Microsoft Office on iPad Pro Requires Office 365 Subscription

[peterdevries]

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

That doesn't matter. I was engaged in negotiations with a publisher for an online book store in 1997 in Germany, but was beaten to the market by Buch.de and Amazon. (true story, at the time it was targeted at scientific books though).

Does it matter that I was one of the first to think about this? No, it matters who brings it to market successfully first.

 

[jblagden]

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.

Another area where Microsoft Office is better is exponents. Pages and other alternatives don't have a button for exponents. iWork has a keyboard shortcut for exponents, but I don't remember it because I rarely use exponents.

Also, as much as I like Pages, it uses the proprietary Pages format, which then has to be converted to Word if you're going to send it to someone. The other problem with the Pages format is that it takes up more space, which can be a problem when you're emailing someone a lot of Pages documents.

And yeah, being able to turn off function sets is a good idea. It would probably make Microsoft Office load faster, which is a big deal for those of us who still use hard drives.

 

[JAT]

All of the potential add-on features for this device just keep getting more and more expensive. The keyboard attachment, the Pencil, a subscription to Microsoft 365 if you want to use it... What's next?

You probably also have to pay for Internet access. Hidden costs!!

 

[n-evo]

So if your iPad Pro is traveling quite quickly, according to the Lorentz-contraction, you could gain access to Microsoft Office for free!

This is a significant reason for developing near-speed-of-light travel.

I laughed so hard, people across me in the metro are now awkwardly looking at me. Yeah, thanks for that.

 

[shandyman]

How do you calculate paying more? $99/year for the ability to LEGALLY install Office on 5 PCs or Macs as well as get the current version when released? Where as one license for Office (which is now legally only allowed to be installed on one computer) is about $400. You also get 1TB (soon going unlimited) of OneDrive storage with your account for up to five subscribers.

I can get Office via the Home Usage Program, it's £8.95, one off payment and I can install on 1 PC and 1 Laptop. MS should offer the option for a one off payment for the iOS apps too, or include them in the HUP. It's ridiculous I should have to duplicate just for this.

 

[radio893fm]

-OR-

I could use Apple's free apps that do the same thing, and read and write MS formatted documents just fine. No thanks, Microsoft.

Nope. They don't do the same. Sorry kid.

 

[ajahn5]

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.

No one is saying we don't want to pay for good software, just this subscription thing sucks.

 

[sracer]

I can get Office via the Home Usage Program, it's £8.95, one off payment and I can install on 1 PC and 1 Laptop. MS should offer the option for a one off payment for the iOS apps too, or include them in the HUP. It's ridiculous I should have to duplicate just for this.

No one is saying we don't want to pay for good software, just this subscription thing sucks.

How many of those people would complain if Microsoft were to charge $75 for a single license of Office for iPad? I get the impression that those who would want outright buy a license think that it would be $10 for the whole thing. (at most $10 per app).

 

[shandyman]

How many of those people would complain if Microsoft were to charge $75 for a single license of Office for iPad? I get the impression that those who would want outright buy a license think that it would be $10 for the whole thing. (at most $10 per app).

If I couldn't get it on HUP, I'd pay £50 uk for the suite on iPad Pro for it.

 

[mijail]

If this was true, why would Apple go and create a dedicated page regarding document compatibility with Microsoft Office going into details about what's supported, what is partially supported and what is not?
Basic things such as macros are not supported in Numbers.
http://www.apple.com/mac/numbers/compatibility/

You mean that Microsoft has finally managed to be compatible to themselves? Last I remember, every new edition of Office required changes to styles, documents, workflows... and of course macros!!

 

[Janichsan]

If this was true, why would Apple go and create a dedicated page regarding document compatibility with Microsoft Office going into details about what's supported, what is partially supported and what is not?
Basic things such as macros are not supported in Numbers.
http://www.apple.com/mac/numbers/compatibility/

You know what also does not support macros?

Excel for the iPad. Even with subscription.

 

[a0me]

You mean that Microsoft has finally managed to be compatible to themselves? Last I remember, every new edition of Office required changes to styles, documents, workflows... and of course macros!!

There are definitely some changes, something that's expected every time a new version is released, whatever the company. I don't see how this is even related to this discussion.

 

[mijail]

There are definitely some changes, something that's expected every time a new version is released, whatever the company. I don't see how this is even related to this discussion.

It is related because it's pretty rich to want OTHER applications to be compatible with Microsoft Office - while Microsoft Office somehow manages to break compatibility with each new version of itself, and apologists still manage to not pay notice.

