for office.

 

[haruhiko]

And they rarely get updates. I don't think Apple has done anything with their iCloud-based iWork apps since introducing them.

They tend to do that with services.

Because their services are used to sell hardware. Once the hardware is sold, who cares. Next year's hardware will have other software features or services that sell it.

 

[sir1963nz]

People hate the subscription service but what you don't realize is you get all future upgrades, including Office 2016/2017/2018, etc including 1TB of cloud storage, plus you can install it on 5 devices. It's actually a pretty good deal if you want to always have the latest version of Office.

Problem is I don't want to keep on updating.
Office 2008 has been doing fine for me.

Given the number of times I actually need office it probably works out to be $20 a document.

I have shifted to Libre Office for 99% of the stuff I do.

I really only want Word.
Prefer Keynote for presentations,
Numbers does what I need for a spreadsheet (and it can be easier to use)
Outlook is horrid, where we have to use it at work we use the PC version under Parallels.

No interest in MS spying on me, so their "free" storage is irrelevant.

 

[sir1963nz]

Meh. Underpowered for who? I worked in a corporate environment for ten years. 99 percent of the administrative and clerical staff couldn’t—and didn’t want to—use anything beyond the most elementary of features. MS Word, for example, is too quirky and inefficient to be a professional layout/typesetting application and is too bloated for casual and business use. Excel can only be mastered by fulltime number crunchers; everyone else uses it to make lists. In my experience, Apple’s Numbers app makes power features, such as formulas, easier to create and comprehend.

I have a friend who's wife wrote her Masters Thesis in Pages.
He did his PhD thesis in Latex after Word nuked his document one too many times.

 

[unobtainium]

Because their services are used to sell hardware. Once the hardware is sold, who cares. Next year's hardware will have other software features or services that sell it.

Of course. But hopefully Apple is aware that loyalty and customer retention are also important factors in selling hardware. So far I'm happy with Apple 90% of the time, but the other 10% I'm banging my head against the wall wondering how they manage to screw up internet services so badly.

 

[a0me]

And I would expect macros to NEVER be supported in Number, nor would I want it to.

It's nice if you use Excel/Number to make shopping lists but anybody using Excel to do what it's supposed to do knows that spreadsheet software without macros (programs that do automated tasks) is like a hotdog without bun.

Given the history of viruses that can be injected vis macros in Word and Excel, I was always glad they omitted that.

I don't write viruses in my macros and neither do the people I work with.
And please point me to that wonderful piece of software that can't get viruses.

I like that they list everything on that chart, it's quite handy. And the things that aren't supported aren't really missed, believe me.

If they weren't missed why would Apple spent their time making these detailed lists with a whole bunch of features that aren't supported?

Again - the average Mac user doesn't need MS's bloatware. The whole point in responding to the topic was that anyone using a 12" iPad most certainly has a choice other than MS Office.

Someone who doesn't need to work with others or who will not miss some basic spreadsheet software functionalities.

I'm not a fan of the SAAS model either but that wasn't the point at all.

Numbers may be good enough to create your family budget or if you're lucky to work with only a few Apple-only people, but not much else.

 

[lionsy]

I just wish Apple would update Pages and their other productivity apps to support their own features like split view, I cannot believe they've still not updated it.

 

[MagicHAM]

I never really understood the whole argument for "I am not buying an iPad pro unless i get Office for free". Surface Pro users don't get Office 365 for free - they have to pay for it. Why should it be any different for apple iPad pro users? Microsoft are in business and to make money and they charge everyone to use their Office services on the iPads and Android and now on their own devices (except Surface RTs, where Office 2013 came free). You want to use Office on the iPad Pro , you pay for it like everyone else does. It's quite simple.

I think i am seeing the whole demand without paying attitude from people these days (i have seen it in general). And I think people need to wake up to the fact you cant get everything for free, you have to pay somewhat for what you want to continue using.