As in "Office X+1 again needs style changes to our Office X documents - you know, as always, nothing to see here" vs "NewFancyProgram needs style changes to our Office X documents - BLOODY MURDER HOW CAN I WORK LIKE THIS!"

Maybe I'm a bit jaded ;P, but that's my experience - and for sure my support problems pretty much disappear the moment I get people switched to anything-but-Microsoft Office.

 

[Phoenixx]

MS is a software company. They make their profit from selling software. They should be compensated for it if people find value in it.

Agreed, but why is it that it is possible to buy a Windows based tablet for less than half the price of an iPad Pro, and get a full version of Office included for free? The reason, of course, is that other tablet manufacturers ARE compensating Microsoft, so they can make their product more useful. Apple, by contrast, are too cheap to do the same thing. It's right up there with the 16gb iPhone s (and entry level iPads), the soldered in memory on Macs and the numerous other money grabbing strategies they have adopted in recent years.

 

[sir1963nz]

Yeah, ever try rotating the text 90 degrees in Numbers.

Its useful for Column headers where its just a check box, Excel can do this, IIRC Claris/Appleworks could do this. numbers , nope. All that font technology sitting there and they fail to use it. Stupid.

 

[sracer]

Agreed, but why is it that it is possible to buy a Windows based tablet for less than half the price of an iPad Pro, and get a full version of Office included for free? The reason, of course, is that other tablet manufacturers ARE compensating Microsoft, so they can make their product more useful.

Do you have a source for that claim?

Microsoft made it publicly known that manufacturers of Windows tablets of under a certain size could preinstall Office for free. They've done away with that and replaced it with a 1 year subscription to Office 365 for free.

Apple, by contrast, are too cheap to do the same thing. It's right up there with the 16gb iPhone s (and entry level iPads), the soldered in memory on Macs and the numerous other money grabbing strategies they have adopted in recent years.

While I agree that Apple has maneuvered their products to increase the likelihood of a customer spending more money than they preferred to spend, the requirement for an O365 subscription for the iPad Pro is not one of them.

 

[dkar]

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.

The problem is that, release after release, Office for Mac is a pathetic, neutered sub-product of the Windows version. Office 2008 didn't even support MACROS!! Office 2016 has release without several key features, including the ability to customize the tool bar (dag-gum raggen sun-of-a-friggen bolder dashers!!) Microsoft throws themselves under the bus! Can you imagine: DirecTV or Dish come out with a new product and it only works fully on Samsung TVs?! You have a Vizio, LG, Insignia, Panasonic, other? Oh, well....sorry.)

 

[rroach3753]

I can get Office via the Home Usage Program, it's £8.95, one off payment and I can install on 1 PC and 1 Laptop. MS should offer the option for a one off payment for the iOS apps too, or include them in the HUP. It's ridiculous I should have to duplicate just for this.

Office 365 has replaced the HUP. Once your company renews their EA, this will no longer be an option.

 

[MagicHAM]

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.

Well no one forcing to you "subscribe". Might have to use alternatives then if you don't want to do that. Obviously it will be interesting to see Apple's own Pages, Keynote and Numbers will be effective as a productive tool on the iPad Pro.

I was going to suggest buy Office 2016 outright for your mac, but then again you probably would have a problem buying it outright too?

 

[shandyman]

Well no one forcing to you "subscribe". Might have to use alternatives then if you don't want to do that. Obviously it will be interesting to see Apple's own Pages, Keynote and Numbers will be effective as a productive tool on the iPad Pro.

A lot of people aren't interested in SAAS. Deal with it. Not everyone has/wants to be stuck with subscriptions, as it doesn't work for every situation. If it works for you, bully for you.

I was going to suggest buy Office 2016 outright for your mac, but then again you probably would have a problem buying it outright too?

You do realise that the end of his post, that you quoted, says exactly that he wants an upfront fee, as in to buy it outright. Did you not read that? Or you just have trouble with comprehending that?

 

[0007776]

Well no one forcing to you "subscribe". Might have to use alternatives then if you don't want to do that. Obviously it will be interesting to see Apple's own Pages, Keynote and Numbers will be effective as a productive tool on the iPad Pro.

I was going to suggest buy Office 2016 outright for your mac, but then again you probably would have a problem buying it outright too?

I would have no problem buying it outright. I'm debating if I need any of the features to get me to upgrade from the older version that I bought outright and since it isn't a subscription can still use.

As for no one forcing me to subscribe that is technically true, but if I want to be able to replace my Mac with an iPad Pro like I was thinking of before finding out that office was subscription only then I need to be able to use office.