 

[Marshall73]

And I would expect macros to NEVER be supported in Number, nor would I want it to. Given the history of viruses that can be injected vis macros in Word and Excel, I was always glad they omitted that. I like that they list everything on that chart, it's quite handy. And the things that aren't supported aren't really missed, believe me. Again - the average Mac user doesn't need MS's bloatware. The whole point in responding to the topic was that anyone using a 12" iPad most certainly has a choice other than MS Office.

Someone keeps bringing up the "compensating for apps", although I never mentioned that one bit. I am decidedly more negative to Microsoft than most other companies, not because they charge too much (which they do), but because of the sloppiness of the software and OS's security throughout the late 90's and onward that led to the constant need to run all the other bloatware to keep your computer from being infected.

No thanks.

edit: totally against the SAAS model too that Microsoft, Adobe, and Autodesk have moved to. You end up paying more in the long run. I like that I can buy my app in the App Store and only pay for it ONCE. Not that once a month/once a year BS

That really depends on how you use the software and if you need to be on the latest version. If you have to be on the latest revision for compliance reasons then the subscription model is more cost effective. If you don't then you want to buy the software outright and use it until you want to upgrade. Our clients are saving a bundle on their Autodesk and Adobe licenses but they HAVE to be on the latest versions. They do office on Open License and will upgrade on their own timescale.

 

[0007776]

I never really understood the whole argument for "I am not buying an iPad pro unless i get Office for free". Surface Pro users don't get Office 365 for free - they have to pay for it. Why should it be any different for apple iPad pro users? Microsoft are in business and to make money and they charge everyone to use their Office services on the iPads and Android and now on their own devices (except Surface RTs, where Office 2013 came free). You want to use Office on the iPad Pro , you pay for it like everyone else does. It's quite simple.

I think i am seeing the whole demand without paying attitude from people these days (i have seen it in general). And I think people need to wake up to the fact you cant get everything for free, you have to pay somewhat for what you want to continue using.

For me at least it's I don't want to go with a subscription model. If they let us pay one upfront fee and then own the software then I would be fine with paying for it. I won't rent software though.

 

[jblagden]

People always act shocked and outraged when companies try to make a profit. One of the weirdest side-effects of this internet start-up age.

Yeah. I think it's also because there's something psychologically different between buying something online and actually going a store and buying boxed software, almost as if boxed software was more substantial, or less temporary.

Not quite. That's how it was originally, then they reversed course and let you edit documents without a 365 subscription (on devices smaller than the threshold, which was all of iOS at the time).

Now you need a subscription for the larger iPad Pro, just like you used to for the regular iPad. I'm mostly interested to see how they do this from a technical perspective: I'm guessing they'll "sniff" what device it's running on and require a subscription if it's an iPad Pro, unless they're going to make a separate app just for the Pro (even though they've done well merging their new universal apps and I don't see what would stop someone from running the regular version on the Pro then).

Oh, okay. That's intersting.I wasn't aware of the change because I never bothered with Microsoft Office on my iPhone, and I mainly just work with text now, so I just use RTF Write on my iPhone, as well as Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. Though, for work and school, Microsoft Office is best for compatibility, particularly because even though you can convert iWork documents to Office documents, formatting is often lost.

 

[craig1410]

Apple was also late when it came to smartphones and tablets...

Yeah, they waited until Microsoft showed them how NOT to do it. There's a big difference between being "late" and being "on time" due to advances in technology and ensuring the product isn't half-baked!

 

[peterdevries]

I have a friend who's wife wrote her Masters Thesis in Pages.
He did his PhD thesis in Latex after Word nuked his document one too many times.

Word nuked my MBA thesis in the last 5 days before submission. The problem was that the file size rose above 500 mb and Word does not open files larger than that. Strangely there is no warning function in word that says "hey, your file is 489 mb, I can't open files larger than 500 mb, so think of a solution." Seems like a no brainier, but sadly that is not how MS software works.

Word is bloated but it contains some essentials that the competition (e.g. Pages) sucks at: e.g. Table of contents.

Word would benefit from a function similar to Adobe Indesign, where you can turn off function sets that do not fit to your work profile.